1940
When your Class officers convene on the Hanover Plain in their yearly deliberations it is always cause for jubilation, but when a pleasant spring weekend is on tap, too, the added ingredient makes the occasion doubly enjoyable. Attendance was of high order on this particular weekend with Don Rainie, Hugh Dryfoos, Gordie Wentworth, Elmer Browne, Diz de Sieyes, and your Secretary meeting together and then separately with others sharing our particular concerns. It was good to have Joan Dryfoos, Ruby Rainie, Rosalie Wentworth, and Crosbie MacMillen on hand to represent the distaff side in all our plans. But we did miss ScottyRogers and Sam Williams whose busy schedules kept us from having the benefit of their counsel.
The important thing to share with you now is the date of our 30th Reunion which Brownie and Diz, as co-chairmen, have begun to plan. We will celebrate this milestone of our alumni lives on June 16-18, 1969, and it is hoped that this early word will make it possible for everyone to perfect plans now to attend. We will be in Hanover at the same time as 1938 and 1939 which will be our first opportunity to renew friendships with those classes. Brownie and Diz are talking of myriads of swinging events to occupy our days but they are also conscious of leaving free blocks of time for us to relax in. If you earnestly want some event scheduled send the suggestion to them, because they want everyone to be there and happily so. Regional groups will soon start to contact you for travel plans so be ready to organize!
Larry Durgin, pastor of Broadway United Church of Christ, has been named to the board of directors of the YMCA of Greater New York. The board coordinates operations of 25 branches and 75 activity centers. Larry has been named to serve on the visiting committee for the Vanderbilt Divinity School and has also served on the executive committee of the Division of Christian Unity, National Council of Churches; the advisory committee, Faith and Order Studies, National Council of Churches; and the directory board of Protestant Welfare Agencies, Inc. Last year a chair in his honor was established in the department of religion and philosophy at Tougaloo College, Miss.
Eddie Miller is recovering from a third operation on his back and reports that this one has really done the trick because he is now better than ever. He is full of praise for medical science now that it has solved his problems.
If there are any classmates expecting to be delegates to the Republican convention, Ted Ellsworth would like to make connections with you. Ted will be on the floor with the lowa delegation or at the Casa Blanca Hotel for those of you lucky enough to be in Miami. Ted's affiliation with politics at this level keeps it in the family, for wife Barbara is Dubuque County Republican vice-chairman and was a delegate to the 1964 convention. Watch for old Ted carrying the banner through the smoke-filled hall.
Speaking of politics, out in Riverside, Calif., Hi Belding recently won a close runoff election for the City Council. When he is not pursuing this extracurricular service Hi is one of Southern California's leading surgeons.
Gary Allen has answered my plea for some background beyond his address change from New Hampshire to Alaska. His long letter is best reproduced for you instead of quoted since all of it makes good reading:
Recently you dropped a remark in your Class of '40 news column that I should account for my unusual address. Therefore, I am writing to explain why the T. Gary Aliens are in Alaska. Last spring I decided it was time for a change, so I asked for a year's leave of absence from the Laconia, N.H., school system. I applied for a teaching job in Juneau, Alaska, and was accepted. On August 1, my wife, Lucile; son, Chris (17); daughter, Barbara (9); and I headed north and west in a big International 4-wheel drive station wagon, leaving our three grown children back in New England.
The trip to Alaska was tremendous. We camped and stayed with friends along the way. Three weeks and 5000 miles later I met my new boss and the school teaching staff. After two weeks of apartment hunting and getting settled, school opened with a bang. We managed to adjust quite readily and were pleased to find good schools and a competent faculty. We also discovered that Alaskans are extremely friendly. They will go to great lengths to help a newcomer.
My teaching job has been both interesting and challenging. My students are Indians, Eskimos, Filipinos, Hawaiians, and an abundance of youngsters from California, Washington, Oregon, Texas, etc. In spite of the variety, they are very much like the kids in classrooms back East.
Alaska is really big country. The scenery here is most impressive with enormous mountains (18-20,000 feet), huge glaciers, fast moving rivers, great rain forests, and the mighty Pacific to the west and south. We constantly goggle at the mountain peaks which tower over Juneau and the old gold mine perched above the city. This is a town of hills and narrow streets, which lead down to the harbor full of fishing and pleasure boats. Juneau, the capital city of Alaska, is a combination of modern buildings and old shacks thrown together during the gold rush days. We live north of town in a valley just a mile from the foot of the big Mendenhall Glacier, which is 3 miles wide and 15 miles long. Behind it lie the Juneau ice fields which go back 50 miles before dropping into Canada.
We have constantly been impressed by such sights as the whales and sea lions playing in the harbor, the 30" salmon fighting their way up the little brook behind our house in order to spawn, or the big fir trees covered with new powder snow (although it can and does rain any month of the year in Juneau). There are oddities for us such as sunrise at 10 a.m. and sunset at 3:45 p.m. during December, with a sun that never gets above the mountains to the south, while in summer it never wants to set. There is plenty of snow for skiing in the 49th state, but the uphill facilities are primitive, except for Alyeska in Anchorage, which we found to be a first-class area sporting a chair lift.
Needless to say, the entire trip is a great experience for us. While the living up here is on the expensive side, we are certainly enjoying it. In fact, we highly recommend Alaska to all Dartmouth men as a vacation spot. Come up for a pleasure cruise next summer.
Any other pioneers in the Class? I'm sure it's been an exhilarating year, Gary, and many thanks for sharing your impressions with us.
jack Ingersoll has recently assumed new duties at University School in Cleveland - he is the school's first Director of Development and has taken over active management of a five-million-dollar capital campaign. Ingy has taught history and math at U.S. during the past seventeen years and for a time was Director of the Lower School. This long association with students and parents should stand him in good stead as he plans continuing financial support for the new campus the campaign will make possible. Ingy is also a director of Goodrich Settlement House and an elder in the Presbyterian Church. He and Kay have a boy at MIT and a girl at Wheelock and a boy and girl still at home. Incidentally, Scotty Rogers is the national alumni chairman for the same campaign so it's a foregone conclusion that it will succeed with two sets of such capable hands guiding it.
The first meeting of the Dartmouth Club of Westport-Weston was held recently and Johnny Allen was duly elected its first president. This is another example of service in the name of the alumni which so many of our classmates perform. On other occasions Johnny is vice-president in charge of New England business at Banker's Trust.
This is the last chance until the football season for all of us to get together at this spot. I hope your summer is a cool one and that you break all those pars and catch all those fish and dust all those rose bushes and grill all those steaks that spell summer, change of pace, and fun. If any of your travels bring you near the Hanover Plain, do plan to let me know - the welcome mat is always out!
Two final reminders: The Class informal reunion is to be held October 18 and 19 with Brown the team to watch from the new football stands. I still have a few locally reserved rooms which are unspoken for. but will have to release them soon, so act fast if you want to be included. And lastly, don't forget the Alumni Fund. To win our Green Derby Hugh Dryfoos and his team of agents need your contribution before June 30. Cheers! See you at this spot in the fall.
Subject of the cover story in the April21 issue of Modern Medicine was Dr.Gene Stollerman. See '41 notes.
Secretary, 5 North Balch St. Hanover, N.H. 03755
Class Agent, 200 Fifth Ave., New York, N.Y. 10010
