Dartmouth Renews Its Bonds with England
Yet another bond between the College and England was established in May when President and Mrs. Kemeny and New England alumni with their families visited London where they were welcomed by Lord and Lady Dartmouth and the Dartmouth Club of London.
The London Trip, sponsored by the Dartmouth Alumni Association of Greater Boston, comprised 174 people aboard a Boeing 747. Because the trip was greatly oversubscribed, a separate charter flight for 39 persons on the waiting list was arranged a week earlier than the original flight on May 15.
Distance honors went to Mrs. Robert Lewis of Los Angeles. Others came from Sarasota, Chicago and New York, and a great number from Connecticut. Hanover and environs sent at least a dozen more.
The outstanding event for the travelers was an elegant banquet held May 18 at Goldsmiths' Hall. Some 190 people attended, including 98 from the Boston group, and the balance from the Continent, from all over the United Kingdom, and from the Dartmouth student body in attendance at Oxford and Cambridge. The evening was a tribute to the managerial skills Frank Cornwell '35, London Club president, and Jack Patten '53, secretary. Upon entering the Hall, the party was ushered up the center marble staircase, dating from 1369, to a formal receiving line which included head table guests and two Dartmouth Club presidents and their wives: The Lord and Lady Dartmouth, President and Mrs. Kemeny, Boston Club president Charles Hood '51 and his wife, and London president Frank Cornwell and his wife. The line then flowed into a glorious reception room where wines and hors d' oeuvres were served. While waiting, many visited the exhibition hall where the works of Gerald Benney, master craftsman in silver and gold, were on display. The show had drawn a personal visit from Queen Elizabeth two days before.
Further splendor was in evidence in the banquet hall. The head table held four large gold candelabra, each of which required two men to lift it. In the center was a large gold boat holding three floral pieces and behind the table, displayed on a set of rising steps, were remarkable gold plates and platters, all prize works of the master goldsmiths through the ages.
Presiding at the banquet was Mr. Cornwell who introduced those at his table: Lord and Lady Dartmouth, Mr. and Mrs. Hood, President and Mrs. Kemeny, Mr. and Mrs. Patten, Mr. and Mrs. Ira Berman '42, Mr. and Mrs. Howard Casler '38, Mr. and Mrs. Jack Haffenreffer '44, Mr. and Mrs. John Goodrich '59, Mr. and Mrs. David Hedges '34, Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Strong '56, William Hirons '44, Mrs. Cornwell, and Mrs. Robert C. Strong, widow of the former Dean of Freshmen.
Both Lord Dartmouth and President Kemeny spoke briefly and succinctly. Lord Dartmouth made reference to the traditions and ideals of Dartmouth as outlined by Eleazar Wheelock which "have hardly altered in two hundred years."
The Kemenys had come to London from Paris where the President had made the first official visit to France by a President of the College. They traveled to Bourges where the Language Study Abroad Program was established in 1968. In that city they hosted an official luncheon which was attended by the Mayor, the Inspector of the Academy, the Director of the Lycee Technique Nationalise, the publisher of LaNouvelle Republique, Dr. and Mme Allain (family placer), Professor and Mrs. Robert Shoup (resident faculty member), Randall Baiser (student instructor), and Professor John Rassias.
The Mayor told the visitors "it is with unmixed pleasure that I greet the students of your university every term." Gifts were exchanged, with both President and Mrs. Kemeny giving their thanks in French. Similar festivities were conducted in the City of Blois. A highlight of the visit was meeting with Dartmouth students and the singing of "et le granit du New Hampshire dans leurs muscles and dans leurs tetes".
Head table dignitaries at the Dartmouth alumni dinner in London were (l to r) LadyDartmouth, Lord Dartmouth, Mrs. Cornwell, London club president Frank J. Cornwell’35, Mrs. Kemeny, President Kemeny, Mrs. Hood, and Boston association presidentCharles H. Hood II '51.
President Kemeny and Frank Cornwell '35with part of the lavish display of gold platein Goldsmiths' Hall, London.
The Mayor of Blois, France, presents thecity’s seal to President Kemeny as Mrs.Kemeny applauds the gift.
