Tom Russell '61 Named Club President of the Year
A novel highlight of the annual Club Officers Dinner in Alumni Hall in Hanover on October 6 was the long-distance telephone salute to Judge Thomas B. Russell '61 of Seattle, Wash., who was named Club President of the Year. The conversation was amplified so all could hear, and from the Hanover end, J. Michael McGean '49, Secretary of the College, spoke as follows:
Tom, this is Michael McGean talking to you from Alumni Hall in Hanover. Sitting in front of me are about 200 club officers, College officers, and their wives, all of whom regret that you are not here. Our conversation is being amplified so be sure your comments are acceptable to your friendly fellow officers and governed by the rules of the Federal Communications Commission. Even a judge needs to be warned that what he says may be used against him.
Judge Russell, I am going to read a sentence not the kind you hand out to your clients — but an excerpt from another kind of document. The sentence is: "I aspire to become a responsible citizen of the United States, a citizen who will uphold his duties and responsibilities and cooperate in the fullest to preserve the democratic system under which we live; to be a success and advance my position in life to the best of my abilities." That is not from an oath of allegiance to be taken by one who is about to become a citizen of the United States. Neither is it a part of an oath of office. Rather it is taken from a letter written eleven years ago by an applicant for admission to Dartmouth College - THOMAS BRITTON RUSSELL.
Not many have set for themselves such high goals and even fewer have gone so far in eleven short years, seven of which were spent in college and law school, toward the fulfillment of these aspirations. A partner in a law firm practicing law in the Seattle area, a former Deputy County Prosecuting Attorney, later the Judge Pro-Tem and Court Commissioner of the Sno-Valley Judicial District, and now the elected Judge of the North-East District Court amazing accomplishments for a young, young man of your profession within just a little more than two years after being graduated from Stanford Law School and admitted to the Bar. In addition you have been active in political affairs and in social organizations of your community, serving as President of the Young Couples' Club of your church and President of the Junior Chamber of Commerce.
Dartmouth College is grateful for your enrollment work and your support as a club officer. Almost immediately after becoming President of the Dartmouth Club of Western Washington, you proposed in a letter that a revised version of Alumni College be taken to alumni who live far away from the College. In June 1966 you came to Hanover with an offer from your club to sponsor in the Pacific Northwest the first of such programs. That very successful pioneering Dartmouth Alumni Seminar, which opened at Alderbrook Inn just a month ago tonight, may well be the model for this type of continuing education for all college and university graduates, described in your brochure as a return to a modern three R's Refresh, Reflect, and Respond.
In grateful recognition of your leading role in conceiving, planning and administering this concentrated educational experience, it is an honor to designate you as the Dartmouth Club President of the Year.
