1963

Again this month, I received a swarm of your letters, with the result that there's so much news that I won't be able to fit it all in this issue. But, before I get to the news, there is something that I'd like to tell you. Early in March, there was a meeting of class agents in the Philadelphia area with the head of the Alumni Fund Drive Charles Moore '25, Cliff Jordan '45 from the office in Hanover, and President Dickey. Since this is to be our first such drive I was quite a neophyte. After talks on methods successfully employed in the past, and innovations for this drive by the alumni representatives present, President Dickey came in to answer our questions and give a few remarks. He spoke again later in the evening, this time to a gathering of the alumni of the Philadelphia Club. The standing ovation he received, the information he relayed to us from Hanover concerning the tremendous new programs which the College is undertaking, the way he spoke, and the response of the older alumni — all these made me feel very odd and no longer an undergraduate.

I was fortunate to have some slight contact with President Dickey while our class worked its way through the College, but never realized what an unusual and really valuable man he is. It is in speaking with graduates, individually and in groups, that this man excels. He and his tremendous feeling for Dartmouth are impressive testimonials to the College. I'm sorry that our entire class couldn't be at the meeting; I hope each of you, at one time or another in your career as an alumnus, has an opportunity to hear President Dickey speak about the College. It was a moving and rare experience for me.

And now to that news: Skip Mattoon found a little time away from the Newsletter and his studies at Tulane to let me in on some details of his coming marriage to Lyn Orr. Lyn was a Wellesley classmate and friend of my fiancee, so I guess I can pass along a few impressions of Lyn. She is the daughter of Dudley Orr '29, a trustee of the College, and now is studying philosophy at Yale. She's a very rare girl, not only one of a few female Yalies, but also able to keep up with Skip in just about any sport. They plan an August 22 wedding in Concord, N. H., and afterwards, Lyn will transfer to Tulane. Skip tells me that he has been keeping up with his soccer, playing on an international league team in New Orleans. Adam Heyman dropped me some news from New York to bring me up to date on Mike Geller and his marital procrastinations. Mike is now engaged to Carolyn Mesologites, will marry her in June in New York or Darien, I think, and settle down in the City. From California, RandyReetz typed a lengthy letter just to have an excuse to take a break from the books at Stanford Law School. The texts and subjects he has out there are just about the same as those that Subes has at Columbia Law and I have here at Penn. Randy tells me that he doesn't miss the Hanover "schlump season," but I can tell that he's as riddled with nostalgia as the rest of us about all the other parts of the life up there. He also sent along much news about other 63's in the San Francisco area: Bob Tucker and Eliot Gerson are living together off-campus. Tuck is playing semi-pro hocky in Berkeley and is high up in league scoring. Tuck and his team played against a club which had Doug Walgren '62 as its goalie, and Doug only let 11 goals get past him. Bob Phillips is another classmate of Randy's at the Law School, doing well and enjoying the never-ending sun. Bob Dresser is also out on the coast along with other Stanford Law classmates, Bob Davis and JohnPatterson - all bearing down on Civil Procedure, Torts, Property and Contracts. Randy's news continues: Ron Fraboni cracked into the starting Stanford U. Rugby lineup in a pretty tough club. He's their starting hooker, and from Randy's description is showing those Westerners what kind of rugby they play back East. George Gaffney, advancing toward his Ph.D. in physics, plans to stay at school through a few summers to reach that goal a little sooner. And that ends Randy's letter. From the Army, came an uncensored letter from Jack Quitter (which brings me up-to-date on his activities since graduation and enables us to track him down for the coming Fund Drive). Jack tells me that he was living in New York with Blake Franklin while working with the New York Time Sunday Magazine. He was nailed by the Army, will be in for six months, then intends to go over to England for study at Cambridge in Modern History.

Haul in the poop deck and full steam ahead. A recent announcement from the U.S. Treasury Department assures us the coasts are safe because 1963's own Paul Kappel has received his commission in the U.S. Coast Guard. Paul became an ensign in the U.S.C.G. Reserve in ceremonies at the Coast Guard Officer Candidate School in Yorktown, Va., after seventeen weeks of training in navigation, seamanship, and military science. He's now assigned to duty at the Coast Guard Training Station in Groton, Conn., to begin his three-year period of active duty.

I received my second letter from Alaska in my life the other day and this one, too, was from a '63. Nick Carney is working for the state in the capital city of Juneau as a Personnel Specialist. Nick and his wife Kay are expecting a larger, family any day now, so I hope a raise is also in the works. "The Alaskan" writes that the cost of living up there is astronomical. Howard Culver has to get into this column because both Randy Reetz and Norm Buchsbaum have written me about his exploits at Stanford Law. Howie's living with Prince William of Gloucester (wherever that is) out there, and seems to be doing very well with the law so far. Norm hopes to go back to Washington again this summer in a position similar to that which he had on his Fellowship from the College with the State Department. Last month I wrote of Joe Attonito's engagement to Vicki Hammond, but didn't know the date. Now word has arrived; they'll be married in June with Joe continuing at Columbia Law next fall. Vicki is now a student at Parsons School of Design in New York City.

More Weddings: John McElwaine to Melissa Craig in Woodbridge, Conn. Melissa is a Holyoke graduate. Craig Wood was wed to Patience Hathaway in Somerset, Mass., early in February, with Al March as Craig's best man. Craig's bride is a nurse, and she'll continue her work in Portland, Me., when the couple gets settled. Craig works with a paper company in Westbrook, Me.

At that meeting of alumni in Philadelphia, I bumped into Bill Horner, a classmate of Mike Leone at Jefferson Medical College. Bill told me that Mike and several others were on their way to Hanover and Carnival, but only got 30 miles outside Philadelphia when their car broke down. Maybe next year, Mike. That's it for this month.

Secretary, 7706 Chapel Road Elkins Park 17, Pa.

Class Agent, c/o Training Office, Guard Receiving Center Cape May, N. J. 08204