1951
By the time you read this, I sincerely hope that spring will finally be here in terms of the weather as well as the calendar. Early in March, I made a pilgrimage to Hanover to show a prospective freshman the place and to escape from it all.
The weather was abominable. It was duckboard season, but there were few duckboards to be seen. It seems that the paths have been worked over, given crowns, and chemically treated so that the water runs off. No longer is there any danger that a freshman will slip off a duckboard, never to be seen again.
While in Hanover, I tried unsuccessfully to catch up with busy classmate FrankSmallwood. His newest job is chairman of the College's Bicentennial Planning Committee. The committee has thus far been at work primarily on a program for the sesquicentennial of Webster's argument before the Supreme Court in the Dartmouth College Case, which will mark the opening of the Bicentennial in March 1968.
By now, Frank is down in Boston with nine Dartmouth undergraduates for the Dartmouth-M.I.T. Urban Studies Program, of which Frank is Director. The students will spend the spring term in South End settlement houses researching and studying Boston's urban renewal projects.
University of Illinois Law Professor JeffO'Connell is co-author of two recently published books, "Basic Protection for the Traffic Victim - A Blueprint for Reforming Automobile Insurance" (Little, Brown, 1965) and "Safety Last — An Indictment of the Auto Industry" (Random House, 1966).
The first of the two books, which was discussed in "The Law" section of the March 25 Time magazine, would handle damages up to $10,000 arising out of an automobile accident exclusively by insurance. If adopted, such a program would eliminate 95% of such litigation from the courts. Coincidentally, this might provide the solution to the problem of where the lawyers are going to come from to supply the greatly increased need for counsel in criminal cases under recent Supreme Court decisions.
Two classmates recently ran for spots on their local school boards. Unfortunately, I don't know the outcome of either race. In Pembroke, N. H., incumbent Merle Thorpe, who served as chairman in 1964-65, was being challenged by a local grocer. Merle is president of Humphreys Corp., refrigeration engineers, and Thorpe Arc-Flame Associates, Inc., manufacturers of high temperature equipment, both located in Concord, N. H.
Tom Clark threw his hat in the ring for the Norwell, Mass., School Committee. Tom teaches the new math in Milton, Mass., Junior High School. Tom majored in English at Dartmouth, earned a Master's in Physical Sciences from Columbia, and has taken 40 credits in modern math beyond that, all of which should provide him with a broad perspective of curriculum problems.
In March, I had occasion to take a business trip to San Antonio, where there are no classmates. On the way down, I stopped off in Dallas to see Jim and Dorie Balderston. Formerly with Philco in Philadelphia, Jim joined Texas Instruments last July. He is manager of Consumer Marketing for Tl's Semiconductor-Components Division. Jim and Dorie have three children: Jimmie, 10; Nancy, 8; and Kathy, 6.
On my way home, I stopped off in New Orleans, where I had lunch with HunterWhite, vice president in charge of the Oil and Gas department of Hibernia National Bank. After Dartmouth, Hunter earned a law degree from Tulane and then served with Air Force JAG. Unfortunately, he, wife Jane, and sons Terry, 11, and and Michael, 9, were in the process of moving, so I missed an escorted tour of Bourbon Street.
New York lawyer Howie Phillips has been elected a vice president of McCall Corp. In Boston, Ed Walsh has resigned as casualty claim examiner for Zurich Insurance Co. to join the casualty department of the firm of Gordon Boyd & Co.
Most of the news on '51 attendance at alumni club annual dinners has been shunted to new Newsletter Editor Pete Martin. How ever, I'm going to report on two such gatherings because '51 Club presidents were involved. President Dickey spoke at both.
Out in Minneapolis, Judge Jim Rogers retired as president of the Dartmouth Alumni Association of the Northwest. Jim complained that the only '51 Minneapolitans to show up for the March 21 annual dinner were Bill Friedlander, Dave Leslie, and DickMcFarland. But Charlie Breed was also on hand from Hanover for a Class Agents meeting.
Eight days later, Charlie was in Philadelphia to help to swell the '51 ranks to nine to win the Class Attendance Cup at the Dartmouth Club of Philadelphia annual dinner. Dick Mason was up from Washington on business and also attended.
Even without counting the auslanders, '51 would have won the cup with its seven natives: Bill Brandfass, Fred Ranney, SamRoberts, "Buck" Scott, Barry Spiegel, Warren Stearns, and yours truly, who, after eight years as secretary and two as vice president, became president of the Dartmouth Club of Philadelphia.
I'd like to close with a few comments on the alumni clubs. Their functions provide opportunities to get together with classmates. If you want to know which classmates are in your area, the local alumni club secretary can generally provide you with the information. If he can't, I will be happy to respond to any such inquiry.
More importantly, most of the alumni clubs have a speaker from Hanover at least once a year. If you want to ask questions about what is going on at the College, you can buttonhole the speaker afterwards whether or not there's a question period.
Most of the clubs also have at least one affair a year which involves the undergraduates. Particularly if you are one of those who thinks the College is going to hell on a toboggan, I would urge you to take advantage of such functions to get to meet and to talk with some of today's undergraduates.
Finally, if you're interested in getting your finger into the admissions pie, through your local alumni club you can find out about enrollment and interviewing work in your area. If you're willing to put in some time, I doubt that you'll be turned away.
From a personal point of view, my con- tacts with applicants for admission and to-day's undergraduates are a major factor in my sustained interest in the College. Such contacts not only assure me that the old alma mater has not gone to pot but also that Dartmouth today is a stronger and better college than it was when we were there, an institution which truly deserves our whole-hearted support both financially and otherwise.
Secretary, 2107 Fidelity-Phila. Trust Bldg. " Philadelphia, Penna. 19109
Class Agent, Lawrence Mem. Hosp. of Medford 170 Governor's Ave., Medford, Mass. 02155
