1943

Ninety previous times I have faced the blank page - once in a Little Rock hotel room when the city seethed, many times in an airliner, most often in this basement office — recording the lives and times of 1943. As class secretaries go, ten years is no record, but these have been ten formative years when '43 came into its own as a cohesive group - strong, articulate, substantial supporters of the College's causes. The record speaks. Ed Bock, Bill Baker,Stan Priddy carried this burden for many years, facing the relentless monthly deadline and reluctant classmates passionately anonymous in their activities. Being observer and recorder of the progress of 600 scattered men offers special inside glimpses of people you never got in a sociology course, believe me. And would you believe a journeyman endeavor like writing this column could annoy classmates enough for what was said or what was not that they no longer speak to the secretary? I have a couple of candidates who should forgive and forget my frailties.

The sameness of names appearing over and over always bothered me. Certain guys have been movers and shakers in whatever they have done; they made news and they made the column. Suspect I have been partial to classmates I knew better than others, but guys like Don Kersting, Jack Kimball,Jim Stewart, Paul Enz, Charlie Dittmar, always at the ready to support the College, never got much recognition. And there's that embarrassing list of guys who never appeared at all. If I have been remiss, please understand.

Twenty-five years out.. . Dartmouth '43 is everywhere.... It's the handsome executive eating breakfast in the Sheraton Cleveland you recognize as Binney Tower, developing sales territories for his new employer, Milton Bradley Co.... it's the voice you hear at Cleveland 424-4446 after you convince an overly protective Hawkin School secretary that Headmaster Bud Kast certainly will talk to you, waiting parents or no. And Bud does to say that Angela and he will be at the reunion despite a conflict with a Headmasters Assoc. meeting ... it's the faces of Dick Kimmel and Geddes Carrington appearing with corporate sincerity in the annual reports of Ozite Corp. and Morton Salt respectively - though you can recall different looks 25 years back ... it's the invitation you got from the Continental Bank and Trust to attend a directors' dinner and find you send your RSVP to ParkerPerkins, who got a B.A. from Bates College but who is really a Dartmouth '43 at heart. When you get Bob Gray's 25th Year Book, you'll find Parker's biography ... it's the disappointment finding Chuck Longfield out of his Cleveland office. There's an exMarine that would rather talk about Dartmouth than just about anything else ... it's the thought of Dick Reid dedicating himself to a life of prayer and meditation in a Michigan monastery, or Jim Malley struggling against poverty and disease in Brazil, or Joe Koci working with young people in Philadelphia to head them the right way... it's our fine class chairman, George Munroe, proudly showing a letter from a pastor in a Phelps Dodge mining town, thanking the company and him for their humanity during the strike, and gently commenting that billowing smoke stacks to some people meant air pollution, but to the mining people they meant security ... it's the Dartmouth organization men like Fred Stockwell, BusMosbacher, Jack Holliday, Jim Elleman, who served on the Alumni Council with distinction, and whose tradition will be carried on by Connie Young starting his term this June representing a district of the Midwest ... it's the warm feeling you get when you learn that Kelly Coffin, Atlanta Dartmouth Club president and newsletter editor extraordinaire, really didn't have the heart attack someone reported and is back on the tennis courts playing singles and doubles ... it's seeing news items on Dartmouth sons like Charlie Dorkey's boy making the varsity lacrosse team ... it's the fun of watching George Burke, distinguished radiologist, campaign with as much fervor for the Rock Island School board as John Altorfer does for the Illinois governorship ... it's grandparents Don Crance and Pat, past their first grandchild, announcing the expected appearance of grandchild number two at Mary Hitchcock, Hanover right during the reunion because Dartmouth people plan things that way ... That's Dartmouth '43.

Almost anticlimactic to talk about the reunion. Hard-drivers Bob Field and Bob McQueen hope to hit $600,000 as the total of all our giving by reunion time. And assistant agents like Church Leonard are making all kinds of special, personal efforts to remind us that gifts and pledges for this year and next count towards this goal - and substantial gifts are in order.... Last minute reminder from reunion registration manager Bob Grimshaw that we need a spurt. Get them in. If you miss this gathering, you'll be sorry. I'm forecasting a great turnout in Hanover for this great Dartmouth class - and I especially want to see you there.

1943 - 25th ReunionJune 20-23, 1968

Secretary, 414 Rosedale Dr. Pottstown, Pa. 19464

Class Agent, Room 1453, 60 Broad St. New York, N.Y. 10004