1939
We are saddened to learn of the death of JohnLittle on May 2 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Infirmary. John had been associated with MIT as far back as 1949. He was living in Concord, Mass., at the time of his death.
As we write this, we are just back from the Class Officers meetings in Hanover in the early days of May. It is with pride and pleasure that we note that our prexy Bert MacMannis received one of two Dartmouth Alumni awards presented by the Dartmouth Alumni Council. We shall not belabor this considerable achievement in this column only because we know that we will be scooped by the editors of this Magazine, who, we hope will have given the event its proper due.
Six members of your executive committee attended the meetings including, of course, MacMannis, your scribe, Class Agent RobbDeGraff, Newsletter Editor Walt Darby, Bequest Chairman Bob Kaiser, and Co-Reunion Chairman Bill Webster. We thought we had saved a statistical sheet received in the Secretaries Association meeting which memory suggests showed that '39 sends the Alumni Magazine to 98% of its living members and that the subscriptions are underwritten by some 59% return on class dues - a figure that compares most favorably with most of our fellow classes. In truth, when we looked for the sheet, we found we had carefully preserved a roster of the Dartmouth-Harvard baseball teams, which tells you that the weekend was not all work. And while on the subject of pleasure, we would further report that our class representatives attended a cocktail party hosted by Bob and Evie Kaiser. It was a joyous occasion.
Going a bit further back in history in the affairs of the Executive Committee, we reported in our last that a meeting was to be held on April 5 in New York City. The meeting was held with DustyRohde, Jack Coulson, Sam Hird, Junie Merriam,Cornie Miller, Ed Oppenheim (all the way from Oklahoma City), MacMannis, Darby, Kaiser, DeGraff and Webster in attendance. Reports were given by Treasurer Sam Thurm in absentia; newsletter Editor Darby (the effects of which you will have seen by the time you read this); by Bequest man Kaiser who reported that life income trusts are being made in behalf of the College at an increasing rate by classmates; by Webster and Miller about early plans for the June '74 reunion; and by DeGraff on Alumni Fund progress. The Committee dignified the excellent efforts of Oppenheim, Bob Howe, and Al Tishman who are hard at work on a special gifts Reunion Committee, an activity that proved to predate a suggestion received from the Alumni Council, and was a much discussed item during the aforementioned Class Officers meetings. Naturally this committee has good rapport and works closely , with Class Agent DeGraff and his minions.
In our last column we also recounted a pending trip for your scribe, his spouse, and daughter to the great Northwest, culminating in a refreshing job from one point of interest to another. Kenny kept running into acquaintances and clients from TV personalities, Ken had headed for Seattle directly following World War II without job or friends, with only his talents and verve to buoy his contemplated existence. He has lost neither talent, nor enthusiasm - just a bit of hair on top of his head, while gaining an appealing and maturing scruff around the ears and down the back of the neck. With a fellow Bostonian he heads a law firm that devotes most of its energies to defending those who most need a helping hand, which you might recall included a covy of Dartmouth students ensnared in the Parkhurst Hall imbroglio of some years back.
As we dined in Seattle's top eateries tucked here and there about the City we relived old times, tangled a bit about the Parkhurst affair, and just simply tried to keep up with the sudden changes in subject, that burst from the active mind of the high-flying eagle. We extracted a promise (not met as yet) that he would pen a letter in regard to some of our differences which impinge on matters of class and college, and which we have agreed to air in this column.
And we learned that his oldest son Doug is a lawyer in Cambridge, Mass., planning a research trip to Africa. Garth, son number two, has multiple interests, one recent one being ballet; daughter Lindsay lives in San Francisco and works with a dancing group in that city, and daughter Leslie lives in a northern suburb of Seattle and works on a farm. If, perchance Ken keeps his promise and writes that letter, we'll have a second chapter in a subsequent piece, which might give a more precise discription of the doings of all the MacDonalds - at least better than our memory can.
Secretary, 777 West St. Pittsfield, Mass. 01201
Class Agent, E. I. Dupont Co., Nemours Bldg. Wilmington, Del. 19898
