1926
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds, November!
In the notes last month, you will remember that Snipe Esquerre announced that he and Kay are taking their sabbatical leave during the last six months of 1969. While they vagabond through Ireland, England, and France, we, the guest editors will strive mightily to fill in for Snipe's usual scintillating and newsy column. The editor of "Smoke Signals" has been honored to be so invited for the lead off, and to be graduated from its pulp-poor relation to the slick-paper compendium of our class affairs.
The fifth of November (Guy Fawkes Day) has come and gone and already the football season is almost over. However, about the time you read these notes, many of the class will be in Hanover for the Cornell game and the dedication of the new Oberlander Memorial Lounge in the Gymnasium. This is our class memorial to a fine gentleman and great athlete.
Our ever vigilant Class Treasurer JackRoberts (whose annual report has appeared in the autumn issue of "Smoke Signals") sends the following pleasant news items received from his constituents:
Jack Akin - "Since the fall of '67, we have had our home here in Delray Beach where we have been happily enjoying ourselves. If you enjoy quiet country living with one of the finest beaches on the coast, plenty of good golf courses (including CarleBlunt's Country Club of Florida) and ample elbow room, you would like Delray."
Jack Cannon announced his retirement from Chrysler on August 31, but is thinking of picking up a few accounts as a consultant. He has always said, "Leisure is a beautiful garment, but will not do for constant wear."
Bob "Bobo" Williams —"I am semi-re-tired, tired, as elderly character men are not too much in demand."
Ted Seely, too, has written of his retirement as Professor of English after 38 years on the faculty of Allegheny College and a shift to Hollywood, Fla. He agrees with Jack Cannon's philosophy and has accepted a position as Adjunct Professor of English at Barry College in North Miami. His wife Polly is teaching at Nova, the new experimental high school in Ft. Lauderdale. Their daughter is married and living in Lausanne, Switzerland, and son Jonathan '57 teaches at Robert College in Istanbul. The family is, indeed, widely separated.
As the majority of our class were born in 1904, most of the news comes this year of retirements, as you can see from the above. Red Merrill, too, has become Professor Emeritus at Dartmouth and writes that there is an air of unreality about the whole thing - as though this was something that happened to somebody else (how many of us have felt that way!). His associates of the Sociology Department presented him with a handsomely bound volume of letters sentimentally and humorously written by at least 100 of his classmates, faculty colleagues, and other friends expressing their great admiration and respect for his work and his friendship. Red and Emmy left for France in September to resume his appointment of last year to the Faculte des Lettres et Sciences Humaines at the University of Nice by the Ministere de I'Education Nationale of the Republic of France.
Hal Trefethen has moved to Amherst, N. H., since his retirement from the National Shawmut Bank and is greatly missed in the Boston area.
1926 has the reputation of being the most reuning class (if there is such a word) in the history of the College. Tony Gleason tells of the one in New Jersey arranged at the time of Tubber and Mary Weymouth's visit before their trip to Spain this summer; and there was the August reunion in Hanover, both of which were covered in a recent issue of '*Smoke Signals." Then came a smaller and more modest one on Cape Cod when Nate and Jane Parker, Walt and Billie Rankin and Hub and Det Harwood met on Labor Day at the Parkers' home at Menauhant, East Falmouth. Walt brought the unhappy news that Tom Floyd-Jones was severely injured when his golf cart overturned this past summer, and has spent a good part of the fall in the Massachusetts General Hospital. Fortunately, he has made a splendid recovery and should not have any aftereffects to show for the accident, one that might have had tragic consequences. Walt and Billie also reported being in England this summer and had a delightful luncheon at the Bob Breyfogles' home in Sunningale, Berks, just outside of London. Bob is also retired and he and his wife have become inveterate gardeners in the truly English manner.
###Ed Hanlon reports on the Connecticut delegation that Ken (Doc) Godfrey retired about a year and a half ago after 40 years with the U. S. Trust Company in New York. He and Mary continue to live in Riverside. Jim Jenkins has retired from the Bankers Trust Company where he has been a vice president and is living in West Redding. Perhaps Snipe has already mentioned that Jim is president of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
And next comes the big one! The 45th reunion on June 15-17 th, 1970. Remember that at our age, with ever thinning ranks, it is comforting to know that we have accumulated a competence of camaraderie and affection which can be drawn on at will. But, it is later than you think, So think! - Put down June 15-17 for next year on your calendar, and plan to see your classmates at the 45th. That is only seven more months to go.
Subscribers to Yankee Magazine have un- doubtedly been following the ads therein for "Poor Richard's" during the summer months. This is the very unique development of DickSagendorph with dress shops, international gifts, hobby shops, and a coffee shop all in his converted cowbarns, at Brookfield, Mass.
November is the time for mounting snow tires! The flakes will be flying when you next hear from Bob May in December and Ritchie Smith in January.
Secretary, 8 Old Farm Rd. Darien, Conn. 06820
Treasurer, Washington Valley Rd., R.D.1 Morristown, N. J.07960
