Total '39 Giving Tops $565,000

The Class of 1939, celebrating its 25th reunion last month, set a new Dartmouth record in cumulative class giving since graduation, according to figures revealed at the class banquet held on Saturday evening, June 20, in Alumni Hall at Hopkins Center.

Total class giving by the 1939 family amounted to $565,658 - some $2,000 higher than that announced by the Class of 1937 two years previously. The 1939 total included $156,500 contributed over the years to the annual Alumni Fund, $190,200 given by the class to the Capital Gifts Campaign, $90,400 donated to the endowment and plant funds of the College, and $4,800 given by 1939 parents to the annual Parents Fund.

Added to these figures was the $123,650 raised for the Class of 1939 25th Year Class Gift during the past twelve months. This campaign was directed by Co-Chairmen Irwin Naitove and Louis T. Merriam Jr. and received pledges and gifts from 352 class members. Included in this figure were two pledges at the $10,000 level, four others in the $5,000 range, and some 28 in the $1,000-to-$4,000 range.

The Class of 1939 not only goes into the record books as having raised the largest amount for the College between graduation and the 25th reunion. It also equalled the record of 1938 in raising approximately $124,000 during the final year of the Class Gift Campaign.

The Dartmouth Alumni Council, at its June meeting, passed a special resolution honoring 1939 and Co-Chairmen Naitove and Merriam for this unique achievement. President Dickey expressed the official thanks of the College when he addressed the class at the reunion banquet.

Three classes had memorial services on Sunday: '43 in Spaulding Auditorium, '54 in the Bema with the Rev. Preston T. Kelsey II '58 officiating, and '39 later in the Bema with the Rev. F. Stephen Bachelder '39 and Chaplain and Lt. Col. John T. Evans Jr. officiating. Brunch was served at all reunion tents - with the exception of '54, since that class ate and said farewell in Thayer Hall.

The exodus began shortly after noon and by mid-afternoon only a few stragglers were to be seen in the heat of the sun at Storrs Pond. By evening Hanover was unnaturally quiet, a calm that would last all of a week until Summer Term registration seven days away.

Junie Merriam (left) and Irv Naitovewere the co-chairmen of 1939's highlysuccessful 25th Year Class Gift campaign.