1951

Every time it snows around here the way it has for the last two weeks (late January and early February), I wish I were back in Hanover where the snow stays clean for more than 15 minutes and they know how to cope with it so that one doesn't encounter massive transportation snarls.

With the professional workload I've been carrying for the past month, I'm convinced there must be an easier way to earn a respectable living. This also means that I haven't had time to launch an organized news solicitation to fill my Mother Hubbard's closet. Fortunately, a few correspondents, corporate PR departments, and the College's clipping service will keep this month's column from being completely barren of news.

Mike Choukas, who has been wearing more hats at Vermont Academy than seems either humanly or humanely possible, including that of Acting Headmaster since June, has been named Headmaster. After service with the Marine Corps and a year of teaching at Millbrook School, Mike joined the VA faculty in 1954. He has taught math there in addition to coaching football, hockey, and baseball, and serving as Assistant Headmaster since 1961. He originated "Man and His World," a course for seniors which brings over 20 college professors a year to VA.

In 1962 Mike was awarded the Condict Cup for outstanding service to VA. He and wife Juanita have three children: Melanie, 13; Eleanor, 11; and Michael, 10.

Peruvian lawyer Fortunate) Quesada is now Administrative Manager (Lima) for ADELA, a multinational private investment company. Headquartered in Luxembourg, ADELA invests its own capital and provides a variety of services to assist private enterprises in Latin America which contribute significantly to economic and social progress. The operations office is located in Lima, Peru.

Before joining ADELA, Fortunato spent 15 years with the Peruvian Foreign Service, serving in Canada and Argentina before returning to Lima as First Secretary and Deputy Chief of Protocol. He and wife Cristina have five children, three boys and two girls.

M.D. Pete Fleming is now practicing general and vascular surgery in New York City, where he is associated with St. Vincent's Hospital. Since finishing his surgical residency at Mary Hitchcock in Hanover in 1962, he has been Assistant Chief of Surgery at Veterans Administration Hospitals in White River and Brooklyn. In October, Pete, together with classmates "Ace"Mueller and Floyd Parks, became a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. Ace practices in Appleton, Wis.; Floyd, in Bay City, Mich.

Since he married Sallie Bingham in December (see that month's Class Notes), New York lawyer Mike Iovenko has been looked upon with favor by his seniors and made a partner of Putney, Twombly, Hall, & Skidmore. Up in Boston, Class president CharlieHood has been named assistant vice president in charge of H. P. Hood & Sons' new management information systems department.

Bruce Robertson, PR Director for the Chicago-based Kemper Insurance Group, has been appointed a senior executive. Bruce started with Kemper's Advertising Department in 1958, became Assistant Advertising Manager two years later, and was appointed PR Director three years after that. He and wife Mary have a daughter and a son and reside in Evanston, Illinois.

In Minneapolis, Piper, Jaffray & Hopwood, largest locally owned investment securities firm in the upper Midwest, has admitted Bob McCraney to the partnership. Bob has been with the firm since 1956 and heads its over-the-counter trading department.

Dick Woolworth is president of a company named Animal Trap Co. of America and headquartered in Lititz, Penn. I recently read in a Philadelphia newspaper that the company is about to change its name to "Woodstream Corp.," provided the stockholders approve.

There was a new corporate name contest among the stockholders, the winner to receive a complete fishing outfit. Dick explained that the company's present name "seems too long and not sufficiently descriptive for a company which has diversified from its original mouse and animal trap line into everything from fishing tackle boxes to ski equipment."

We have reported Igor Mead's trip to Russia with the U.S. graphic arts exhibit. He recently had on exhibit in Hopkins Center rubbings taken from "Khatch'ars" or Armenian cross stones dating from the 4th through the 17th centuries, which he made during his trip at Erivan Museum, Geghard Monastery and Etchmiadzin Cathedral.

Before very long, you'll be receiving mail about the Alumni Fund. Two years ago, I unburdened my soul on that subject in this column. Last year I abstained from doing so; and the Class took a giant stride ahead. I hope that was not indicative of any cause-and-effect relationship.

This year I can't keep my mouth shut after reading page 30 of the January ALUMNI MAGAZINE. It hurt my pride in the Class of 1951. In case you've forgotten or didn't read it, that page gave a tabulation of total class giving through last June 30.

1951 ranked 55th out of 75 classes listed. Of the 17 more recent classes listed, two outranked us. 1952 stood 24th; 1953, 42nd. Of the other five classes ranked below 1951, two were immediately post-World War II and small in numbers because most of those graduating in those years were returning veterans who kept their original class affiliations. The remaining three were very old classes much smaller than ours.

I am well aware of the fact that a number of classmates consider such comparisons odious. I'll also readily concede that it's true that a particularly wealthy classmate with a financial fondness for the College can give his class a big boost statistically.

I agree that the only fair standard is one which measures us against what we can and should be doing for Dartmouth financially. And that is my point.

Many of us are at that stage in our business or professional careers where we have received within the past few years, or will receive within the next few years, a substantial increase in income. Whereas a $25 Alumni Fund contribution might have involved some sacrifices five years ago, a $100 one, or even a substantially larger sum, now or in the near future will cause far less pain.

What those of you who are so fortunate choose to do with your new-found bounty is, of course, your business and that of your conscience.

I happen to believe that private higher education is all the more important in American society as public higher education shrinks the percentage which private serves. I dare say that private institutions of higher learning have set the standards which only relatively recently have been matched by some public institutions. I think that public institutions will continue to improve, and even to maintain their present standards, only so long as they have viable private competition.

In states with enlightened executives and legislatures, they spend freely with the advantage of a broad tax base. Competing private institutions have few sources to which to turn other than their alumni to be able to keep up, to pay top faculty personnel enough to hold them, to provide sufficient scholarship aid to compete with low tuitions to obtain able but needy students.

As a lawyer and an alumnus, the Dartmouth College Case means two things to me. First, the Supreme Court's decision unequivocally established the independence of private educational institutions in this country. Second, it evokes Webster's peroration: "It is a small college, but there are those who love it." I urge you to consider both when you decide how much your Alumni Fund contribution will be this year.

Secretary, : 2107 Fidelity-Phila. Trust Bldg. Philadelphia, Penna. 19109

Treasurer, 13 Chadwick Rd., Binghamton, N. Y. 13903