1921

Aged 86, the mother-in-law of RalphSteiner is dead. Mrs. Elizabeth Muser Neilson was the widow of Dr. William Allan Neilson (1869-1946), President of Smith College from 1917 to 1939, who won recognition as a Shakespearian and Burns scholar and as Editor-in-Chief of Webster's New International Dictionary, Second Edition. Given an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, Mrs. Neilson was described as "the presiding genius of the president's house of Smith College and dispenser of its hospitality, who has supplemented the labors of the faculty and administration by her unofficial and unobstrusive interest in the human and aesthetic side of the college and influenced potently the tone and quality of its life." Born in Offenburg, Germany, Mrs. Neilson wrote "The House I Knew," a book of reminiscences about her early life in the old State of Baden. She told how she mar- ried her husband, a Scot, studying abroad. An American friend had asked permission to bring two visitors to call on her. Looking down on the three young men in a garden, young Elizabeth said to herself, "I'll take the one in the middle," and so she did. She went off with Dr. Neilson to the United States to embark on a new life.

The Class of 1921 has three distinguished naval officers to be watched. Happy with his golf game, Howard Slayton is even happier with the career of his son Marshall '52, who served on destroyers for two years, was graduated from and instructed in sub- marine school, and served on three subs, Sarda, Half Beak, and Trigger. After duty on the Admiral's staff in New London and two and a half years in the Pentagon, he is now studying for a master's degree in Electrical Engineering at the U. S. Naval Post Graduate School where he is Engineering Duty Officer.

Happy with his wood-working shop and his new piano, Hal Braman is even happier with the careers of his two sons-in-law. Married to Doris Braman, Capt. Lloyd Stanford Smith Jr. after destroyer duty was graduated from the New London Submarine School, filled various submarine assignments in six states, became skipper of the USS Irex and later Captain of the Gold Crew atomic sub Daniel Webster. He is now Officer-in-Charge of Import Submarine Crew Training Center, Charleston, S. C.

Married to Marcia Braman, CDR. Alexander G. B. Grosvenor after flight training was assigned to carriers Saratoga, York-town, Essex, and Shangri-la. After flying as test pilot at Patuxent, Md., Naval Base, for two years he was aide to Adm. Mac Donald, Commander of the Mediterranean Fleet. He was transferred as a jet bomber pilot in Vietnam and was promoted to Squadron Commander. Completing three years in the Far East, he is now attending the Naval War College, Newport.

Simmons Company has announced that their vice president Jack Hubbell was honored by the National Retail Furniture Association for his "outstanding contributions to home furnishings retailing and to the industry." This award is the first one made by the association to a manufacturer. Jack also recently received the annual "Man of the Year" award from Furniture World, a home furnishing publication, and again was the first manufacturer to be so honored.

Sandy Sanders believes that full retirement is bad. A feeling of uselessness is more debilitating than moderately hard work. For the past five years he has built up the Dellwood Oil Company so well that he has been appointed Manager of Operations for three oil companies, in Fort Worth, Houston, and Denver, of which Dellwood in Houston is the smallest. His new duties cover exploration and development of oil properties in the United States and Canada. The source of Dellwood capital is W. L. McKnight, activeChairman for 20 years of the 3M Company and now Honorary Board Chairman. Why Dellwood? It was Sandy's boyhood home in Minnesota, a residential section on White Bear Lake, and, incidentally, Mr. McKnight lives in Dellwood.

Connie Keyes now has legs like a gazelle's, sure footed on mountains and eyes like a hawk's, able to pinpoint small objects from immense heights. This is _ good news. For two years he has been irked because of a torn cartilege, a smashed knee, and two cataract operations. With hawk and gazelle mobility, intellectual and physical, however, Connie has refused to take up the current fad of jogging and hires a young man to do his jogging for him. A slight pod developing, mid section, Connie is astutely hiring the young man to jog farther and faster. Connie considers wine a major joy like home-made bread, a sunny day, or a beautiful woman. No wine snob, however, he is unlikely to talk intimately into his burgundy glass, "Subtly delicate, but, alas, without confident self-assertiveness." Nor will he whisper into his Bordeaux, "Voluptuous, yes, but a bit mannered in your gaiety." Connie remembers too well the James Thurber cartoon in The New Yorker: "It's a naive domestic burgundy without any breedgethers! X but I think you'll be amused by its presumption."

Here's an item to interest John Sullivan and Don Sawyer, Ken Sater and Doc Flemming, Bill Alley and Herrick Brown, BobElsasser, Paul Nicholson, and Dick Barnes. The Chi Phis have not only seriously pledged a co-ed; they even asked her to participate in sink night, and she accepted. The fraternity president James G. Janney III of Frontenac, Mo., explains it this way: "She was around all the time, pouring punch and so forth. She seemed pretty solid on the house, so we didn't bother to send her any invitations. We could see that she was ready the fourth night, so we sunk her." Her name is Lynn Lobban, and she is one of seven female drama students whom the Dartmouth Administration has admitted. Lynn still looks on Dartmouth as being a man's college. "I never had an older brother," she remarked with demure sadness. Brightening, with histrionic flair, she added, "And now I have 64." But alas! As a special student with junior standing, Lynn was, according to Dean Thaddeus Seymour, ineligible, but, a magician known for sleight of hand finesse on stage and off, he worked out some sort of honorary membership. And so Lynn dried her tears and accepted amid the cheers of the Chi Phi delegation. Other fraternities do not know whether to praise the new esprit de coeur (or corps) of male members or the civilizing influence of the one female.

Secretary, Box 925 Hanover, N. H. 03755

Treasurer, 1341 Hill St., Suffield, Conn. 06078

Bequest Co-chairmen, THOMAS v. CLEVELAND AND ROGER C. WILDE