1916

From Munich Skimèister Freddy Frederiksen sends his "best regards and all good wishes to all '16ers for einen guten Rutsch in's neue Jahr (a good skid into the New Year for you). May it be no worse than the last!" Bearing these greetings is a gorgeous card picture of the "world's greatest ski-jump" at Oberstdorf in Allgau, where the present record is 492 feet. On the outrun is the massed crowd below, Freddy has inked a cracked-up skier labelled 1970; while one just starting down is labelled 1971 ... After the barrel-stave stage, Freddy says his "first skis were seven foot ones weighing about ten pounds apiece, with a single pole even longer and an inch and half through to push with, all made by a local carpenter. But there were also great advantages in those days. We didn't pay a fortune getting to a ski-lift and spending most of our time there queueing up. When we skied we skied, to and from classes, to Moose Mountain Lodge on weekends, up Mt. Washington on election day weekends; and the whole outfit: skis, bindings, poles, shoes, pants—the works—cost about ten dollars."

Simultaneously there also came some verse by our "Poet, by golly!" Ruby McFalls. Both communications are being shipped to John Stearns for his March BALMACAAN. (d.v.)

"Vergil Rector and I," added Ruby, "have met twice these past few days here in La Jolla. Verge is a champion walker, and keeps his lean, fit and cheerful self in shape by covering several miles a day. We used to play a bit of golf together but he gave it up a while back. He took my money regularly."

Paul and Margaret Wadleigh (Jan. 23): "are giving up a big house with lots of gardens (although it tears us up a bit to leave our roses) to take an apartment, have more time to travel, play golf, etc. Address: 2999 East Ocean Boulevard. Apartment 1230. Long Beach, Calif. 90803.

In memory of our visit to the ruins of Heliopolis together in December 1954, Leslie Leavitt has kindly sent us a copy of his With Youth on Phoenician Shores. It is at once an impressive record of his own forty years' service as principal of International College at Beirut but should be an invaluable vade mecum for any other workers, public or private, who wish to be effective in that part of the world. See John Chipman's ('19) tribute to Leslie and his book in the June 1969 issue of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE ... December 1954 it must have been because our completely documented John Ames reminds me that it was three months earlier, on the same trip, that he had me lifted by chopper from Seoul via Freedom Bridge and the DMZ to the Munsan-ni Korea HQ of the U N Armistice Commission of which he was then Chief of Staff. Happy days.

But it is with sadness this month that we report the passing of two more of our stalwarts: On December 20, 1970 MaxBoehm Saben died at Washington, D.C., and on January 21, Whitley Peterson McCoy died in the V A Hospital at Tuscaloosa, Ala. In Memoriam notices will be found in that section of this or a later issue of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE.

In "The Glitter and the Gold: A Spirited Account of the Metropolitan Museum's First Director, the Audacious and High- handed Luigicesnola" (published January 1971 by the Dial Press), the author Elizabeth McFadden pays grateful acknowledgement to the College and to one Professor John Barker Stearns for placing at her disposal the letters between Cesnola and Hiram Hitchcock on which the biography largely is based. What ho, let's hear about it, John.

If Ell Brill continues to recover from three recent trips to the hospital he hopes to get to Hanover for our 55th on June 1113. We trust that those dates are marked in green on the calendars of you all.

Secretary, Box E, Swarthmore, Pa. 19081

Treasurer, Singletary Ave., Sutton, Mass. 01527