1949
A small group of your class executive committee members gathered a few weeks ago to enjoy dinner together and afterwards to conduct our first organized phone-in aimed at classmates throughout the length and breadth of this immense nation of ours from whom we have heard all too infrequently. We spoke to a great many in a short period of time, but there are many more to be heard from. The attempt was most successful and bears repeating soon. Much credit goes to Messrs. Alden, Gramstorff,Hughes, Thomas, and Baritz for their efforts. It was encouraging to all of us to be so warmly received by so many and to learn so much about you and your families. We can only hope that you will perpetuate the dialogue with an occasional newsy letter from time to time for this is truly a vital ingredient in our class solidarity. In shotgun fashion I shall attempt to pass along some of the news gathered that evening.
Bob Smith is one of those lucky ones who never had to leave his home town to make his way in the world. He still lives in Swampscott, Mass., with his wife and four children, has a vacation home in North Conway and runs a gas company on the North Shore. In case they become bored with North Conway, the family can pack up and bead for the beaches in their Dodge mobile home.
To the north in Falmouth, Me., lives handsome John Robinson, erstwhile accountant father of three delightful teen-age girls, and owner of a Vanguard which sleeps six and sounds like another great idea for those yearning for the open road
Bill Mason is a patent lawyer living in Annapolis, Md., and also has girls, two of them, who help to keep him cheerful while he prepares his legal work.
Ken La Chance has been in the employ of the Holbrook Grocery Company for eight years. Ken lives in West Lebanon, N. H., has a boy twelve and a girl ten, and is not an individual who needs to be told of the virtues of the area. He's a native son.
We had a nice chat with Fred Briscoe's wife Jean. Fred is with the Anthony Cassidy Company of management consultants and was in Providence at the time working with a client. Jean told us that the family loves West Hartford from their oldest teen-age daughter Sherry, sixteen, right down to little Chris, age four, last October.
Al "Harry" Ewing also lives in Hartford. We checked in with him as we wanted to hear more about his career in the aircraft industry. Harry is an engineer for the Pratt and Whitney division of United Aircraft Corporation. He informed us quite proudly that eighty per cent of the engines in commercial planes and fifty per cent in military are made by his firm which does an annual volume of some two billion dollars. Harry does a considerable amount of private and commercial flying himself and claims that he has yet to scrape a wing tip.
Bill Perkins lives in the pretty town of Sparta, N. J., hard by the shores of Lake Mohawk; one of the Garden State's loveliest communities. He is active in scouting and is the deputy district commissioner of Essex County. His wife Zelah is president of the family market research firm which specializes in feasibility studies for banks and shopping centers.
As the evening on we hit upon the bright idea of saving our Western calls for later due to the time difference. I spoke to Jack Coleman of Hutchinson, Kan., who manages the general insurance department of a local real estate management and insurance firm. He and Jody have a gifted son Kent who is an accomplished violinist at the age of twelve and attends the National Music Camp at Interlaken, Mich. Jack is president of the city library board. He invited me to play his Prairie Dunes Country Club which he claims is one of the finest golf layouts anywhere and the scene of a recent National Women's Amateur Championship.
My final call was to Rog Bailey, trust officer with the Northwestern National Bank of Minneapolis. Rog is a Republican party fund solicitor, has three children including a girl who graduates from high school this year, and has a love of skiing which is embraced by the entire family.
Billy and Betsy Griffiths still live in the old home town which for them is Cleveland where Bill is a big real estate mogul. Wife Betsy was always a highly regarded vocalist. Many of you will remember her popular singing at Dartmouth with several combos. Apparently her voice has held up so well that she is now a singer with a dixieland group and has recorded two long-playing albums.
John Gallup is assistant divisional manager of the Hammermill Paper Company. Paula is active in Junior League work and has two girls in high school with a boy in grammar school. The family lives in Longmeadow, Mass.
Ed Martel is teaching English at Marlboro High School in Massachusetts. He has four lads ages twelve, ten, eight, and three. Ed told us that the youngest has spring fever something fierce, a disease which is highly contagious especially on warm days.
Bob Tillson is with the Harvard Trust Company and lives right in Cambridge. The oldest of four is son Scott who is now a freshman at the University of South Carolina.
Final phone-in response for this month's column involves Sandy Smith, with a doctorate in psychiatry, who manages to take enough time off from the task of instructing at the University of Illinois Medical School to ski at Vail about once a month. The summer months find him sailing on his "Flying Scott" with his family of six.
The San Francisco banking and investment firm of Glore Forgan, Wm. R. Staats, Inc. has announced the election of DekeJackson to its executive committee. Deke is a senior vice president and a director in the corporate finance department. Other companies in which he holds directorships are Koracorp Industries, Inc. and SSI Computer Corporation. He and Jeanne and their three children Dana, Michael and Christopher, are residents of Atherton, Calif. Deke has some intriging club memberships: the Bohemian Club, the Burlingame Country Club, and the Menlo Circus Club.
I started sending out the first of the return post cards soliciting class news the other day. I was delighted to get back not the return card but a six page letter from Nellie Abrahamsen, the very first name on our class roster. All I can say is "God Bless You, Nellie." Maybe you were motivated out of pity for me and maybe it was just fortuitous that several people didn't keep their appointments with you so that you found some extra time, but regardless I couldn't have been happier to hear from you if you had just pre-empted the Lawrence Welk show.
Nellie writes that he graduated from the School of Optometry at Ohio State University in 1953 and he has been in private practice with his dad since then, a practice begun by his grandfather in 1902 on the west side of Cleveland. Kay, his wife, is a registered nurse who works one night a week. They have three children, Christine, twelve; Erik, ten; and Laura, four and a half. Their home is in Lakewood, Cleveland's oldest westside suburb. Nellie is on the board of trustees of the Lakewood Congregational Church, a member of Kiwanis, and a board member of the local little theater. Their hideaway is a 180-acre spot in Holmes County where there are lots of woods for tramping, ponds for fishing, and good rich earth for gardening, a favorite avocation. Classmates Pete Schumacher and Joe Kelley, staff members of the Cleveland Clinic, looked in on him when he had a recent successful spinal fusion.
FINAL NOTICE - Deadline for 1968 Gold Pick Axe Award nominations is June 1. These should be addressed to Dean Cameron, 568 Cherry Street, Winnetka, Ill.
Secretary, 15 Twin Oak Rd. Short Hills, N. J. 07078
Class Agent, 62 Highland Ave., Roslyn, N. V. 11576
