1932
Musical and social notes from Washington in the spring: Among the thousand or so cheering enthusiasts at the Dartmouth Glee Club concert at the Statler-Hilton were Ed Marks, Joe Fanelli, Jim Wakelin, Jack McRae, Carl McGowan, Tom Dublin, Brandon Marsh, Jack Pyles, Don B. MacPhail, and your secretary along with assorted wives, offspring, and friends. The pleasure of hearing the new and old songs well directed and arranged was nearly equalled by the opportunity to exchange news with old friends at the following cocktail party. (Having disposed of cliches, I want to say that the singing and the friend-meeting were excellent.)
Bob Ackerberg gives us a good note: "As soon as the snow melts, I hope to beat Nicklaus, Palmer, Lema et al. with prospects excellent if I get 2½ strokes a hole. My nephew is happy in his freshman year and his '68 graduation will coincide with our 35th reunion. I pick the White Sox to nose out CBS."
John C. "Chip" Cronin updates the record: "Still in the stockbrokerage business in Jackson Heights. Two grandchildren and a third on the way. Son John finishing ninth grade. Two years ago bought the 'Jackson Heights News,' a local paper started in 1916, expecting it to be an interesting hobby. That it is but requires so much time and effort, it is no longer a hobby; wife has to assist." Don't spoil the old myth, Chip, running a small newspaper is supposed to be the best thing to retire to.
Our special congratulations to Dr. JamesH. Wakelin Jr., former assistant Secretary of the Navy, who has been selected by the Navy League to receive the Adm. William S. Parsons award for scientific and technical progress. Jim divides his time between Washington and the Boston area where he is president of the Scientific Engineering Institute at Waltham. In addition he is chairman of the Technical Advisory Board of the Ryan Aeronautical Company of San Diego, trustee of the Research Analysis Corp. of McLean, Va., a trustee of the National Geographical Society, a member of the Naval Research Advisory Committee of the U.S. Navy, an overseer of Thayer School, and a member of a number of visiting committees at M.I.T., Harvard, and Princeton. (I hope I have Jim's many activities listed correctly. I had trouble dragging these out of him; I'm sure there are more. I must say that Jim's good wife Margaret helped.)
William L. Bucher speaks of a busy life: "Have been a professional fund raiser for the last several years, conducting campaigns throughout the country for muscular dystrophy, leukemia, and cystic fibrosis. At present am associate fund raising director for the Heart Association of S.E. Pennsylvania. Have been president of the Educational Foundation of Theta Delta Chi for some time. Am active in Kiwanis, Dartmouth Club of Philadelphia, council in the Lutheran Church, and Director of Springfield Symphony. Still active and interested in politics, Republican, is there any other party? Happily married, one daughter, Sharon, still at home, and fortunate to have eight grandchildren." Bill, two direct questions: To what extent can your professional fund-raising experience assist in the Alumni Fund effort? What suggestions do you have in this context for our class and for the total campaign? Some people might appreciate receiving the value of your experience and expertise, as it may be applicable.
Frederic D. Leyser reports from Darien, Conn.: "Wife Ruth and I trying to get accustomed to not having any daughters around. Carol Anne married February '65 to Edgar L. Stout Jr., formerly of Green River, "Wyo. Wendy in first year at ChuckAdkins' Briarcliff College and has nothing but praise for college and its faculty. Aside from duties as church treasurer, I still manage to get in a little math teaching. Enjoy gardening and some tennis during leisurely summers. Gave up commuting thirty years ago.
Dick Stoiber has just returned from three weeks in Guatemala and El Salvador, where he studied volcanoes. He saw Bill Brister in Guatemala City at a Dartmouth get-together.
Lawrence W. (Larry) Collins gives us a note re progress on Hanover Plain: "'Was in Hanover for Columbia game and fall house parties visiting my eldest boy Larry III (Windham College '63) who is a teaching fellow in biology and shooting for his master's degree. The college plant has come a long, long way. The new Gilman biology lab is quite an item of hardware." Larry furnishes briefly a specific, positive reaction to the recent use of available funds by the College.
J. Walter Langley gives a full life on a post card: "Nothing too exciting about me; I am still teaching English and coaching track and cross country at Medford High School. I have been teaching in secondary schools for the past 18 years. (15 at Medford.) I occasionally officiate at track meets also, either as a starter or as a judge at the finish. I have seen Ellie Noyes and his track tribe from Hanover over the past several years when they meet at Harvard Stadium. So, I guess you can say that we track men lead fairly active lives. Maybe that's what keeps us so young! I have two daughters, Carol is 23, a graduate of Jackson College; Arlene, 17, is at Medford High, planning to teach. My wife, Charlotte, is a former school teacher."
Alexander A. McKenzie has a lot to tell us: "My heart bleeds for editors but I can't furnish you anything worth printing. I am still married to my first wife and have no plans for making a change (she says she seems to be stuck with the status quo, too). My three sons are all away from home, working and studying, one graduate, two pregraduates (I hope). My publisher is readying the presses for a second impression of Hornung and McKenzie's 'Radio Operating Questions and Answers,' 13ed (I came in about the 10th ed). I'm chairman of a fund-raising committee to try to burn a corner off the mortgages on the fine little church we moved into in 1957. I will march up Fifth Avenue in kilt and other regalia, piping the Emerald Society of the Brooklyn Consolidated Edison on March 17. Selma, Ala., is much on my mind. If '32 worked en masse for integration it would be a better world."
I hope you enjoyed this column. Essentially your classmates wrote it, and they write well. I was merely the amanuensis. Good lives come through, even with a bit of the vox clamantis.
Send your check to the Alumni Fund.
Secretary, 3154 Kenney Dr. Falls Church, Va. 22042
Class Agent, Route I, Box 3331, Issoquab, Wash
