1958
The month of February was really a fine one for the Yusens and while I am sure that your thoughts now in April are of golf, tennis and the like, I will bore you with some of our doings. This is what happens when there is little mail in the bag to fall back on.
We left for two weeks skiing in Europe on the first of February and after some very thorough security checks before boarding planes both here in Boston and in Zurich, we skied for two days in the very new French resort of Flaine. Flaine was designed by American architect Marcel Breuer and is very stark—modern concrete and glass with covered shopping malls and electronic baby siting. The skiing is fairly good and the price, $10.00 per person with three meals is outstanding. From there we did some sensational skiing in Chamonix with deep powder and exciting runs. Jane did a good job of running me into the ground. Our next stop was Zermatt in Switzerland. As we were walking down the street just after our arrival, I commented to Jane that our six-day stay would not go by without us meeting someone from Dartmouth. Not ten minutes later we ran into Barry Stompe and his wife Heidi. Two days later we bumped into John Fisk who had come to Zermatt when he heard that we had changed our plans and were not going to Austria and just by sheer coincidence we found each other. So our skiing and socializing was decidedly and delightfully Dartmouth. Barry and Heidi are living in Los Angeles and are both working for TWA. Barry is presently a copilot on 727's and Heidi is a stewardess flying international. Barry met Heidi who is originally from Cologne, Germany, when they worked together on his first international flight. Heidi says and Barry admits that his first advances were met with an icy freeze, but that Dartmouth charm prevailed and they have been married for two years. Barry plays a lot of good tennis in L. A. and they both get to ski quite a bit. He proved to be such a good guide for our group in Zermatt that when he left we never seemed to be able to find the best skiing. Barry says that he sees Dr. MarkSaginor in L. A. now and then. Mark is practicing metabolic medicine which I guess means to some extent keeping people's waistlines at the right level or getting them there. Mark too, is a tennis player with a court in his back yard. Barry has many airline stories, but the funniest involves a New Year's eve flight to Las Vegas with a plane full of rather inebriated passengers. It seems that shortly after takeoff they were informed that there was supposed to be a bomb on board so they returned to L. A. After everyone was moved into a private lounge, in walked very solemn official who said in a very serious voice, "Ladies and gentlemen, we have reason to believe there is a bomb on board the plane; I am Agent Steve Ducker of the FBI and I will be conducting the investigation." At this point a little old lady in the front row waved her finger in the air and said, "Well, ring-a-ding-ding." Steve didn't even flinch. Barry also reports that Tom Chomentowski is flying for TWA. The Stompes left Zermatt early to meet Bruce Blackwell who is living in Geneva and, after working for Union Carbide there, has now formed his own enterprise doing agricultural surveys and providing chemicals for that industry. It was a pleasure skiing and being with the Stompes—we hope to see them again soon. Honestly, Barry, I didn't have a tape recorder with me. In this job one gets very sensitive to news for the column.
John Fisk is still living in Paris with wife Utta and a son, 4, and daughter, 1½. John is doing legal counselling and is very involved in some interesting private ventures. He is working on the importation of some Czech films into this country. One of these is being shown at the Cannes film festival. John is on a strict "drinking man's diet" which has done him wonders. I can no longer say that for a fat man he really skis well. We were sorry that Utta couldn't have been with us too. Our vacation was made that much nicer by being with some fine Dartmouth people.
For the very same reason, I think that all those who attended the Second Annual Alumni Ski Weekend March 3-5 sponsored by our class, enjoyed themselves thoroughly. The weekend was almost cancelled when on Thursday, it was sleeting in Hanover and the Skiway was closed, but after calling 70 couples, two-thirds of them said they would come anyway and thanks to a little snow on Friday and nice weather on Saturday, the skiing was bearable. At final count we had about 100 people with the oldest class, 1930, represented by U. S. Congressman from Illinois, Robert McClory; the farthest distance travelled by Chuck and Sally Bradford who came in from Holland, Mich. 1958 was the class with the most people with eight couples. On Saturday we had our races at the Skiway and despite the very icy conditions we had no admissions to Dick's House. In the Men's long course, Tryg Myhren came in first by a strong 1.8 seconds. Tryg has been pointing towards this race for a year now, maintaining a rigid exercise schedule complete with stationary bicycle in the basement. I came in (not in very good style I might add) in third place, a full 4.4 seconds off of Tryg's pace, followed by John Parker and Ted Harris with PeteHerman in 7th and Chuck Bradford in 9th. Recognition should be given to Ned Harris, son of Ted, who asked to run the long course after all others had finished on a very icy course. Ned beat me by 2 seconds and his father by 4 seconds. '58 didn't do so well in the men's short race. "Cack" Bittner finished in 8th place and Colin Norberg, whose wife Sue ran away with the women's race by a full 5 seconds, came in last. We are told, though, that Sue is a ringer having been skiing since five. She grew up in Hanover and went through the Ford Sayre program. Sheila Herman came in 3rd and Mary Ann Harris finished in 4th, followed by Libby Parker with Jane Yusen in 8th and Sally Bradford in 9th. I must say that Jane had a fine run only to find that the clock (which I was running) didn't get started so she had to race again and fell. Things are a little touchy on that subject right now. In the kid's race, the best '58 could do was a 6th to Ned Harris, a 7th for Kristin Herman, 9th for Tom Harris, and 11th for John Bittner.
Saturday night we had a fine cocktail party and dinner in Alumni Hall and then the awarding of trophies. We saw the superb movie "Americans on Everest" and then most of us retired to the Inn Cocktail lounge closing that establishment for the second night in a row. Sunday was snowy and Paul Newman came out to the Skiway to campaign for McCloskey. All in all it was a fine weekend enjoyed by all. I hope even more '58's will take part next year. The Class of '36 threatens to have the most entries next year. In my next column I will relay some of the news I garnered about some of those who were at the weekend. Right now I have run out of space.
Secretary, 43 Cornell Rd. Wellesley, Mass. 02181
Class Agent, Varnum, Riddering, Wierengo & Christenson 666 Old Kent Bldg. Grand Rapids, Mich. 49502
