1949
As I write this I am on a train bound from Philadelphia to Newark. If I arrive in Newark on time I will have taken as long to make this trip as it just finished taking me to fly the 360 miles from Hanover to Philadelphia which was one hour and twenty minutes. My gracious benefactor, College Trustee Harry Dunning '30, delivered this hitch hiker in his beautifully appointed twin engine Fairchild prop jet from the just concluded winter joint meeting of the trustees and Alumni Council. What a painless trip!! There were no kinks in the back, shrinking gas tanks, thimble bladders, nor antique-filled barns to contend with. Just the wild blue yonder, and you are there a true confection, a real piece of cake.
I left the three-day Alumni Council meetings in Hanover with the strong impression that we are witness to the most challenging time possibly in the entire life span of our College. Major decisions must soon be made as far as selection of a new president and a new undergraduate dean are concerned. The College bicentennial presently is on everyone's collective mind. Some fifty events are scheduled over the next year and one half including a reception for Lord and Lady Dartmouth of England, and a re-enactment of the famous Dartmouth College Supreme Court Case in Washington. And of course there is the Third Century Fund drive now in full gear with its goal of 51 million dollars to assure Dartmouth pre-eminence in the years to come plus an Alumni Fund drive striving to maintain the level of last year.
Furthermore, the College is intensely dedicated in its forward thinking commitments to the educationally disadvantaged. Public school ABC programs are funded and now operating in eight different communities wherein bright but scholastically starved high schoolers are able to live together, work together, and play together while accepting tutorial assistance from local college students. Dean "Doc" Dey '52 of the Tucker foundation together with several of his associates as well as undergraduate contributors and beneficiaries of the good works of the foundation held a luncheon for members of the Alumni Council and outlined their collective efforts. The 1969-70 ABC plans call for expansion into as many as thirty new communities throughout the nation as funds are raised at a cost of $30,000 per installation. The point that pleased me the most about the program was that the basic premise is not founded upon anything smacking of a do-gooder give away. Rather it is grounded in community participation and contribution, for no new program can be begun until one third of the cost is defrayed locally. Furthermore, the general purpose is strictly one of self help through education. Carefully screened students from disadvantaged sectors of the nation's populace, be it the blacks, the American Indians, or those from Appalachia are given the educational bootstrap treatment to enable them to return and help their own people out of the quicksand of ignorance. In light of all this, our class project of book contributions to ABC students in the Upper Valley area seems extremely worth while.
To continue where I left off last month with my interviews over the fall
class weekend, I had occasion to chat with Rich and Betsy Hunt. Rich claims that he only recently crawled out of the woodwork both literally and figuratively. It seems that the Hunts live in a recently renovated brownstone building in Brooklyn. Apparently there was so much paint to peel that they simply had to stick close to home for an extended length of time. He is with the Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company. It was pointed out that same firm recently refused a claim from class prexy Bob Alden, but we'll try not to hold it against them. The firm apparently is active in urban renewal work, so at least Urstadt's gain somewhat offsets Alden's loss. The Hunts often speak with classmate Dave Kimball who with his brother Warren are insurance brokers for College Trustee Ralph Lazarus' ('35) Federated Department Stores.
Paul and Cathie Erwin finally made the weekend after several aforementioned false starts. Paul is basically a trial lawyer and calls home Merion Station, Pa. While not playing basketball with his three boys and two girls, he lectures the Temple University Law School. Cathie Erwin is of English origin. She met "Flash" in Philadelphia on a double date with a mutual friend. The family summers in Rockport on Cape Ann at a place called Folly Cove. They weren't aware of the fact that Pete New summered in the same town until they read the recent write-up about him. Their meeting may be an occasion for that super chop suey dinner we heard about.
Another dividend for all gathered was to have Paul "Skip" and Manya Ungar with us for the first time. Paul Junior is in the twelfth grade at Scotch Plains High School near us here in New Jersey and is applying to the next freshman class. The Ungars are a remarkably talented and vital couple. Last year a young American Field Service student from Australia and a doctor from Argentina lived with them. Manya is very active in the American Field Service, having founded the local chapter in their town and is currently on the selection committee for those students interested in a year's study abroad. Paul was interested in all this but very busy writing a musical for a PTA fund raiser. As both mother and dad still play the best piano heard for miles around, it is a small task to assemble a four piece family band. We had a grand time standing around and listening to both of them play. "Skip" claims that as a perfect complement to his packaging business he will soon be marketing zip-on casts for the fashion right non-skier.
It was also good to see Bob and Jane DeForest with us for the first time. Bob is an internist and cardiologist, and Jane specializes in orthopedics. Classmates in the vicinity of Bristol, R. I., can stop hunting for the ephemeral family doctor. The DeForests are your perfect answer in this age of specialization and one-stop shopping. The family includes one boy and four girls. They are all in love with sailing and have lots of opportunity to tie reef knots both on Narragansett Bay and Lake Champlain.
How many of us have on occasion threatened to chuck it all for a life of relaxation and contentment away from it all? Now comes Carll Tracy to blast holes in this whole concept of its impossibility. Says Tracy, "I'll have my cake and be able not only to eat it, too, but I'll keep myself in the position of being able to afford a lot more cakes in the future. I'll not chuck the city and the world for its business opportunities, but when my white collars get grimy from factory smoke and bus exhausts, I'll do my laundry and build my log fires in Laconia on lovely Lake Winnipesaukee. I'll be the premier world commuter of the National Forge Company." And he has our deep admiration, for he has truly beaten the system.
New York classmates, direct your loan requests to Dick Higley, loan officer at the Irving Trust Company's 245 Park Avenue office. And also offer your congratulations; he has just been elected a vice president. After joining Irving Trust's Metropolitan Division in 1951, he was named an assistant secretary in 1955 and promoted to assistant vice president three years later He and his family live at 79 Prospect Drive Chappaqua, N. Y.
Secretary, 15 Twin Oak Rd. Short Hills, N. J. 07078
Treasurer, 530 East 86th St., New York, N. Y. 10028
