1957
Through the passage of this last year, filled with all of its traveling and ending abruptly with this move to the southwest, I have gradually become unplugged from my normal sources of information. Therefore, I ask your indulgence this month, and hope that you will ramble with me for a while. With the Class Reunion coming up in the very near future this might be a time to pause in your head-long rush up the road of success and give thought to a few things. The first thought might be of the times that were had in college, both amusing and serious. Secondly, there might be the hopes that occurred after graduation - the first job, marriage, the first child, and so forth. After that might come the thought for the future, how you might be measuring up to the goals you had dreamed of as being the ones you would hold to through thick or thin. How many times have you changed them? Were the changes good ones or were they really just expedient at that time?
The thing that brought on all of this pensive philosophical deluge other than lack of news was that I was looking through the class columns of the last five and one-half years and thinking of where it and I have been during that time. The first of our articles was published in the fall of 1957. It opened its life with the words "Welcome to the reading public of the DARTMOUTH ALUMNI MAGAZINE. I will attempt to keep this column full of class news. It will not compare with Confidential but it will certainly surpass the New York Times." That certainly turned out to be true — at least we are still publishing which is more than the Times can boast. The first person to be featured in the column was Ken Rakouska who, immediately upon graduation, entered the White Church to wed Dorothy Jane Runkel. In January of the following year the article went through a period of military training at Fort Dix, N.J., and Fort Jackson, S. C. The greatest surprise of that period was being awakened at 2:30 a.m. in the Reception Center, hustled out into a cold street, formed into some sort of ranks and finding Dick Van Riper and Leo MeKenna '56 in the same line. After that wonderfully enlightening period the article returned to Long Island where, except for going skiing a number of times and to Europe once, it led a very staid existence. If you remember, during that time we had the Class Baby and Class Boy Contests. The Class Baby, born the week after graduation, is Cindy Weiss, the daughter of Steve Weiss. Right on the heels of the class baby contest we had the Class Boy contest. Fred andMary Meining came along with their son David who was born in April, 1958. Around that time Al Escalante was tramping through the jungles of Guatemala looking for oil and accidentally discovered the ruins of a lost city estimated to have flourished around 400 A.D.
Sometime after that Tom Schwarz was appointed Head Class Agent and we began our campaign that led us to the top of the list as the Green Derby winner in 1962. A while after that MONY started my moving a bit and so the article has been written in various places from New Hampshire to Texas. Many people in the class have begun to establish themselves in their chosen fields. As you really begin to bear down to real accomplishments maybe it would be a worth while point to consider the upcoming Reunion as an opportunity for some quiet thought as well as for a wonderful time of reuning.
Well, how's that for a somber approach? Anyway, I hope to have more news for you next month. In the meantime Chins Up; Shoulders to the Grindstone, and save your pennies for Reunion.
Best wishes to you all. Skip
Flanked by Vietnamese soldiers are (l to r) 1st Lt. Dave Marr '59, 1st Lt. HowardBucknam '58, and Lt.jg. Bruce Ryan '60. Marr is an interpreter-translator for aMarine unit. Bucknam, holding a mountain spear, is a Marine unit intelligence officer. Ryan, with his Montaguard crossbow, is a Naval adviser to South Vietnameseforces. In background is an old French blockhouse manned by Vietnamese soldiers.
Secretary, Mutual of New York 1501 Lavaca, Austin, Texas
Class Agent, 33 Fieldstone Drive, Dalewood Gardens Hartsdale, N.J.
