1944

It's hard to decide what is most impressive about our fast start in the '65 Alumni Fund drive - the well organized efforts of Phil Penberthy and his cohorts, the obvious affluency of our classmates, or the com- bining and growing interest of the men in the Fund.

1944 is once again in first place in our class group standing. As of the first week in April Phil had attained 24% of the dollar objective. Much of the success can be attributed to the swelling ranks of the Century Club composed of men giving $100 or more. So far 36 men have responded with gifts ranging from $lOO to $1000. One nice chap mailed in a century note, gave it a little more thought, and the next week posted another one.

I received a nice letter from Mr. J. J. Magovern Jr., president of the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company, about our erst-while goalie, Al Barrett. For the second year in a row Al was elected to Mutual Benefit Life's Presidents' Club, the exclusive honor roll of company agents who are doing a superior job in sales and service. Mr. Magovern was ebullient in his praise for Al and his unique accomplishments.

Attorney Jim Donnelly has been named as chairman of the citizens' Plan E Association in Worcester. The committee's function is to interview all candidates for City Council and school committee who are interested in being endorsed by CEA, an extremely influential political factor. So now we've got a king maker in the ranks.

Dr. Gordon van den Noort of Bryn Mawr, Pa., was elected president of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons at the 14th annual meeting recently held at the Americana Hotel, Bel Harbour, Fla. Gordie has been active in the congress for a number of years and has participated in its growth through active leadership and programming.

Those of you in the world of advertising obviously read "Madison Avenue" and saw the fascinating article about Don Smith's moonlighting venture as an innkeeper. I think the others will be interested too. It seems that Don and his wife Louisa went on a skiing weekend to Sugarbush Valley in '59. While they thought the area was great, they were disappointed in the accommodations. As a marketing man with 20 years' experience with some of Madison Avenue's leading agencies, Don saw the possibilities and purchased five acres of land on both sides of the valley road. (The land which they bought for $300 an acre now goes at $3000 an acre if you can get it. They've now got 25 acres.) The Smiths struggled a bit getting organized with their first lodge and learning the innkeeping business. But the accommodations and service were better than anything around and Christmas Tree Inn began to thrive. Every year since its opening the Smiths have expanded their enterprise. The main lodge has been expanded to accommodate forty, and the farm house across the road which they converted into a chalet can handle 25. They maintain a permanent staff of twenty.

To balance out occupancy, Don instituted special ski week rates (between weekends). In '65 "ski weeks" have increased 400% over last year. Now Don is going after the summer crowd. The Sugarbush Corp. has installed a Robert Trent Jones 18-hole course, high in the mountains where on some tees you have a 100-mile view, and in the light air it seems you can hit a ball that far. Don's got a terraced swimming pool, an outdoor dance area, and a spring-fed pond for fishermen. In all Don's got a quarter of a million-dollar investment in his moonlight which isn't bad for one who professes to be fundamentally an advertising man, and one who today operates his own advertising and marketing consultant business in New York.

Hope you'll all join Phil Penberthy's Century Club so that by next month he'll get his 100% of quota and can start on the second.

Secretary, 1105 Center St., Milford, O.

Class Agent, 67 Highland Ave., Rowayton, Conn.