1949

This morning I saw two Canadian honkers wheel in the sky, circle and land on the pond at the bottom of the hill; yesterday, while walking the south forty, I discovered that the Bib lettuce had pushed through the surface; tomorrow the boat will be launched for the season. I don't need a calendar to tell me that spring has fully arrived and that summer indolence will soon be upon us. My indolence will take the posture of a vacation from you for a period of three months—not that it isn't fun—but, deadlines are not for mariners, gardeners and mosquito slappers! But, perhaps unfortunately for you all, I shall return in October, hopefully with all the news you shall contribute over the summer months.

Since I won't have your eyes or ears in time for '49ers to make plans sufficiently in advance, it is essential that I outline the plans for our fall get-together in October. Although it seems early to dream of autumn colors in Vermont and New Hampshire, please mark your calendars now for September 1 as the date on which you will make the decision to attend the best weekend of the year in coed Hangover. This year the special event will take place the weekend of the Princeton game, October 13-15. Rooms at the Holiday Inn in Whitetown are secure and details on how to insure a pillow for your head, that of fairer sex and offspring will be supplied by Vail Haak in a newsletter close enough to the event to not be summarily discarded. As usual of late, the Class will have an informal social gathering around the keg (with ice and set-ups supplied to the hardcore) on Friday night at the Faculty Lounge in Hopkins Center. Bonfires are most visible from this vantage point. The following morning we shall observe cold ashes from the same location during the Class Officers' Meeting, which most certainly will include a preliminary report on arrangements for our twenty-fifth reunion from Albert "Fat" Hughes. Lunch will be catered at the Lounge for all '49 families plus guests and, hopefully, Mike and LoisMcGean will sponsor pre-lunch libations. Saturday, post game, will feature cocktails and the class dinner at some location in the Inn at which the Gold Pick-Ax Award for 1972 will be made. Plan now to join for a truly memorable weekend. In the meantime, please forward any and all nominations for your choice of Class member truly deserving of special recognition to KennethMcClain, 529 Ft. Worth National Bank Bldg., Fort Worth, Texas 26102. More on this later from Vail Haak.

Whilst digging through my flies I recently discovered a letter dated September 15, 1971 from Pete New. It was filed under "Tennis Balls," where else? Pete found that one can fall out of, as well as into, canyons. The dean of Pete's medical school at Tufts advised that CHASM (Department of Community Health and Social Medicine) had fallen into a ditch last June 30. So, rather than remain as a potential janitor emeritus, Pete headed North to accept a position as professor in the Department of Behavioral Science at the University of Toronto Medical School coupled with a professor's chair in the Department of Sociology. Professor New felt in September, 1971 that he would probably have to change his allegiance from the Bruins to the Maple Leafs. Hope he didn't!

One of our Gold Pick-Ax recipients, Slade Gorton, made big news in the San Francisco Chronicle and the Seattle Times in March as a result of his testimony in the trial of Joe Alioto, current Mayor of the City on the Bay. Slade was responsible for bringing a 2.3 million dollar unit against flamboyant Joe on behalf of cities and utilities in Washington State to recover allegedly excessive attorney's fees paid to Alioto in the prosecution of damage claim suits earlier in cooperation with Slade's predecessor as State Attorney General. A. G. Slade's testimony anent fee splitting elicited mucito histrionics in the courtroom. Sadly for Slade, and for aspiring San Francisco mayor, Quent Kopp, Alioto's trial ended in a verdict for the defendant. Many in legal circles now have permanently raised eyebrows!

Speaking of Quent "Q" Kopp, he is still making the news, most recently in an article by Jerry Burns under the heading "Brisket and Lasagna Circuit." The indomitable Quent is having trouble fitting into his small Supervisor's office, but he stretches out to attend a myriad of community meetings, dinners and luncheons, taking Frau Kaye and offspring to many such functions. Although he sees more of his family these days, his law practice has suffered from his absence to the extent he was forced to break up a law partnership he recently formed with great expectations. And I don't believe for a whit Vail Haak's comment in the Newsletter that GuntherPerdue saw Quent in San Fran. Gunther Perdue is obviously a Teutonic-Iberian name—it is not Chinese. Anyway, Gunther never rode a bus in his life!

Zandy Taft didn't make the headlines—his daughter Mary did, by placing third in Division One, Junior Girl's National Exhibition Skiing at Waterville Valley, N. H. Despite Zandy's connections with the state, I am assured he kept clean politically!

Finally, our controversial Commissioner of Housing, New York State, Charles"Jay" Urstadt, besides raising spectres in radio interviews daily and dedicating Leaning Towers of Pisa (or is it Pizza) recently received the non-controversial honor of being elected to the Board of Trustees of Pace College in New York City.

I leave you not with sorrow but with the firm conviction that: (1) I will receive news from many of you over the summer months; (2) you will be assiduous in forwarding nominations for a Gold Pick-Ax Award recipient; (3) many of you will make plans now for our fall weekend; and (4) you will all have the most memorably pleasant summer ever. Peace!

'49ers had a mini-reunion on a March cruise aboard a 73-foot ketch through the"storybook" Grenadine Islands in the Caribbean. Pictured from left, seated on acannon in a hilltop fortress during a shore trip are Barbara Kilner, Ann Gramstorff,Herb Gramstorff, and Sam Kilner. Behind them are Gordon Thomas, left, and acruise friend who took Doris Thomas' place for the cilmb.

Secretary, R.D. 2, Box 234 New Canaan, Conn. 06840

Class Agent, Proctor & Gamble Co., Box 599 Cincinnati, Ohio 45201