1926
Deadlines are such that I find myself the last day of February in Darien, Conn., amid new storm warnings and with Boston already under 3 feet of snow preparing class notes for April "with its showers soote." The incongruity is heightened by a note written while "sitting out under the warm Tucson sun" from Al Louer enclosing his thoughtfully prepared, excellent in content and concisely presented campaign suggestions for all '26 class agents. His memo serves to remind that "with the droghte of March perced to the rote" the alumni fund campaign starts and our goal is nothing less than $63,000 plus from 400 donors and a clear cut Green Derby winner.
Al reports he and Ellen dined with the Ed McClintocks, I suppose in shirt sleeves, enjoying Chef Ed's outdoor "specialties de la maison." He also reports Del and BillieWorthington in absentia, poor souls, "because they are on a cruise to the South Seas." Although Kay was first to hand me, Dean Chamberlain also kindly mailed me, the February 14 New York Times announcement that Richard Eberhart who was last year's winner of the Pulitzer Prize for "Selected Poems 1930-1965" and co-winner in 1962 of the Bollingen Poetry prize, was this year's selection of the Board of Chancellors of the Academy of American Poets to receive their 1969 $5000 Fellowship award. More interesting, if less pecuniarily valuable, was a most sensitive and perceptive review a few weeks earlier in the Sunday Times Book Section of Dick's latest book of Poems "Shifts of Being." In the buoyant spirit of his poetry and his person, Dick, God bless him, reminds us youth is more a quality of the imagination, a quickening of the spirit, than a paucity of years.
Ed Hanlon sent me a Times item of February 17 I missed. Its tenor was that Columbia was seeking candidates for eight of its leading posts including the presidency and that of Courtney C. Brown, dean of the School of Business for 15 years who "said last month he would retire in June. However he has agreed to stay on longer 'if a successor is not named by then.' "
Effective March 1, after forty years in banking one of the nation's most highly rebankers and one of its foremost authorities on lending practices and money market operations George Champion, Chase Manhattan Board Chairman, retired from active management of the Bank. During his chairmanship Chase assets have grown from 9.3 billion to 19.3 billion and its deposits from 8.1 billion to 16.7 billion. His contributions were broad in scope, outstanding in quality and enduring in significance. He will continue his 40-year career of service as a member of the board.
From So. Sutton, N. H., Bob Patten, sent me a clipping from the Argus-Champion of Newport, N. H., captioned "Andler featured in N. H. Profiles" with this personal addendum. "Ken is not only a lawyer and banker but also a gifted painter as a hobby. He's done many paintings which have been on display in this town at various times." When I observed last month Ken Andler was obviously a man for all seasons, little did I know how accurate would the observation turn out to be. I quote from the N. H. Profiles: "A distinguished attorney, he never spent a day in law school; self-taught artist, his oil paintings have become collectors' items in his native state. The author of two books for boys, one of his articles in Harper's Magazine, 'Surveyor in the Woods,' won him inclusion, along with such big league professionals as John Steinbeck, Paul Gallico, Clarence Day, and Mark Twain, in a textbook designed to teach college students the art of good writing." Hub gets the profile for more adequate treatment in Smoke Signals.
More famous to me than F.P.A.'s fabled "From Tinker to Evers to Chance" is that class news triple play, From Roberts to Harwood to Esquerré. The combination is responsible for the following news items originating in green slip notes to Jack with remittances of class dues last fall. Paul Harper- "It is a beautiful fall afternoon - too good to be writing billets doux to my creditors - but I have to leave on a trip to visit our overseas faculty group. My family roster includes a daughter at Pine Manor, a son at Brown, and Ginie in high school. With luck, I should have three in college next year." Charlie Mac Donald - "Lillian and I have just returned home from a wonderful vacation in Scotland and England and then a two-week cruise of the Greek Islands, Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, etc. Left the cruise at Venice and then drove through Austria to Vienna, Salzburg and then flew home from Munich."
This month instead of closing with a Book Title Thought of the Month I suggest we all take to heart Chuck Webster's excellent "Operation Attic" suggestions from Hub's February Smoke Signals and act as suggested. Make the first 50 years of the '26 Book Collection period the subject of every party you attend. Get into attics. One way or another get those books.
Secretary, 8 Old Farm Rd. Darien, Conn. 06820
Class Agent, 12 Roger Williams Ave. Highland Park, Ill. 60035
