1923

Ruth and Roger Billings are back in Wellesley Hills after a summer at the Cape. In September Roger announced his retirement after four years as Chairman of the Board of the Massachusetts Indemnity and Life Insurance Company. Roger joined the company in 1923 and progressed the hard way through the various offices of assistant secretary, first vice-president, secretary and general manager to the presidency. In this latter position he served the company for thirty years during which it attained its present position of leadership in the accident and health insurance field.

Babe Miner held his annual 1923 regional get-together on September 26 at the Longmeadow Country Club. Illness and travel conflictions kept the attendance down to the following stalwarts: Herb Behan, ClarenceGoss, Den Pope, Gus Ryan, Howie Sammis,Len Truesdell, and George Weston. This party is timed each year to coincide with the Thursday in September when we matriculated. Next year a special program will celebrate the 50th anniversary of this important event.

From Ted Barstow comes news of his retirement and return to Hanover. He and Jane are now living on Dunster Drive. Ted writes: "One sure way to keep yourself busy is to retire to Hanover. Our idea of a place to live was a couple of acres of woods, well up on a mountain with a beautiful view. The only catch was it had to be within walking distance of the supermarket - come a spell of icy winter weather. That was a bit of a problem for the real estate broker. We ended up with a fair view, plenty of woods - which belong to the college - adjoining us and the supermarket only a mile away. A reasonable compromise with which we are quite happy." Ted reports a family of two daughters and three grandchildren.

To Cap Palmer goes the "Man of the Year Award" from the Information Film Producers of America. In his letter to Cap notifying him of this signal honor the President of I.F.P.A. says: "Because of your long record of outstanding work in the writing and production of information pictures the I.F.P.A. Board of Governors has selected you as the recipient of the Jay Gordon Memorial Award for 1968.

"Cap, I think you above all people really deserve this award and I was very pleased to see the vote go to you."

My secretarial dossier on Cap Palmer is varied, exciting, and colorful and from the look of things by no means complete. Cap started out dutifully in the clay products and building materials business in 1923. In 1935 he turned to his real love and began writing magazine articles and stories. This led to the authorship of several books, screen writing, movie directing and finally to the outstandingly successful production of industrial, educational, and documentary films.

Warren Cook has been elected an honorary member of the American Academy of Occupational Medicine. In April Warren presented a paper titled "Threshold Limit Values of Industrial Air Contaminants" at the annual meeting of the Industrial Medical Association at San Francisco. In October he will present a second paper on "Problems of Setting Occupational Exposure Standards for Health Hazards" at the American Medical Association Congress on Occupational Health in New York.

SUMMER TRAVEL NOTES: Bert andRosalie Teagle had a fine reunion with Howie and Berta Alcorn during an Alaskan inland passage cruise. Mark and MarieWhitman are back home after an extended motor trip through the East and Midwest. Nev Carson is making good on a 45-year-old promise- to show Hazel the New England fall colors. Ike and Susan Phillips were "wasting our time" among the Islands of Georgian Bay, Ontario. Win Wadleigh spent a week in each of Finland, London, Norway, Sweden, and Amsterdam. Frank and Gladys Doten had a trip to Alaska.

And from Pete Hurd in New Castle, N. H., via Babe - "Up here for the summer. Nothing much new with me. Still living in New York and spending a lot of time traveling. We have a home in Sweden and one up here. Leave here on the 24th for the mountains and Hanover."

Boston newspapers have long been featuring the community problems so prevalent in the Roxbury district of Boston. As headmaster of the 1200-student Boston English High School located in the heart of this area our Dr. Joe Malone is no stranger to the pressures of present-day educational demands. Needless to say Joe is facing these issues in his usual energetic and fairminded way.

Jack Taylor reports his retirement in 1965 and goes on to say - "and to date we have kept reasonably busy. Ibbie and I spend some time on the West Coast as our three sons live in California plus five grandchildren. This arrangement seems to work well particularly with the children because the parents aren't around too much to get in their hair."

Jack was with us at the 1963 reunion but missed out on 1967. He has been a frequent visitor to Hanover however where he and Pem Whitcomb keep a fatherly eye on the Alpha Delta Phi house.

Jock Osborne enclosed the following note with his dues check to Babe: "Still on the job in the coal business. In process of opening a new mine - costs for which scare hell out of an old man like me. Just had three weeks of family reunion - two married sons and a married daughter plus their wives and husband plus 10 grandchildren. Good thing we live on a farm but even at that there was never a dull moment."

It is our pleasure to have as neighbors and friends in nearby Greenfield, N. H., Mort Fletcher's sister, Mrs. John H. Field and his brother Saxton W. Fletcher. Mort who had several close friends in this area passed away in 1928 - the fine promise of his early years cut short much too soon.

As I write these notes the Princeton game is a week away. Present indications are there will be fifty or more of us in Hanover for this early Fall classic. Pete Jones has arranged a class meeting for the Saturday morning of the game and by the time you see this issue we should be well on the way toward making our plans for our 50th, organizing an executive committee and planning a few interim activities for the time between now and 1973.

After 45 years with the MassachusettsIndemnity and Life Insurance Company,Roger Billings '23 of Boston retired thisfall as chairman of the board.

Secretary, Box 2, Francestown, N. H. 03043

Treasurer, 960 Longmeadow St. Longmeadow, Mass. 01106

Bequest Chairman,