1950

For the first time in years the ground was brown and bare. Not even a quarter of an inch of snow had dusted the New Jersey landscape to glisten over the Christmas weekend. Only the festive lights shone through the persistent mists and fog that both enhanced and softened the scene. Only the lights, and out of the still, still night the voices of a group of boys and girls caroling their way home from evening services. Music, ever dimmer, marked their path as they paused for a song at every house. The warmth of those moments pervaded the Yuletide.

The winter season takes over. Basketball and hockey vie for fans as each team seeks another winning season. How tall were you? Half the basketball team is 6-5 or more, with two centers scaling 6-8. Metropolitan Boston, Buffalo, and Minneapolis are no longer the primary source for hockey players. The squad of 22 includes 15 from Canada. Only two each come from Massachusetts and Minnesota. Chuck Solberg's son Charlie learned to play wing in Winnetka. A forward on the Frosh squad is Jim Nye's son Gordie.

Freshman compete on the ski team. One of the best is John Caldwell's son Tim, a member of last year's Olympic team and this year's U. S. national team. Tim, like his father, specializes in cross country. Two alpine aspirants are NeweEldredge's son John, and George Singer's son Bob. Their training grounds were New Hampshire and Vermont, respectively. BruceBarden's son Dick is a sprinter on the track team. Although Dick won his D as a freshman last year, he faces tough competition from this year's crop of fledgling sprinters. Bill Doe's son Bob is working up the ladder on the squash courts, while Harry (Pete) Hall's son Jeff tests his skills in the 158-pound division of grapplers. There are no swimmers. And no daughters appear on the roster of women's teams, with skiing as their principal winter sport. (Incidentally, my records of the Class of '73 are nil, so please forgive any omission of senior sons.)

Cleaning up older news: the Title Insurance Co., in some circles known as Minnesota Title, elected H. Clifton Whiteman Sr. to its board. The company, which operates in 36 states, is one of the largest title insurance companies in the U. S. Clift gravitated to the Midwest after spending about 17 years in New York with Morgan Guaranty Trust, the last ten as vice president. Five years ago he accepted a position as senior vice president of corporate finance for Investors Diversified Services. Other board positions Clift holds include the YMCA, the Northrup Collegiate School, and the Minneapolis Orchestra.

Hugh Brower has begun his second term on the Alumni Council. With his degree from Tuck safely in his grasp, Hugh returned to Chicago and a job with the Harris Trust and Savings Bank. He has been there ever since and, at last report, serves as vice president of the commercial loans.

"1 was dead set against women at Dartmouth until last week when I sent in applications for my three sons ... and my daughter," reports BenMaeck from San Francisco. Ben, an orthopedic surgeon, rounds out his own practice with a departmental chairmanship in his specialty at the Franklin Medical Center, the major teaching hospital of the University of California. Ben sees many classmates as they cruise through his city, he says facetiously, "... in bars and bordellos; rarely at Sunday services, often for late night emergency treatment." Ben was taking off for New Zealand and three weeks of dry-fly trout fishing, for him one of the most relaxing and entertaining of reflective sports. Fortunately, California abounds in trout streams, although the Golden State shares with the rest of the country the problems of environment, conservation, and ecology. Ben is active in trying to preserve the state's natural streams and resources. This bent is natural for a man grown in Vermont and nutured at Dartmouth. Each year Ben returns East with his wife and four booming young children to sample again the lure of the north woods and to cast for a trout or two.

Tidbits here and there: an old clipping from EdTuck relates that Bill Doe was elected vice president, trust, by the First National Bank of Boston. Bill returns to Massachusetts after a sojurn in Philly. John Brotherhood of Lowengard and Brotherhood, Hartford, developed a scorecard for rating the TV performance of political candidates. Mr. Nixon must have been successful in quoting Lincoln (plus 20 points) and not perspiring heavily (minus 30). While visiting the nation's capital JayBuck spent an evening with Charlie and PageWilkes and caught Bill Frenzel basking in his life as a representative. Presumably Bill has returned to his seat. The rampaging Chemung River stopped just short of Alan Parson's house in Elmira in the wake of Hurricane Agnes. With the move of the headquarters of Texaco International Sales to Coral Gables, Cal Minor has forsaken the ranks of commuter. Dick Ledyard has also left New Jersey with a transfer to Houston to be district market manager for Graybar Electric. Dick is another one-company-since-graduation man.

Start planning your 1973 Alumni Fund gift. New head agent Jack Harned needs your support. Sandy McCulloch needs the backing of 1950. Have you considered joining the Century Club?

The feature item for next month came from two sources, Ed Tuck and Charlie Palmer '23, executive producer for Parthenon Pictures. The subject is Don Hyatt. In the interim, you may see one of his dramatic essays on the American Experience keyed to the forthcoming bicentennial.

The last mail brought the sad news that HamGates died suddenly in Buffalo on 3 January. We shall miss him.

Secretary, 510 Hillcrest Rd. Ridgewood, N. J. 07450

Treasurer, Oppenheimer & Co. One New York Plaza New York, N. Y. 10004