1950
Only last week the temperature dipped and hinted what winter might have been. Now February plays out its days without fulfilling the threat. Winter here has been a failure, more like a long cold wet spring than its blustery self. The North Country fared little better. The ski news last night, after a season of promising "good to excellent," admitted that the year had been a disaster for skiers. The diehards look hopefully for a bountiful March.
The fifth season remains to come, that season mixed with sugaring and mud. As sure a sign as the robin that spring is nigh is the sight of the first pail on a maple. 'Following the trail marked by these pails, sometimes floundering in hip-deep snow, later wallowing in mud to gather the thin amber sap was a backbreaking chore. The chill of the trail was later baked out by stoking the fires in the sugaring house with wood harvested and cut to size in anticipating this season throughout the winter. The aches and pains of labor, though, always vanished with that first soothing sip of new syrup fresh from the cauldron.
Then the mud. The duckboards have been banished by progress. But the memory remains of those wooden lines stretched neatly across campus between lingering mounds of snow. Within days neat order became chaos as the boards shifted or floated to new positions only suggesting a precarious path through viscosity to safety. Treachery was always foremost. One end of a duckboard offered the false security of firm footing on solid ground; the other sank in a mire of slime or water, butronly after you had committed yourself and passed the point of no return.
A few words from Vermont Life evoke the season aptly: "Early morning mists thawing the fringes of ice along river banks and melting patches of snow in shaded pastures usher in this time of year....Mud Season is a time when we step gingerly along soggy river banks and through spongy fields, all the time watching for signs of spring.... Nowhere is the mud more bottomless than on rutted back roads, in farmyards..." or, in that long remembered past, over our crisscrossed campus.
Enough of memories about the North Country. On to today's reality and the news. Last month Branford. Conn., was described from the vantage point of Don Hyatt's home overlooking the Sound. One of Don's neighbors in Branford is Karl Marsh, who was recently elected a trust officer of the First New Haven National Bank. pitted against Helmut Sonnenfeldt, a senior staff member in Henry A. Kissinger's team at the National Security Council, for the post of Assistant Defense Secretary for International Security Affairs. Apparently the White House wanted Sonnenfeldt, a comparative hard-line advocate on foreign policy and defense matters for the ISA post. Richardson, however, was insisting on Moore who had served closely with him in previous sub-cabinet positions. Richardson announced Moore's appointment at a news con- ference and characterized it as a chief of staff capacity coordinating defense policy among Pentagon offices. The battle over the ISA post had been described as fierce and the outcome was supposed to reveal whether the White House or Richardson would run the Pentagon. A native of New York, Jon Moore has long and strong ties with the state of Massachusetts. He was associated with the Kennedy Institute of Poilitics in between his government and political activities. Jon earned a graduate degree at the Kennedy Institute, known then as the Littauer School of Public Administration at Harvard. This is indeed a momentous appointment and we all share the enthusiasm and confidence in Mr. Richardson's appointment of Jon.
Moving now to Buchanan, Mich.; comes word from Clark Equipment Co. that Thomas L. Tyler was named president of the International Division of that company where he had previously been a vice president.
Out in Cincinnati, Ohio, comes word from David H. Lewin that he has been elected a vice president of the H. A. Seinsheimer Company, a manufacturer of mens clothing headquartered in Cincinnati. Dave has been a member of the firm's board of directors since 1966, and credit manager since 1959. He has been with the firm since his graduation from Dartmouth in 1954, and he and his wife, Sally who is an active concert pianist, and their two children, Carolyn Sara and Alice Claire, seem to have found the rainbow.
A few disjointed notes now from some classmates not heard from for a long time. Benjamin J. Gilson, M.D. of Attleboro, Mass., writes that his practice is busy and free time, what there is of it, is consumed by Naval Reserve and skiing, although the latter has been strongly curtailed due to heavy workload. Ben is planning to get back to Reunion in June.
Bryce F. Bastian also jots that all is well in Asia, he being at Makati, Rizal (the Philippines). He further states that he has a niece living with the Bastian's right now who hopes to enter Dartmouth in 1973. Times have changed! Another child for Joseph L. Davis Jr. of Rowayton, Conn., son Christopher, the second son born March 16, 1972. Another interesting note from F. BradburyHollenbeck from East Hampton, N.Y., who writes that he recently ran into Dick Rogin, Dick having spent his summers in East Hampton for the past several years. Brad states that Dick is writing a novel in addition to being a free lance writer, which is what he's been doing since he left Time Magazine. As for Brad he is still practicing architecture and singing with the local barber shop chorus. And down in the city of brotherly love is word from Mitchell A. Kramer that he is currently practicing law as head of his own firm which no doubt should ease the stigma of "Philadelphia Lawyers."
Well that should about do it this month, but I do urge you all to keep the information flowing so that the last couple of articles can be packed with news to whet your appetites for Reunion. The Reunion plans are moving on at a rapid rate as you will note from Dick Page's class newsletter recently received. Make sure you get your reservations in quickly because at the rate we're going we may just break the bank in accommodations.
HOT FLASHES
If you haven't done the prior planning, if you haven't talked it over with your wife, if you haven't told the kids, if you haven't sent your check in for our 20th, if you've read this before April 15, and if you don't have more of the Big Green ($) than you know what to do with, drop this immediately, take pen in hand and mail a $25 check payable to "Dartmouth 1954 Reunion" to Pete Barker, 398 Sound Beach Avenue, Old Greenwich, Conn. 06870. What will this get you? Besides peace of mind and the company of well over 100 classmates, the chance to win a free Reunion weekend for you and your family, minus only the optional expenses you incur yourself and the College dorm rent charge. For you and your bride the package is worth SIOO plus S3O for each of your children. This is a deal you can't pass up. Even if your plans are up in the air, send in the check and we'll make a full refund if you request it prior to June 1. Don't just sit there, save money! (Oh yes, the drawing to determine the lucky winner will be held at the class dinner on Saturday night.)
And now an item for the kiddoes. Featured at the Top of The Hop for their fun and frolic will be MIST, a ten-member group of the widest musical variety. To quote a recent review, "Five of MIST's members constitute a tight and powerful brass section made of two trumpeters, two trombonists, and a saxaphonist/flutist. The other five members are naturally the driving rhythm section, which consists of a lead guitarist, a lead singer, an organist/pianist, a drummer and a bass guitarist. From these ten, seven are vocalists, thus adding vocal harmonies to the group's versatility." Naturally. I think we'll opt for the Glee Club and the Aires.
Seriously, now is the time to sit down and make your plans for June 15-17. Time is short and you won't have another 20th.
THINK
THINK GREEN
THINK HANOVER
THINK JUNE 15-17
THINK DAMNIT THINK
Secretary, Hillcrest Rd. Ridgewood, N.J.07450
Class Agent, Bedford Advisors, 230 Park Ave, New York, N.Y. 10017
