1944

This is the earthquake issue of your Class notes, or at least primarily so. Occurred to me that the dozen or so '44s who live in the Los Angeles area might have something to say about that awful quake that hit at 6:01 on the morning of February 9. This is not a fun report—news is so often tragedy—but it seems to me that these descriptions of feelings and experience outrank the usual observations on our kids, our vacations, and our golf games.

Ed Eubanks - (general manager, Eubanks Engineering Co., Pasadena) writes: "Our old two-story frame house pitched and rolled like a ship in a choppy sea for a few minutes but suffered little damage beyond a wrecked brick chimney and a few plaster cracks. At the Eubanks factory in Monrovia, eight rows of metal shelves loaded with machine parts were knocked over like a row of dominoes. It took six people eight days to straighten out the mess. We were very lucky."

From Dick Guthrie (attorney with Music Corporation of America): "Among Dartmouth alums, perhaps I was among the closest to 'the action'—about half a mile from the new $22 million development at Olive View Hospital that went down. Training in the DOC can come in handy when you go nine days without water, gas or telephone service . . .

"I cannot recall with clarity what I thought, heard or felt during those first five minutes; apparently my senses went into shock. Nine inches of water surged out of the swimming pool, a 40 foot lanai structure and 160 feet of block wall came crashing down, no end of broken glass, the cars bounced together in the garage. It took 30 minutes to get through the house to the dogs in the garage . . . they would have been killed had they been loose in the kitchen. Once we got ourselves outside, two fires were visible nearby. The home directly across the street was destroyed; we are still, after two weeks, discovering damage in the neighborhood."

Chatsworth engineer Larry Flower: "I must admit that I'm getting a bit tired of being declared a disaster area (twice in four months), but probably the fire was more fearsome than the earthquake (although the latter obviously did much more damage). I was in bed reading the morning paper and Mary Lee was in the kitchen starting breakfast. There was a great, sharp 'crunch,' then violent shaking. The lights went out and glasses and things started breaking. My main concern was that Mary Lee and our daughter, Ann, might cut their feet on the glass. It felt like a giant had taken the corner of the lot and was snapping it like you snap a rug. Getting out of bed was difficult because one was continually thrown off balance. We finally got some flashlights going and found the coffee pot still intact. Breakage was slight. We had no structural damage to the house nor to our other properties in the Valley. Finally, after some 250 aftershocks, I think I'm getting my sea legs."

And an I-was-in-the-middle from Dick Ranger (Ford Motor Company—Autolite): "I was on the 19th floor of a Los Angeles Hotel for a Ford meeting. I was jolted out of bed seconds after six o'clock and the hotel was snapping back and forth like a whip. It was the most awful few seconds of my life; I was sure that the whole hotel was going to tumble 19 stories into the street. It was goodbye to my wife, kids, friends. But a few minutes passed and the place didn't collapse. I could hardly believe I was still alive."

Dick tells of a colleague on the tenth floor who relaxed the harassed guests who thronged into the hallway by shouting: "Gee, I left a call for six o'clock, but this is a bit much!"

A 1 Rose (general patent attorney in Beverly Hills) was in Massachusetts at the time of the big shake and went through the harrowing business of trying to get in touch with his family. He finally made it by teletype to find out that they and the house were safe. "A half foot of water was shaken out of the swimming pool," he said, "and everyone was obviously scared, but little damage was done to the south side of the San Fernando Valley where we live. The aftershocks, however, coming every day or two, have been most disturbing."

And that's the quake report as we have it from those five respondents; continued next month if others come in.

Freshman Fathers Weekend deserves mention, in that it brought six '44s to Hanover in mid-February to share the Dartmouth experience with their sons. The above-mentioned Dick Ranger came by far the farthest; others on hand were HarryCarey, president of the Bristol, Mass., County Trust Co.; Dave Nutt, v.p. of Ketchum, MacLeod & Grove, Inc. (advertising); Phil Penberthy, v.p. of the Consolidated Cigar Corp.; Penn Frost, athletic sales manager; and Charlie Regan, ophthalmologist in Wellesley, Mass. Charlie's star patient, Tony Conigliaro, has been traded to San Diego, and Charlie says he's willing to make a house-call any time Tony calls him . . Bob Wiley, obstetrician-gynecologist in near-by Laconia, couldn't make it because of a longstanding skiing commitment in Davos, but his son Chris was an active member of the freshman planning committee.

Dave and Patty Eckels had their usual bash for '44 Freshman Fathers and their sons, and while there was snow a-plenty that weekend, none had to snowshoe his way through a February blizzard to get to their house. Dave, incidentally, has just won a highly-prized position on the Hanover School Board. He'll serve for three years.

Well, blizzards, schmizzards ... by the time you get this it will be spring and/or mud-time in New Hampshire. Take your pick. We who live here have made ours. Blessings.

Secretary, 309 Crosby Hall Hanover, N. H. 03755

Class Agent, Lawyers Co-operative Publ. Co. Aqueduct Bldg., Rochester, N. Y. 14603