1949
Having just descended from the skyways after a couple of weeks of wing flapping to and from the West Coast with intermediate stops, I can candidly say that the green lantern continues to burn brightly in the hearts of Dartmouth men the nation over. Many of those with whom I spoke have not been back to Hanover since graduation, but almost without exception I found them to be extremely eager to hear about their classmates and the College. This is heart warming and lends credence to the belief that Dartmouth loyalty and spirit is unbounded.
My first stop was Denver where I called the '49 triumvirate of Bob Priester, JohnDahle, and Phil Johnson. Johnson couldn't be reached, but I did talk with the other two. Priester is with the Denver United States National Bank as an officer and is past president of the Dartmouth Club of the Great Divide. Class executive committee please note that his arm might be twisted into taking on the chairmanship of the next Pick Axe Award committee with the help of the other two. John Dahle was just back from Aspen and a skiing vacation. He and his wife expect their third child this summer, and he was pleased to say that he had recently heard from John Ruhsam, his old roommate, who is a light colonel in the Marine Air Corps and seems to be thriving on his service career.
I then flew into Salt Lake City which is void of classmates now that Lt. Commander Al Sullivan of the Air Force has moved to Mississippi.
In Los Angeles the rush of business permitted me to call only one man. He was Dick Desmond, former hockey great, who is peddling Avondale fabrics to the clothing and home furnishings giants on the Pacific Coast. Dick was off vacationing for the weekend, but I did find out from his sister-in-law that he has become an avid tennis player and golf enthusiast along with the three boys in his family. He lives in Palos Verdes Estates, a 22-mile mountain at girth that rises out of nowhere along the blue Pacific near Long Beach and drops cliffs dramatically in every direction as if to welcome gawking Easterners.
I left Los Angeles on Sunday morning early hoping to play a round of golf that afternoon in San Francisco. I was fortunately able to play the famous Olympic Golf Club, site of the 1966 U.S. Open where Casper beat Palmer in a playoff and Fleck upset Hogan in 1955. This is one of the nation's truly great golf courses. It is well laid out and calls for extreme second shot accuracy to well trapped greens. Local attorney Quent Kopp had just written me at home, and I think he was a little surprised to hear so quickly. Quent's law partner Dave Skinner '50 also sent all his friends a Wah Hoo Wah over the extension. They told me that they both listen to Mike Powell who is a senior news broadcaster in town and that Ted Barnett can't possibly be in Alaska as originally rumored because they saw him eating his lunch on a Hollywood lot only recently. They say that he's an advertising executive out that way. Globe trotter Gordon Thomas came by in February to review some legal matters for his firm and to check up on his old pal as well. Quent just finished up his second term as president of the San Francisco Aid to Retarded Children and is chairman of the legislation committee of the city bar association. His wife Kaye is working on her degree in what spare time she has at San Francisco State. The family summers on a six-acre layout in Glen Ellen, fifty miles north, in order to catch more sun and warm weather.
Dana Jackson is in the investments business with Glore Forgan, William Staats Company, also in San Francisco. All is well with him but not so with one of his two sons who just entered a newly developed junior ice hockey program and celebrated his first victory with five stitches in his head. Deke reports that Gus Farnsworth is married and living in Hawaii where IBM signs his pay checks. He also sees ageless father Ed Washburn '45, a Laguna Beach doctor, and Harry Colmery '46, a resident member of the same investment firm.
Moving up the coast to Seattle, I dug out some extremely interesting news about our two local boys. They are very probably going to tangle in November as opponents for the post of Attorney General of the great state of Washington. Slade Gorton appears to be the only Republican candidate at the present time. Marv Durning is one of several avowed Democratic candidates but a strong contender in the primaries. Both men are local lawyers and neither is willing to discuss anything less than a victory celebration. If one of them doesn't move to Oregon in a hurry your class secretary has a thorny problem. No Forty-Nine will ever be called a loser in my column. The Gortons will map political strategy this summer on Whidbey Island in Puget Sound, and the Durnings have not yet announced their intentions although they are being pressed for them daily by their own children. Father apparently began his political rise by cam- paigning through popular vote for the state to divert money from gasoline taxes earmarked for the highways to the state parks. Among other things, he teaches a course at the University of Washington on the nature and functions of law. Good luck to both of you. One hundred and thirteen lawyers throughout the state await the election so they can find out who their next boss will be.
Final stopoff before home was Chicago where I managed to reach Dean Cameron, chairman of our current Pick Axe Award committee. He had spoken with committee members Dick O'Reilly and Carter Hoyt on several occasions and reported an interesting group of nominations from which to select this year's winner.
Before digesting all remaining material until our next column in the early fall, I want to make certain that you have the dates for our Annual Fall Class Weekend clearly in mind. They are October 18-19, and the game is with Brown. About twenty couples return year after year because they thoroughly enjoy every minute of it all. How about erasing your own annual "maybe" for a strong, "yes"? You won't be sorry. Write Gordon Thomas, RD #1, New Canaan, Conn., for a guaranteed room today.
Don Cummings is a founding partner in the new investment firm of Cummings and Taylor, located in New York and members of the New York Stock Exchange. Paul Petersen, vice president of A. C. Petersen Farms in West Hartford, was recently cited during the annual Dairy Club supper at the University of Connecticut as honor guest for dairy manufacturing and past president of the Connecticut Milk Dealers Association. Congratulations to Nat and Chet Palmer on arrival of a baby boy, Craig Bernard, born February 28. John Achorn is still flying for Northeast Airlines, jetting the more affluent public up and down the East Coast in the winter and through New England in the summer. The Achorns are living in an old colonial home in Newfields, N.H., built in 1742. Their five children all water ski on nearby Lake Wentworth. John would like to hear from any of you this summer whether you plan to fly with him on his DC-9 out of Boston or not. Happy Motoring!!
Secretary, ' 15 Twin Oak Rd. Short Hills, N.J. 07078
Class Agent, 62 Highland Ave., Roslyn, N.Y. 11576
