The Class Officers Weekend
THE annual spring gathering of Dartmouth class officers in Hanover last month, on the weekend of May 12-13, attracted an attendance only slightly below last year's record. Some 420 officers and wives representing classes from 1898 through 1966 were guests of the College, and for the occasion the prevailing cold and rainy weather went away for the two days that counted and permitted the alumni to freshen the nostalgic remembrance of Hanover's glorious spring season. The day before or the day after would have killed it.
The class officers were kept busy at working sessions of their six associations, plus three joint meetings, the annual dinner, a stag luncheon, and peripheral social gatherings. The officers who participated were the class presidents, secretaries, treasurers, Alumni Fund head agents, newsletter editors, and bequest and estate planning chairmen. Reunion chairmen of classes returning to Hanover in 1967 and 1968 were also present.
Head Agent Oscar P. Tabor '98 and Class Secretary Kenneth Beal '99 again were the senior alumni workers back for the weekend, both going strong nearly seventy years after graduation. A highlight of Saturday's luncheon was the tribute paid to Albert E. Smith '03 of Binghamton, N. Y., who was hailed as Class Officer of the Year, in recognition of his lively discharge of the duties of class president, secretary, treasurer, class agent, and newsletter editor.
The general meeting that opened the program Friday afternoon was presided over by J. Michael McGean '49, Secretary of the College, and included talks by Edward T. Chamberlain Jr. '36, director of admissions; Waldo Chamberlin, dean of summer programs; Prof. Harold L. Bond '42, dean of the Alumni College faculty; and Prof. Donald L. Kreider of the Mathematics Department.
Following a cocktail gathering in the Top of the Hop, the annual banquet took place in Alumni Hall. The after-dinner program was held in the Center Theater, presided over by John B. Whitman '46, president of the Class Presidents Association. The president of the Dartmouth Alumni Council, George I. Davis '28, was present to confer a Dartmouth Alumni Award on Allen R. Foley '20, Professor of History Emeritus, newsletter editor for his class and the favorite teacher of many Dartmouth men. He received a standing ovation when Mr. Davis finished reading this citation:
Historian, educator, parliamentarian, legislator, and "folk-talker," you are as well known and cherished by Dartmouth men the country over as any faculty member of your generation.
Graduating in 1920, and with a master's from the University of Wisconsin, you started in 1929 an unbroken record of 35 years in the Department of History at Dartmouth; but interspersing so many other extra-curricular activities that your life would have been a full one, even without your classroom assignments.
Your favorite course on the History of the West, better known as "Cowboys and Indians," was continually overcrowded by upperclassmen who could fit it into their schedule. But to alumni the country over your talks, variously titled Vermont, North Country or Yankee Humor, surpassed your formal academic assignments by a wide margin. It is claimed that your career specialty is TALK, that you talk for any reason or for no reason - and, all else failing, talk to yourself.
You have been President of the Norwich Historical Society and Vice-President of the Vermont Historical Society; Orator at Memorial Day Exercises, Fourth of July and Bicentennial Celebrations; Moderator at Town Meetings and Lay Preacher; Chairman of the Hanover Chapter of the American Red Cross; member of the Vermont Civil War Centennial Committee; a Trustee of Thetford Academy, and since 1964 Representative for Norwich to the Vermont Legislature.
Charter member and faculty adviser to your college fraternity, you have the unique distinction of having its chapter named Foley House, in recognition of your devotion to this fraternal group.
You have been faculty member of the Dartmouth College Athletic Council, Class Agent, Newsletter Editor, and regular contributor in the columns of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE titled The Hanover Scene and Town and Gown.
And so, for this life-long devotion to your community, your state, your profession, and your college, it is meet and fitting that you receive proper recognition through our bestowal upon you of the Dartmouth Alumni Award.
The evening program included a talk by Thaddeus Seymour, Dean of the College, explaining the facts of the riotous reception given Governor Wallace on May 3; and a student panel discussion of "Campus in Ferment: Today's Undergraduate." Charles F. Dey '52, Dean of the Tucker Foundation, was moderator.
Saturday morning opened with a joint meeting for all officers, presided over by Roger M. Bury '27, president of the Class Secretaries Association. Speakers were George H. Colton '35, Vice President of the College; Nichol M. Sandoe Jr. '45, executive secretary of the Bicentennial Planning Committee; and Mr. McGean, Secretary of the College.
After a coffee break in the Top of the Hop, the various officer associations gathered for their separate annual meetings. In addition to the association presidents already mentioned, those who presided at these sessions were W. Curtis Glover '18, president of the Class Treasurers Association; Josiah Stevenson IV '57, president of the Class Agents Association; Richard W. Lippman '42, president of the Newsletter Editors Association; and Martin J. Remsen '14, president of the Bequest Association.
These meetings broke up in time for the stag luncheon in Alumni Hall, where Mr. Stevenson presided and the speakers were President Dickey and Ralph Lazarus '35, chairman of the 1967 Alumni Fund.
President Dickey devoted his informal talk to the unrest and ferment on campuses throughout the country, reflecting the general temper of the entire country today. He was critical of the violent form that dissent is taking in American life, and he asked the question whether America's free institutions in protecting the right of dissent in any form aren't contributing to their own destruction.
Association officers elected for the coming year were as follows:
CLASS PRESIDENTS ASSOCIATION: President, John E. Moore '23; Vice President, Robert E. Alden '49; Secretary, David E. Orr '57.
CLASS SECRETARIES ASSOCIATION: President, Ernest L. Barcella '34; Vice President, Charles N. Blakemore '52; Secretary, J. Michael McGean '49; Executive Committee Members, Robert C. Bankart '37 and Thomas J. Swartz Jr. '49; Member of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE Advisory Board, John M. Mecklin '39.
CLASS TREASURERS ASSOCIATION: President, Edward W. Roessler '25; Vice President, Frank A. Bruni '57; Executive Committee Members, Edward S. Brown Jr. '34 and Frank K. Ettari '46.
CLASS AGENTS ASSOCIATION: President, Samuel Z. Wormser '27; Vice President, Edwin C. Chinlund '29; Secretary, Clifford L. Jordan '45; Nominating Committee, Charles A. Rowan '45, chairman, and George W. French '30.
CLASS NEWSLETTER EDITORS ASSOCIATION: President, Robert S. Fox '33; Vice President, Thomas Van A. Kelsey '54; Secretary, David E. Orr '57; Executive Committee Members, William F. Steck '31 and C. Carlton Coffin '43.
ASSOCIATION OF CLASS BEQUEST AND ESTATE PLANNING CHAIRMEN: President, John F. Rich '30; Vice President, Leon C. Greenebaum '27; Secretary, Robert L. Kaiser '39; Members of the Executive Committee, Thomas E. Wilson '35, Gilbert N. Swett 17, and Truman T. Metzel '23.
Honored as class officers of the year were (l to r) bequest chairman Mart Remsen '14,newsletter editors Frank Kappler '36 and Dick Dorrance '36, class agent Jim Wooster'59, class secretary Ernie Barcella '34, class president Fred Scribner '30, class treasurer Hugh McKay '21, and class agent Bob Kenyan '07.
Prof. Allen R. Foley '20 receiving hisAlumni Award from George Davis '28.
