1934's Advanced Thirtieth
It was a time for reliving cherished old memories - and for banking bright new ones for tomorrow. It' was a time for remembrance of classmates we had "loved long since and lost awhile" — and for rededication to the undying spirit that is Dartmouth.
In short, it was 1934's "early 30th" reunion - actually No. 29 according to the calendar, but a synthetic sort of 30th according to the triple slide rule computation of Professor Bancroft Huntington Brown, the greatest man who ever passed a totally inadequate math student. Whatever the number, the reunion was, in a word - wonderful. It was even more. It was a cornucopia of treasured moments, from the instant that the Baker spire hove into view until - 48 hours later — it vanished in the lush green foliage as we retreated toward West Leb and the outside world.
We sensed it would turn out just that way even as we tooled along the Connecticut River toward Hanover, for the Vermont and New Hampshire hills never wore richer raiment; nor were the skies ever a more brilliant blue. Even the laggard old Connecticut seemed to perk up and look her sparkling best.
And this feeling of all-rightness came up 7's and 11's the moment our young man Larry (a proud '67) squeezed the old horseless carriage between the tent stakes off Tuck Drive and emptied us out in front of Gile, there to enjoy the fellowship of the first contingent of '34s. Before long, Gile, Streeter, and Lord were, while not precisely jumping, at least quite alive with the clan.
There eventually were 166 of us - 67 men folk, 55 of their sweet young things and 44 of their offspring. This was considerably short of the 578 who turned out in 1959 and perhaps understandably so because then there was the magic of the 25th. But this year's returning contingent yielded nothing in spirit. They rolled out the barrel for '32-'33-'34 early and more or less often. The new fangled dancing was left mostly to the young ones, but Paw and Maw rallied them on with the same old enthusiasm that prevailed at the Roseland in Claremont 30 years ago. There was culture, too - the Dartmouth Players in panel discussions, Hanover Holiday events, movies. And there was the joy of good fellowship.
Most of us got our first glimpse of the arched vastness of the Nathaniel Leverone Field House when we gathered there for a reception and chicken dinner minutes before a sudden thunderstorm showered down Monday night. Later, President and Mrs. Dickey received in their garden, but were forced to flee to the shelter of the house with a few of us stragglers when the weather squalled again.
Next day, Tuesday, June 18 - 29 years to the day after Hoppy sent us out into the world from the Bema and on an equally magnificent day - Chairman Stan Smoyer gathered the clan in the Studio Theater of Hopkins Center for the class meeting. The outgoing old administration - Stan, Secretary John Foley, Treasurer Hank Werner, Bequest Chairman Jim Wendell and Reunion Chairman Harry Gilmore — gave way to the youth movement - Chairman Rollie Morton, Secretary Ernie Barcella, Treasurer Ed Brown, Bequest Chairman Dick Houck. The Old Man River of 1934 - Bill Scherman - will keep on rolling along as the greatest Newsletter Editor. Bob Williamson, who pinch hit as Class Agent after Jack O'Brien's untimely death, was elected to a full term.
Elected to the Executive Committee were Bill Adams, Tom Beers, George Copp, Marty Dwyer, Bob Engelman, Dick Gruen, Laurie Herman, Jeff Jackson, Nick Xanthaky, Mac Collins, Dave Callaway, Billy Knibbs, John Foley, Jim Wendell, Hank Werner, Bill Wilson, Harry Gilmore, Stan Smoyer, George Cogswell, Len Harrison, Lionel O'Keeffe. Also, Dana Redington, Sam Carson, Jack Hinsman, Clarence Davies, Frank Parmelee, Bill Emerson, Art Leonard, Nels Krogslund, Howie Gussenhoven, Steve Briggs, Les Reeve, Dave Hedges, Bill Gilmore, joe Furst, Dick Wells, Art Moebius, Charles Hirschey, Bob Smith, Jack Gilbert, Frank Heath, plus the new officers of the class.
