1932

Leader Pierpont, who may well go down in the annals as Howdy the Forehanded, has taken an option in the Class's name, for next fall's Princeton game weekend in Hanover, on a passel of brick, mortar, pine planks, and blueprints. The fond hope is that come October this melange will have metamorphosed into a wing of a new Holiday Inn on Route 91. You'll be hearing more about this shortly.

Bob McConnochie reports in from Lansing, Mich., where Bob is a fiscal analyst for the state legislature. The McConnochies moved to Michigan from Massachusetts five years ago, at which time Bob acquired a master's degree in adult and higher education at Michigan State.

"Planning to retire next spring so I can indulge my hobbies," writes Philadelphia librarian AI Gerould. "Went down Grand Canyon on a raft with my 16-year-old twins last summer. One more kid graduates from college this spring."

Fred Leyser, continuing to enjoy retirement from teaching in Darien, Conn., has joined Kiwanis, works hard as area chairman for the Parents and Friends Fund of the U. of Connecticut, and is now a trustee of the Rowayton United Methodist Church. And Win Smoyer checks in from Alhambra, Calif., having "hung up the professorial togs after about 30 years in high schooling." But Win is doing it the hard way; he became chairman of the board of education. Last fall he and Kay visited old stamping grounds around Akron and points east, and took the Yale game. Their oldest daughter Anne, Stanford and Southern Cal., lives in Phoenix, married to surgeon Dr. Steve Thomas and mother of two. Younger daughter Susan, done with college and working, is still at home. The Smoyers recently had dinner with Mai and Marie Metcalf.

Cal Keirstead, recently returned from a trip to the Far East, writes from Hartford: "Interesting to see many of these countries growing very rapidly and gaining a good share of the world market with their goods. Construction projects in Japan and Singapore were fantastic. Their labor costs are so much lower, they will be tough to compete with."

Carl Ward, postaling from Berkeley, on the world situation: "I doubt if any 60-year olders can honestly answer. For us, pretty grim, yet hasn't it always been so? I can only hope we can find an intelligent way out, and I do not mean walking out on commitments or sacrificing future security." Carl had recently enjoyed great skiing in 6 inches of dry powder on Mt. Reba and was planning to do a lot more this winter from a new vacation home near Arnold up at 5,000 feet in the Sierra.

And here is a good letter from PaulLeach, back in Arlington, Va., after some 5 years with AID in Libya and Liberia. Paul was due to make a short trip to Africa, which he thought would be his last tour overseas before retirement. Paul and Thelma, who are now twice grandparents — both their children live in or near Arlington — motored to New York State last year, at which tirtie they spent a few days with Peteand Helen Power in Rochester. Later they visited Jim and Mary Flint in Charlotte, N. C. Paul still operates his ham radio station (his call is W4FHE, and he operates on all bands from 75 through 10 meters), and he particularly wants Sid Alexander to drop him a note re getting together on the air.

In a recent column, recalling the idea propounded by Ernest Martin Hopkins that a given college class tends to produce a group who distinguish themselves in a particular field, we solicited your thoughts on how this theory fits '32. The item having brought zero replies, we were suffering a recurrence of Columnist's Insecurity (identifiable by the anguish inner cry, "We are not read!") when, happily, came this from good John "Constant Reader" Keller relative to, if not on, the question:

I was prepared for the question... because I remember a conversation with you during commencement week when we both stayed in Hanover (sophomore year?). On the program at 6 P.M. was the Class of '77 Trumpeters, heard from the balcony way up near the clock on the Baker Tower. I opined that the trumpeters in the Class of '77 would then be about 75 years old, that the climb to the balcony would be pretty tiring (unless Baker had a secret elevator I had never seen), and how come, anyway, the Class of '77 produced so many trumpeters? You said it was merely factual evidence of E. M. Hopkins' Class-Field Concentration Hypothesis; that the Class of '77 had a lot of hidden musical talent, oddly enough mostly trumpeters, not many violinists, and that those with this talent came back each year to demonstrate their excellence. Other classes produced lawyers or doctors, but not the Class of '77. I know I marveled at your application of the hypothesis; I also marveled at how loud the trumpets sounded after the old gaffers had climbed all those stairs to the belfry. I was not a little fearful that the effort would make them dizzy, to say nothing of the height, and each evening I breathed a little easier after the trumpeters were safely off the balcony and back inside Baker Tower.

Secretary, Orchard Hill Road Westport, Conn. 06880

Treasurer, 2914-44 th St., N.W. Washington, D. C. 20016