1915
The same post-Christmas lethargy pops up again, as it does each year, in picking up the threads of Class news and trying to concentrate on giving February readers timely items, while still under the spell of jingle bells! The paucity of news is remindful of a "quote" once perpetrated by one of our good classmates in a jocular moment - "No gnus is good news"!
Bob Fredericks phones in with a cheerful "Hello" and to express appreciation of a nice letter from the Dartmouth Archives Department for an ancient Memorial Service Document he dug up commemorating the Dartmouth men who gave their lives in World War I.
Bob and Helen Griffin graced the Murdock board at a mid-December pot-luck dinner at which the affairs of the nation were given a thorough overhaul. Bob has his own delicate touch in mixing Martinis!
Sid Crawford sends me a news writeup which brings back nostalgic memories, a history of Thornton Academy of Saco, Me, where I spent a memorable season as head football coach in the fall of 1915. P.S., Thornton won all its games but one, that year!
Mrs. Perry (Lucy) Stevens, is happy to receive the ALUMNI MAGAZINE, has pleasant memories of past reunions and will be happy to attend another when it comes up.
A cheery note from Charity Nichols tells of spending her birthday and Christmas with son Arthur and family in Stamford, Conn. She says it's fun trying to speak the same language as her grandchildren — 11, 15 and 17 - a girl, a boy and a girl — in that order.
Chink Chamberlain had his hands full during the holidays, helping his mother celebrate her 99th birthday, running errands and racing the clock to button up for Christmas before St. Nick came down the chimney. He and Doc Noyes took in the Purcell's mid-week luncheon (in spite of Doc's busted ankle) and ran into quite a receptive bunch of convivials including '15ers Shaw, Barker,Clough, Simpson, Norwood and '13ers Steele, Shepard, and Shumway. It is understood Doc Noyes kept them well engrossed with tales of his experiences! Chink reports that Duze and Helen Lounsberry spent the holidays with their young folks in Washington.
The consensus, running all the way from Eben Clough up and down again, is that Dartmouth is plentifully pleased to have Bob Blackman remain at the football helm! And Kike Richardson says some years ago he had to go down to Princeton two times to see one game, but this year he saw two games on one trip - he saw a re-run of the game in the Penn Hotel lounge - and liked the second game as well as the first. (Wouldn't you know Cloughie would come up with that one!)
It is understood the Chan Fosters took in the affair at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami honoring Jim McFate as president of the U. S. Hotelmen's Association back in December. From there they went on to the Bahamas for a few days. Chan had originally suggested hiring Jim McFate as manager of the Hanover Inn when he first came to Hanover.
When I quizzed Doc Noyes as to how they made out in "The Blackout," I got quite an earful! Sez he: "You perhaps do not realize the advantages of living in the country. True, we had no electricity, but we are more or less used to that. We had a beautiful full moon, plenty of firewood, gas heat, a portable gas stove, three or four transistor radios, one that picks up TV, and more candles than most hardware stores, two kerosene lamps plus two kerosene lanterns - and continuous telephone service." There was a lot more (some of which might be censored) but, regarding abstentions, he wound up with: "Look at me in our last class picture - compared to some I could be in the second generation, and maybe that is why I fall out of trees, off ladders and get knocked down by dogs - I'm really not as young as I look!" When Doc Noyes opens up, you get "straight-faced" answers!
Ralph Brown wonders if any other '15ers attended the Cornell-Dartmouth game at Hanover, He took a Cornell friend and wife to the game, but through the fog and rain, he didn't spot a single classmate. "I suppose they had more sense!" - sez he.
I think we'll all agree Jack Ferguson's Year-End Holiday Number of the FRONTIERSMAN was "one for the books." I'll bet it took a lot of doing.
At this sitting, New York City is starting to hold its breath and wonder if we'll have to walk home from our New Year's parties. The potency of a possible subway strike is in the air. One solution is to stay home - which is what this household intends to do!
Changes of address: Bushrod H. Campbell, 120 Beacon St.. Boston, Mass., Gerald F. Cobleigh, 23 Stark St., Nashua, N. H., Frederick L. Pearce, 4610 Morgan Drive, Chevy Chase, Md.
Secretary, 245 Avenue C New York 9, N. Y.
Treasurer, 60 Stevens Rd., Needham 92, Mass.
Bequest Chairman,
