1940
An enthusiastic crowd of classmates wined and dined in New York on March 4 during an evening of fun and fellowship at the Dartmouth Club. Most of the clan were nearby commuters, yet several of the on the-towners were from greater distances and I was one of those fortunate ones to be included in this latter group along with Al Gutman and Bill Rearden from Philadelphia and Dick Funkhouser from Hagerstown. It was good to see Tommy Ballantyne again after 25 years looking not at all like the grandfather that he is. Tom has been back in the big city two or three years after a long career in Florida. Diz left soon after dinner to catch a plane to South Carolina and a look-see at one of the sales offices he inherited with the merger of Hemphill, Noyes and Hornblower & Weeks. His taxi probably passed Hugh Schwarz's coming in from the airport for while Hugh didn't make it in time for the dinner he was there for the festivities afterwards. Fred Bachelder also missed the dinner because of another conflict but was there both before and after. Checking the timetables and then rushing out for the proper trains home were John Allen, Bud Hewitt, Bob Lake, Tuffy Reeves, and Sam Williams. John Manley was more relaxed because he was getting ready to go on his first vacation in three years to Greece and Israel with Betty. It came out in a conversation with Dick Seidman that he had had the unique duty last summer of inspecting the girlie show at the Danbury Fair in his native Connecticut. That's what being an engineer will do for you!
Taking the cake for not looking any older than their Green Book pictures were Bill Bumstead, Bob Gensel, Art Root, Jack Little, and Bill Hayes. When you see them at reunion I'm sure you will agree! This whole wonderful class party was masterminded by Hugh Dryfoos who had to leave a trade show on next Christmas' toys and novelties to attend his own party. As you can imagine most of the talk centered around our 25th Reunion and the fine program we will be following for three days then. If this New York group is any indication of the rest of the class 1940 will have the best attended, most fun reunion of all times!
A few nights earlier the Boston Club staged its annual banquet presided over by its president, Gordie Wentworth. He is aided and abetted in his duties by Bill Squier, second vice-president of that august group. StetWhitcher was good enough to report the doings to me and the fact that Lloyd Blan- chard, Chet Brett, Joe Burnett, Larry Cate, Ted Miller, and Al Rosenthal were on hand from the Beantown family and Jack Little made the scene from New York.
Getting up for an 8 o'clock class on a Saturday morning can be pretty rugged if you're not used to it — just as a couple of nights in a dorm can be a unique experience again — but eight of our class journeyed back to Dear Old for those two pleasures, among others, as guests of their freshman sons the last weekend of January. When I caught up with them on Saturday afternoon they were still being brave about the hardships of being educated after so many years out of the classrooms. Hal Wonson and Bob Brooks, both from Minneapolis, came the farthest for our class, although Jack Wheaton erroneously was credited with the longest trek of all the Freshman, Dads — they still had him located in South America and hadn't realized that he had moved back to Delaware a few months back. Chet Berry, Bill Mercer, John O'Shea, Dick Seidman, and Perry Weston completed the octet who made it back to the Hanover Plain.
A good letter from Bill Harriman confirmed the fact that he will shake the sands of Libya from his feet in June and head for Hanover and our 25th. Bill is with the Sinclair Oil Company in Tripoli and is still swimming for a daily form of exercise. The day before he wrote his letter the Mediterranean had been a mere 55 degrees! His older son is a swimmer at Texas A & M this year.
The list of entries for the 1940 Hobby and Craft Show is continuing to grow in length and in variety. It's good to know that the wives with all their admitted talents won't outshine the gamut of the men's talents. If you come back prepared to be amazed you won't be a bit disappointed with what you will see. This must be the last call however for any entries due to lack of time to make final arrangements at this end of the line. I'll be contacting everyone who has written in promising to furnish an effort of theirs for the show during April. Speaking of reunion, Scotty Rogers has worked out a fantastic program for the young fry in the class. He has scheduled quite a lot for every age and has hired ten people to help him with the mechanics of it all. At latest count we had well over 200 kids of all ages signed up to return, so if yours think that there won't be anyone of their age, size, or shape to buddy around with during the best vacation of their lives you can tell them differently.
PROMOTIONS OF THE MONTH DEPARTMENT — Creight Holden was recently elected secretary of the American Hotel & Motel Association which means he will succeed to the presidency of the group in a few more years. He has had much experience as director, resort chairman, and executive committee member with the organization already. And wait until you see the banquet he has planned for us the Saturday night of reunion!
Harry Midgeley is now a senior vice president of the Worcester (Mass.) County National Bank. He is also vice president of the Worcester Chamber of Commerce.
Fred Pillsbury has been appointed a judge in the Superior Court of Massachusetts, which is a lifetime position. He is currently a member of the Springfield City Council. Still with the news from the Bay State,
Bob Rodday has been appointed general manager of the Brand-Rex division of American Enka, which will necessitate a move to new offices in Willimantic, Conn., from Concord, Mass. He has had so many fingers in so many pies in his hometown that the town fathers will have to find two men to fill his shoes — things such as trustee of the hospital, trustee of the bank, chairman of the finance committee, and chairman of the board of selectmen. No small accomplishments those!
Keith Benson has made it to the top at Pickands Mather & Co. out in Cleveland. He was elected president and chief administrative officer of that venerable old-line iron ore, coal and lake transportation company. Keith still plays a first rate game of golf and manages to live just a short distance from his favorite first tee.
Alton Thorpe was recently promoted to manager of Technical Placement for Hooker Chemical Corporation in Niagara Falls, where he has worked since graduation.
Don McMahon has just taken on the extracurricular duties of vice president of the Colorado Chamber of Commerce. His paying job as director of the Area Development Division, Colorado Interstate Gas Co., seems a natural background to promote the growth movement that the Chamber sponsors. His other duties make him sound like a latter-day Paul Bunyan among Chamber of Commerce developers — chairman of the Industrial Development Council, chairman of the Governor's Advisory Committee to the Division of Commerce and Development, and member of the Governor's Economic Development Council. There's a man who loves his adopted state and is working overtime to see it grow!
That's all for another month. Keep in touch.
Secretary, 5 North Balch St. Hanover, N. H.
Class Agent, Procter and Gamble Mfg. Co. 17 Battery Place, New York 4, N. Y.
