1949

Little can be said for attempting to write the first column for Dartmouth's two hundredth academic year on the beach. A land breeze with its inevitable green flies screens out any worthwhile thoughts, and this is no year to be caught in a dead air space. Hanover continues to center news of all degrees of pith and moment, and having personally been in Hanover five times in the past twelve months for various occasions I can heartily endorse the thought that we are all witness to the most dynamic if not the most trying period in the history of our college. This coming June 19-20-21 you all have the opportunity to see just what I mean when we have our twentieth reunion with the classes of 1950 and 1951. There will be a great deal to report right through the year from our reunion chairman Gordon Thomas who is planning a comprehensive program not only for the adults but for the children as well. Do put the dates aside right now.

Speaking of reunions, I still have poignant memories of our last one and some pencilled notes taken there which have been reserved for emergency needs when the class news might be scarce. Do you suppose Ken McClain will be the first man to show up as he was at our fifteenth? The Fort Worth petroleum geologist arrived on Wednesday with reunion chairman PaulWoodberry, touting his native state as the place where the real West begins.

I wonder if the king of the sandwich men will be back? Ted King truly had a corner on both the bologna and the peanut butter markets during his undergraduate days, and after he and his partner Ken Fulton '46 hit Massachusetts Row twice during an evening there was mighty little loose change left on the bureaus. In fact their enterprise cleared about one hundred dollars a week according to Ted. So wouldn't you expect the guy to take a fling at the food business? He passed it all off as training for the wholesale oil business in New Haven.

Here's one I've been saving much too long as reported by Du Pont structural design engineer Jim Sullivan. I did write up a few comments he had to offer about the Houston Astrodome some while ago, but I failed to mention Jim's visit with Astrodome president Judge Roy Hofheinz. It seems that the famous judge lives right at the stadium in magnificent quarters adjoining the 550-foot-long stadium club which is open all year for occasions of all size. Jim was ushered through the judge's magnificent quarters as well as the entire Astrodome complex for which he had many glowing professional comments as a reinforced concrete and steel construction expert, but the single item which really made him flip was the good judge's one-of-a-kind gold mohair toilet seat.

I remember so vividly gathering notes down at Storrs Pond during that great lobster fest on Saturday. Ed McNeil was down there talking about his sales functions at Saint Regis Paper Company and the fact that he was a close neighbor of Tom Bright in Chagrin Falls, outside of Cleveland. A general impression that hardly could be overlooked was that our classmates were for the most part athletic zealots. I wonder if this sportsoramic fever still persists or whether it may be burning out in favor of the bigger picture tube. Does Lew Geer still have a camping romance going with the Indian River country in Michigan? Are Grant and Mary Anne Keeler still as enthusiastic about both deep sea and surf fishing along the Jersey coast? Will the many skiers such as Charlie and Bea Schuetz save a few days of vacation for our June festivities, and will tennis nut Jack Ransom forsake his own back yard court? And the golfing buffs too numerous to list but certainly including New England hot shots Dick Hyman and Jack Kilmartin must be induced either to swear off or bring the sticks with them.

By now I am sure that most of you are aware of the fact that the 1969 Alumni Fund came within the width of a Wheaties flake of matching its goal. It fell a mere one percent or $20,000 short which was amazingly good considering the economic obstacles encountered. The class average gift held at $68, but the number of donors dropped 36 and the class total giving fell off $2500. This is somewhat disheartening as the missing donors would have put us over the top.

Quite a bit of news has come in over the summer months thanks to your cards and the national clipping services. To furnish you with a wee bit of it for aye let me begin by telling you about Bob Smith of Swampscott, Mass. He has just been named district manager at the Maiden office of Massachusetts Electric Company. He was recently reported as a newly appointed vice president and manager of the North Shore Gas Company of Salem.

There is late news of yet another classmate named Smith. Sam Smith, science teacher and soccer coach for fifteen years in New Hampshire public and private schools, has been appointed an assistant director of admissions at Dartmouth. His efforts will primarily be directed in the recruiting of qualified students among the disadvantaged.

Warren G. Norris has been elected a vice president of Johnson and Higgins, international insurance brokers and employee benefit plan consultants. He joined the firm two years ago as a senior consultant in the employee benefit plan department, and he was named an assistant vice president in 1968. The Norris family lives in North Caldwell, N. J.

We are very happy to report that classmate Bill Harper has just become engaged to Anabel Boyce of Baltimore. We have no wedding notice yet, but the big moment could have come and gone what with the dilatory dispatches.

Deputy Mayor Philip Lord was recently named Republican of the year by the Women's Republican Club of Windsor, Conn. Lord has been very active in civic affairs and is employed as sales manager of the Noble and Westbrook division of the Bristol Brass Company.

Bruce Benner has been elected a vice president in the Ann Arbor Bank's commercial loan department. He previously had been a vice president of the Continental Illinois Bank and Trust Co. in Chicago.

That's it for now but I hope to have the pleasure of seeing many of you in Hanover for our Class Fall Weekend even before you read this.

Secretary, 15 Twin Oak Rd. Short Hills, N. J. 07078

Treasurer, 530 East 86th St., New York. N. Y. 10028