President Dickey, making his first appearance on the Studio Theater platform, reviewed what he called this "historic year" at Dartmouth - athletically, championships won by the great undefeated football team, ski team and baseball team (which finished in a triple tie with Navy and Columbia for the Ivy title); scholastically, the Dartmouth Math Team which was the second best in all of North America; the Debating Team which won the national championship; there also was the flowering of Hopkins Center as one of the newest educational facilities and the historic high number of Dartmouth men going on to graduate study - about 75 per cent of the Class of 1963. The President told of the $1,000,000 Sloan Foundation grant for Thayer School and the $675,000 Ford Foundation grant for comparative studies of the non-western world, and the opening of the Leverone Field House. And he lauded the commencement address of The Rev. Dr. James H. Robinson, Director of Operations Cross Roads, Africa, on the need for a second Emancipation Proclamation. And he told of Dartmouth's great losses during the year - the passing of Robert Frost and '34's Orv Dryfoos, whose death Mr. Dickey described as the hardest loss ever suffered by Dartmouth, certainly during his years.
The Class then moved on to Rollins Chapel for memorial services for the deceased of 1934. The Rev. Fred Berthold Jr., Dean of the Tucker Foundation, delivered the invocation. Hank Werner read "A Prayer for Dartmouth — 1934," which he composed, then called the roll of 1934's dead:
Fred Downs Acer, John Bulkeley Adams, Martin Kendall Adams, Martin Herman Braun, William Carroll Barrett, David William Baxter, Frank Stanton Bridges, Alan Everett Brown, Donald Martyn Buckbee, William Harnest Callihan, Thomas Ray Clark, George Raymond Coppenrath, Edward Ray Cullen, Orvil Eugene Dryfoos, David Henning Eddy, Leland Ben Eggleston, William Colston Embry, Coleman Seymour Falk, John Sumner Fernald, William Simpson Fullerton, Arnold Herbert Golding, William Colby Goss, George Abbott Green, Lewis Albert Green, Edward Kimball Hall, Gerald Mordough Hall, William Norman Hartman, Edward Michael Heffernan, Dwight Bradford Hill Jr., Harry Ingram, Albert Frederick Koch, Leroy Blake Latham, Thomas Leslie, Charles Fisher Lippe, John Leonard Mahan Jr., Alvin Breger Marks, Clarence Lamar Marks, William Gerst Martin, Wilfred Maynard, Stephen Christopher Meigher, Robert Henry Michelet, Edward Frederick Moldenke, Edwin Burbeck Mudge, Robert Lenn Oare, John Daniels O'Brien, Smith O'Brien, John Joseph O'Reilly, Roger Burlew Paul, Robert David Peters, John Belmont Risberg, Allen Dunkle Sheppard, Nathan Frank Shimberg, William Mandeville Smith, David Kirk Spitler, James Edward Sullivan, Benjamin Rollins Twiss, Samuel Gordon Watts, Edward Norris Wentworth Jr., Harry Ellsworth Wheelock Jr., Francis Leonard Wolf.
The memory of these 60 was honored by their classmates with the singing of "Men of Dartmouth."
The day's climactic event — a pleasantly memorable one - was the '32-'33-'34 cocktail party and dinner on the gently rolling hills of Sue and Bill ('33) Dewey's Chez Dewey at Quechee. Memory does not recall a finer picnic. Rumors of predicted severe thunderstorms proved completely wrong. The weather was never more ideal. President Dickey delivered an eloquent talk. He gave a glimpse of inside history on how Abraham Lincoln missed a Dartmouth honorary degree on a tie vote cast by President Lord against a resolution to make Lincoln the sole recipient. He coupled this with a reference to Dr. Robinson's commencement address 100 years after Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and topped it off with a reading of "What Is Dartmouth." Then, all hands gathered in the big tent for a steak or lobster dinner - and the warm glow of the Dartmouth fellowship.
Who of us fortunate enough to be there can ever forget the splendor of that day's sunset? . . . the still beauty of the countryside? . . . the magnificent twilight?
But the grandeur of this day was not yet done. Back on campus, three of us (Louise, Larry, and I) stood enchanted by the green beacon light glowing softly from the Baker Tower . . . awed by the sheer majesty of the spire silhouetted against this night's jeweled sky. It was, in so many ways, the perfect end of a treasured day; a reunion to be remembered.
Bill Scherman '34 at the keyboard gainsadmiring audience with his virtuosity.
CLASS SECRETARY
