1949

Fifty-four ALUMNI MAGAZINE issues have gone to press since last we gathered on the Hanover Plain. During the six-year interim a great deal has happened to this old world of ours and to our college as well. The rock and roll beat we may have first heard on the ed Sullivan show has now become a pattern of life for most of our kids and, like it or not, a metronome for our own lives as well, the pace has indeed quickened, and life seems just that much more complex than it did at our fifteenth. Psychologists insist that we don't have the capacity to relate to our own youth, and gerontologists admonish us for our impatience with our own elders. We cannot even greet a friend on the street with a timeless "Isn't it a pleasant day?" for fear of offending a possible anti-pollutionist, and if we like anything at all as it is or was. we're mocked for being just plain "out of it." Well, I have news for all our detractors in the so-called beat generation. This coming June 19-20-21 our crowd is going to hold its very own combination sit-in and stand-in. And if we have any kind of bad weather, it may wind up being a run-in. For any of you cats who are homesick; for Woodstock, we have one of those, too, with lots of farmers' fields to become mired in and lots and lots of cows that munch on the kind of grass you can't smoke. There'll be plenty of greeting, meeting, and eating with enough free time to do your own thing and even to bug the establishment at a confrontation or two. It's all part of the big scene, so be there and be sure to bring along other activists. This rally calls for everyone's support. Let's show the world that we mean business.

And while we're on the subject of our upcoming June reunion, we must not let the details of our next class fall weekend escape us. Set aside the dates of next October 9 and 10 right now. For the first time we have scheduled our get-together to coincide with the Princeton football game, and this should be a honey. Gordon Thomas has a limited number of rooms reserved for us, but you had better drop him a note right now while you're thinking of it or risk the chance of having to pitch your own tent His address is RD #1, New Canaan, Conn. As previously mentioned, Quent Kopp heads the Gold Pick Axe Committee for the award to be presented that weekend. We have decided to accept nominations just this one time until June 30 so that anyone choosing to offer a name to Quent at the June reunion or immediately afterwards may do so. His address is suite #304, 351 California Street, San Francisco, Calif. 94104. Please be reminded that it is important to develop some background information on your candidate which often can be in part supplemented by the college alumni records office at your request. The candidate must qualify with you as a leader in a sphere of activity which labels him as a man of whom you would say with pride, "he was a classmate of mine at Dartmouth."

Digging into the mail bag we come up with several recent letters and clippings. Peter New wrote us from Tufts University Medical School that he has both a twenty-fifth reunion from high school and the twentieth from college in the same month as many others of us do. He finds reunions a little depressing "what with all the lovely alumni shaking their heads and saying that the old beer keg ain't what it used to be." I am sure that there are many of you with the same point of view. In most cases you have never been back to a reunion, and your mind's eye is fixed on the stereotype of the alumnus who tries to recapture his undergraduate experience on a weekend diet of beer and braggadocio. Exploding this myth are thousands of men and their families ilies who have taken the time to come back, who sincerely feel a commitment to the College and the community, and who value the many friendships developed there. I wish that you would all give serious consideration to reuning with us. As I mentioned before, I am confident that you would discover to your great delight that there is far more to a reunion than a flowing keg of beer.

Dr. Edward "Mac" McAlister writes from 3872 Liggett Drive, Point Loma, San Diego, Calif. He claims that it is the first time he has ever written, his letter occasioned by his marriage on Thanksgiving eve to the former Jeanne Stewart. He describes her as a stunning blonde, reminiscent of a more youthful combination of Eve Arden and Simone Signoret. Mac is still working as an industrial psychologist with the Personnel and Training Research Laboratory on Point Loma where he is program director. He does a lot of skiing in California, and his daughters by his first marriage fly in from New York to ski with him. He states that he does see Bob Liechti up in Orange County but would like to visit with other classmates whenever they hit town.

"The Granite State Gazette" offers us a clipping announcing the birth of a daughter, Jane Patricia, on January 9 to Mr. andMrs. John Goodrich of Littleton, N. H. Our last report indicated that John was the Social Security Administration field representative in the area. Paul Denecke sent us an announcement of the birth of his first son, Daniel, on January 20 in Minneapolis. The baby was bora at 8:30 A.M. in 27 degree below zero weather. He's a lucky boy. I doubt if I could even get my car started in that kind of weather.

The other evening an impressively large group of loyal Dartmouth men turned out to greet President Kemeny on his first visit to the New York area since his installation. I am sure that I may have missed a face or two, but I did see Tom Barr, Gordon Thomas, Herb Gramstorff, Dave Jones, Dick Bandfield, Doug Thomson, Rog Sheldon, Al Smith, Dick Horr, Bob Alden, Bob Pridham, El Baritz, and Joel Berson. The sheer crush of humanity at the cocktail hour and the great interest in President Kemeny's speech curtailed my news gathering, but I did learn that Doug Thomson is still with Uniroyal but assigned to the New York area until a new company complex is completed in Connecticut. Al Smith practices medicine in Brooklyn and has a special interest in geriatrics, and Rog Sheldon is currently a man of leisure searching for a new business opportunity.

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