1953's 15th
Some cloudy weather and one or two rain showers did little to dampen '53's fifteenth reunion. Approximately 170 classmates, mostly with wives and many with children, attended and from what I could see a good time was had by all.
Our tent was located between Rollins Chapel and Wheeler where most of our Class stayed. Both 1952 and 1954 had tents nearby and there was considerable intercourse between the three classes.
Friday evening featured a reception and dinner at the Leverone Field House which before the weekend was over seemed like a second home to us. Informal parties with jazz bands and liquid refreshments carried on till the wee hours of Saturday morning. Unfortunately Saturday's schedule was disrupted because of the weather. Both the picnic at Storrs Pond and our class dinner behind the DOC House had to be moved into the Leverone Field House. The weather really wasn't that bad, but the powers that be couldn't gamble on catching several hundred people out in the rain.
Billy Johnson was the featured speaker at the class dinner. He gave us his formula for picking winning presidential candidates. As most of you know, Bill picked Nelson Rockefeller in 1964 and George Romney in 1968. Fred Whittemore stepped down as class chairman and turned the reins over to Dr. Jack Crisp. Jack will serve until our next reunion. Other class officers elected include Fred Stephens as vice president, DaveBurner as treasurer, and Bob Malin takes my place as class secretary. Dick Blum and Jack Newton continue their duties as newsletter editor and head class agent. Jack gave the Class a report at dinner and it looks like we had another highly successful campaign.
In addition to the above officers, our new executive committee consists of TomBloomer, Ed Condit, Dick Geisser, BobHenderson, Paul Paganucci, Jack Senne, TedSpeigel, and Stan Westberg.
My award for "dirty trick of the weekend" goes to Fred Whittemore. At our cocktail party Saturday, he introduced Len Gochman and told a couple of hundred people that Len would be "happy" to sing a song for the Class. He performed admirably with "I Believe in You" which he did on Broadway in "How To Succeed in Business."
Awards were given at the class dinner to those who have served as class agents ten or more years. They include: Fifteen Years: Tom Bloomer. Ed Condit, Dick Geisser, Bob Henderson, Jack Newton, Paul Paganucci, Jack Senne. Ted Speigel, and Stan Westberg. Fourteen Years: Bud Friedman, and Marv Klein. Thirteen Years: Don Bigham, John Corcoran, Bill Gilges, Bill King, Bob Malin, Herb Solow, and Fred Stephens. Twelve Years: Jack Crisp, Pete Reich, and Con Williams. Eleven Years: Perry Free, Bill Vitalis, and Tom Wiley. Ten Years: Bill Beutel, Jim Decker, Bruce Gilmore, Jay Hague, Byron Menides, and Dick Stanley.
It was a good reunion and demonstrated again the esprit de corps of Dartmouth in general and our Class in particular.
In closing, I'd like to say that it's been interesting and fun keeping in touch with many of you this past five years through this column.
RETIRING CLASS SECRETARY
