1959
Many moons will pass and fall leaves will begin turning before the ALUMNI MAGAZINE and this scintillating column come your way again. Someone have mercy on us all! First to the news, then to the events of Class Officers' Weekend.
Several weeks back, responding to a call from our receptionist which announced a visitor in the waiting room, I stepped through the door and was confronted by the tallest image we've seen here in years, gazing out the window. Thinking primarily of a savior for Doggie, I prepared to attempt a real Big Green snow job. But, Rudy LaRusso already has an A.B. degree. He had stopped in to say hello before returning to Los Angeles after the play-offs to negotiate next year's contract and run his share of an automobile renting agency. '59 travelers take note. Special features include ejection seats, smoke screens, automatic refueling (with Plaid Stamps) and a built in rumpus room. John Capper was in town for a recent function. He and his wife Rachel are the proud parents of a new daughter, Heidi, born on April 10. John is teaching English at the Putney School, Putney, Vt. Paul Egner wrote a letter while on board the Coast Guard cutter "Magnolia" during his annual two weeks in the Coast Guard. While Paul spent sixteen days caring for buoys and coastal aids to navigation between San Francisco Bay and the Oregon border, his wife Jane was home caring for Skipper, age three and a half, Tommy, age two and a half, and the most recent addition, Holly Ann, who was born on January 8. He is now back working as retail salesman for the Shell Oil Company in Contra Costa County, Calif. Paul inquired about Rod and Suzzie Snow, but the latest info we have on them is that which Paul provided. The latest is that he accepted an Air Force commission as a doctor with a foreign tour likely. John Baldwin sent along good news that he, Anne, and the children, Claire and little John, will be coming east this June for a family wedding and to spend some time in the Hanover area. I'm looking forward to accepting Mike Tighe's suggestion that we have a few refreshers when I am in Chicago for an enrollment meeting later this month. Mike and Betteane live on the near north side of Chicago, a spot quite convenient to his position with the Northern Trust Company.
A few quick items. Spike Boschen is an arming tower engineer for Saturn 5 with the Morrison-Knudsen Company in Titusville, Fla. John Ekstrom is working in accounting in Columbia, Mo. Bill Hotchkiss is following his geological interests out in Bozeman, Mont. Joel Kaswell keeps it legal at the law firm of Sachs & Jacobs in Washington, D. C. His Hanover intern years behind, Dr. Jim Penza is with the First Marines out in Camp Pendleton, Calif. As of March, Jay Butterfield was in Saigon. Vietnam. He might appreciate a line. His address: Captain Jay T. Butterfield 05405277, HHD, USA, SCV, Drawer 100, APO, San Francisco, Calif. Down among all those Georgia peaches, Dave Mulcahy is an assistant professor at the University of Georgia. I'm not sure in what field. In Mardi Gras country, Jim Roddy is with the investment firm of Sharp and lones, New Orleans. A recent migrant to New Orleans, Bob Filderman writes of his new position with E. F. Hutton and Company, Inc., stockbrokers. Because they are two hours behind Eastern Daylight Savings Time there, he has to be on the job at 8:00 A.M. to keep up with the opening of the stock market. He says he hasn't experienced such a feeling since the days of Army life. He, his wife, and his son. Jay Robert, are now settled in an apartment. He was recently overjoyed at finding a store that sold Dartmouth ties, even though the label read 'Dartmouth University." . . . "Round the girdled earth they roam."
A recent letter from a party unknown to me, Donald R. Oasis, D.M.D., of Sudbury, Mass., indicates that the Class of 1963 at Tufts Dental School has set up a RichardBrookes scholarship fund to help junior dental students at Tufts Dental School each year. You remember that Dick Brookes died in a tragic automobile accident during our undergraduate days. Several members of the Class of '59 have contributed to this fund, and Dr. Oasis is hopeful that additional '59 friends of Dick Brookes will want to contribute. His address: Donald R. Oasis, D.M.D., 369 Boston Post Road, Sudbury, Mass.
And now to Class Officers' Weekend. Randy and Cindy, Jim and Betsy, and Debbie and I were able to get together during the festivities. We were joined by Tiger Sands of the Alumni Fund Office whom we added to our committee as a jack-of-all-trades troubleshooter. While the wives spent money in the local stores, Randy attended a meeting for class presidents, Jim attended a class agents meeting and I put in some time at the class secretaries' gathering. Such gatherings are meaningful, informative, and inspiring even for one who spends all his days in Hanover. We were able to meet at our house for a rained-out cookout Saturday evening, at which time we discussed some '59 business that might interest you.
John Ferries' recent newsletter questionnaire mentioned a gathering for a fall football weekend. We are looking into it on an informally organized basis. Should anything develop, John will let you know. Time and place are now under consideration.
John also sounded you out on the idea of a '59 directory. Enthusiasm was not sufficient enough to warrant further exploration at this time. Perhaps as we get closer to our tenth reunion, or in connection with it, we can print something of this kind. We'd like to find out where some of the long lost souls are. We need your cooperation. We'll compile a list of those not heard from. And I think this point leads to the final one I wish to make concerning the Alumni Fund this year, or for that matter, any year.
Very often, alumni get the feeling, very understandably, that they are worth only dollars and cents to their alma mater. To deny that they are relied upon would be foolish. But to let stand unresolved the charge that graduates are worth only their contributions to gift campaigns is to allow one distorted reaction to cover the whole truth. To raise funds, campaigns are necessary. To run campaigns effectively, fund raisers must be calculating and objective. But, this does not mean that they are not sympathetic and subjective also. The greatness and value of the alumni body go beyond dollar goals. The sum of what is collected is always exceeded by the worth of renewed belief in a purpose, renewed affiliation with a dedicated body of men who believe in Dartmouth so much that their spirit cannot be measured, renewed desire to see attained in our own lives and the lives of future students the greatest efforts for mankind that Dartmouth is capable of calling forth. So it all boils down to the individual. The sum of money he gives can represent dollars and cents alone or it can represent and be associated with a revitalizing and a sense of accomplishment which is priceless and without which life is meaningless. I think it is because so many alumni have sensed this concept of intangible worth in the eyes of the College that Dartmouth is where she is today. She's bigger than all of her sons put together.
Have a good summer.
Secretary, Canaan, N. H.
Class Agent, 83 Mann Ave., Needham 92, Mass.
