1934
Five years of sentry duty at this secretarial outpost have provided a fascinating insight into the changing habits and customs of the old college grad specifically, the Dartmouth 1934 species. The older the old codger gets, the more disinclined he is, it seems, to keep his classmates posted about himself.
Ironically, this massive epidemic of modesty manifests itself most strongly at a time when the Class, as a whole, has achieved the highest plateau of success. One would suspect that the normal reaction would be to speak up just a little bit or, or least, to tune in the Class Secretary and pass the word through him. Not 1934! Our gang apparently would rather be caught dead than read about. Over the years, the Secretary has tried every device to mine information from his classmates, pleading, begging, cajoling, going to the brink of a tantrum; even threatening to hold his breath. Nothing!
Whereupon the old Scribe, a resourceful fellow, developed sources - mostly unimpeachable ones - who supply pearls to be strung together, paragraph by paragraph. So let's put on the jeweler's glass and look at some of the gems that have been extracted the hard way:
Unimpeachable Source No. 1 reports that the Finnish Government has conferred upon Boston University Prof. Frank Sweetser one of its special 50th anniversary commemorative medals, awarded those who "have rendered Finland valuable services or contributed to making Finland better known abroad." Frank, a professor of sociology, was honored for a combination of reasons: he was a senior Fulbright lecturer at the University of Helsinki in 1962, has published numerous sociological studies about Finland, and presently, he is writing a book dealing with social ecology in Finland. Frank has been on the B. U. faculty since 1948.
Another man of distinction this month is Hank Rose, recipient of the Natick (Mass.) Jaycees' 1968 Distinguished Service Award for his extraordinary community leadership. Hank, Civilian Personnel Officer at the Natick Army Laboratories, has contributed in so many ways to his community he ought to be three people. He personally raised $20,000 for a local hospital fund drive (Class Agent Bill Emerson, are you listening?), was instrumental in raising a quarter-million dollars for his Temple's building fund (Bill - listen hard!), has worked tirelessly for the Natick Rotary, Masons and Knights of Pythias, serves on the town's Personnel Board and ... well, you name it, Hank does it. ...
And some '34 sons of distinction - BillGay's young man, Charles '68, elected to the Dartmouth chapter of Phi Beta Kappa ... and Hank Werner's talented son Peter '68, won kudos for the directing of his adaptation of "The Little Price" in the Dartmouth Interfraternity Play Contest. ...
Charles and Peter also were among seven sons of '34 who made the Dean's List (4.0 or better) in the fall term. On the coveted roll of honor, too, were Dave Hedges' son, Daniel; Jack Lynch's boy, John; OkieO'Keeffe's pride and joy, Peter; Herm Spitzer's lad, Andrew - all seniors - and ChuckGoodfellow's young man, Geoffrey '69. To them and their dads, heartiest congratulations.
Just when the Grenoble games were making us nostalgic about the 1932 Winter Olympics and the thrilling speed skating triumphs of Jack Shea, along comes a St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times sports column dispatched by an ancient operative who used to masquerade around campus as Philip R. Sherman '27 (now steward of the St. Pete Yacht Club).
The column reveals for the first time (at least to us) that Gene Shea was the real unsung hero of Brother Jack's Lake Placid heroics in 1932. Turns out that Gene had planned to enter Notre Dame and try for basketball but, at his dad's behest, turned to Dartmouth, instead, so he could help train Jack for the Olympics. Gene recalls "hours and hours (of skating) every day for two years" in Hanover to get Jack ready. The reward, of course, was a pair of gold medals for Jack for winning the 500 and 1,500-meter events. Gene now is a successful real estate exec, in St. Pete; Jack is a Lake Placid businessman and justice of the peace.
A word on tennis from Phil Eckels, an old rec baseball teammate in the Dolly Stark era. Phil sent on, for relay to tennis mogul Peanuts Da vies, clippings from Kansas City (Kans.) newspapers reporting on The New Tennis wherein spectators are encouraged to yell uninhibited - and do, with such exhortations as "lay it down the pipe, Dennis baby." Phil also reports that his second youngster, John '62, is back from Germany after a two-year service hitch. And brother Dave '44 is working for the College. ...
Frank Everts is retiring this month after 32 years of distinguished service with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. ... He has been chief of the Analysis Branch, Tobacco Division, Foreign Agricultural Service. With characteristic candor, Frank says: "I've been working long enough." He and Helen will stay around Bethesda, Md., for a while then go to Cape Cod, perhaps in a couple of years. ...
Margaret and Stan Abercrombie head for Norway in May to spend a month with daughter Betsey, a student in the Scandinavian Seminar Program at Bergen where she is studying design aspects of handicrafts and arts. The Abercrombies will take a North Cape cruise then come home via England. Betsey will return to Goddard College as a senior next fall. Son David, who studied in Oslo, is with an architectural design firm in San Francisco. ... For Stan, now Associate Executive Secretary of the National Education Association's National Commission on Safety Education, this will be his
first trip abroad since he made it as a member of the Barbary Coast Orchestra in 1933.
REMINDERS - Deadline for the Alumni Fund Drive: June 30. And 34's 34th reunion — June 17-18-19.
Secretary, 7113 Millwood Rd. Bethesda, Md. 20034
Class Agent 22 Thoreau Rd., Lexington, Mass. 02173
