1916
FRANCIS STIRLING WILSON Commander United States Navy, Retired 1892-1964
One of our most loyal and devoted sons passed from the Dartmouth scene but not from our hearts. A brief story of his career was written in the In Memoriam section of the March issue of the MAGAZINE, but no one could do Stirling justice. More than any other member of the Class he has held it together and welded it into the close knit fellowship that it is today. The number of classmates, their wives, and widows to whom he has brought comfort and smiles by his visits (accompanied by Betty), his correspondence and his matchless Newsletters is legion. In recognition of all this, and in gratitude, his classmates presented him with a replica of the Wentworth Bowl, a signal honor, shortly before his death.
Not everybody in the Class is aware that Stirling did not graduate with us. On an occasion he and Craven (Dean Laycock) did not see eye to eye, and Stirling hied himself from the Hanover Plain, en vacances, for a time. Subsequently he received his degree with the Class of 1917, in which class he was listed in the earlier catalogues. But he paraphrased the famous Dartmouth saying so that it read, "Once a Sixteener always a Sixteener." For this the Class will be eternally grateful.
In the last years of his life Stirling became quite enamoured of his Barbershop Quartet Society, traveling far and wide to their meetings, and often judging their contests.
The affection and deepest regret of the Class are expressed to Stirling's family, especially to Betty, who has been his constant companion, nursing and caring for him the long weary road of his illness.
The Class well knows we "shall not look upon his like again."
In spite of the heavy snow, which grounded several of the Class, ten members attended the '16 Dinner and Get Together of the New York group at the Dartmouth Club, Hotel Commodore, Wednesday evening, February 19.
Alice (Mrs. Ted) Walker, who lives in Natick, Mass., wrote me early in March that she was off to Florida for some sunshine, and that on her return she would spend a couple of weeks in her home town of Annapolis. She had talked with Ken Tucker just before leaving Natick and was glad to report that Ken was successfully through his cataract operations, and was back singing in his church choir again. She also told me that Elizabeth (Mrs. Carl) Lincoln started this school year as a housemother at Dana Hall, Wellesley, Mass.
Details of the Class Get Together at the Woodstock Inn, Woodstock, Vt., Friday and Saturday, October 16 and 17, the Brown game weekend, were set forth in the March Newsletter. You are urged to make your reservations early and thus avoid disappointment. They will be issued on the basis of first come first served.
Gullible's Travels (by Pete Slow): Kenand Barbara Stowell were off to Europe on the Carinthia, March 10. Although they sailed early in the morning Rog Evans some-how got down to the dock to see them off. They hope to visit George Harding Smith, Ken's squash partner of earlier New York days, at George's home in Tinchebray, Normandy in June. Their itinerary had not been settled, since they like to travel as the spirit (and the Renault) move them. Ken remarked that they ran across Ken and Marie Henderson in Chenonceaux in '58, and added "How time flies, - seems faster as we grow older." They plan to return to San Francisco by freighter in the fall. ... A note from Dick Parkhurst from Government House, St. Kitts, seemed to indicate that he was visiting the Leewards on some sort of official business. Your Secretary will endeavor to get the hot dope. ... A card from Sam and LouCutler from Aden, on the Red Sea. Much to my surprise I learned that to their sea-safari they had added two others, which took them some thousands of miles by plane, train, and car to parts of Africa which included Victoria Falls, Kruger, and Nairobi Parks. They saw so many wild animals they had lost count. Because of unsettled conditions they could not land in Zanzibar. In Rio they met Fletch and Marge Andrews, who are on a world tour. ... George Harding Smith returned to his home in France on March 18. Rog Evans had a nice visit with him at his quarters in Greenwich Village before he sailed. ... Jim and Clara Shanahan spent a night with us on their way up from the South in March. Cliff and Sally Gammons came up from Wilmington to dinner and a pleasant evening was the result.
Grace Nies Fletcher, widow of our Classmate, Jock, who lives in Sudbury, Mass., wrote Stirling Wilson a letter, which, unfortunately, arrived after his death. In it she expressed her pleasure in Stirling's Newsletters, saying that she looked forward each month to news of Jock's friends. She added, "I spent four months in Nepal, that fascinating little country between India and China, getting material for a new book. My son insisted upon my taking a short wave radio with me, so that I might hear if the Chinese were making a new advance through Nepal. I didn't see much use in this as all the Chinese I know is 'chop suey,' and a Chinese general was not apt to broadcast in English, 'O.K., Mrs. Fletcher, here I come!' So I gave the radio away en route to my dragoman in Cairo. But I did get the material for a book to be published the end of April by E. P. Dutton in New York, called 'The Fabulous Flemings of Kathmandu.' The book is to be published later in England and Holland, as there is much interest in that part of the world just now, and few people have been able to live as closely with its people as I did at Shanta Bhawan, the 'House of Peace'; also the hospital where two of the Americans who made the top of Everest, William Unsoeld and Barry Bishop, were taken for emergency treatment for their frozen toes and fingers, - and so were saved for further climbing. The medical work the two Dr. Flemings started only nine years ago last year treated 100,000 patients. They are really fabulous people."
There are three special reasons (there are many others) for giving generously to the Alumni Fund this year. First: It is the Fiftieth Year of the Fund, and the sights have been raised to a million and a half. Second: In this year we have lost StirlingWilson, one of the great members of the Class, and in gratitude for all that this loyal son has done for 1916 and Dartmouth you may wish to make an extra memorial gift. And third: We have a new Head Agent, Joe Newmark, who has undertaken this very onerous job. Jim Shanahan worked so hard at it that, upon his doctor's advice, he had to give it up. A generous gift made, or pledged, as early as possible will do much to lighten the load which the Class has placed on Joe's broad shoulders.
Secretary, 7 Swarthmore Pl., Swarthmore, Pa.
Class Agent, 411 Lafayette St., Salem, Mass.
