1932

For the Class of '32 the spring-summer of '74 will go down as the year the Ledyard Canoe Club Boys went on, yet, to new, greater glory. First there was fun-loving Ben Drew, along about the time his famed Vershire self-polishing apple trees were coming into blossom, getting out his trusty paddle and joining this year's undergraduate contingent (three guys, four gals, one of the latter actually at Mt. Holyoke alumna) to do what dropout John Ledyard had done 201 years earlier - paddle and portage the 220 miles of the Connecticut River that stretch from Hanover to Saybrook, Conn, on Long Island Sound.

Then, the cheers scarcely having died away after they inscribed Ben's name on the Johnny Johnson cup, fun-loving Pete Knight, in company with son Chris '65 (like his old man a Ledyard Club president in his time) and Chris's wife Kathy, took off from the Massachusettts coast in the young people's sailboat (to be described more adequately when we have the data in hand), set a northeastward course, then headed due east, and eventually - details are lacking - made a landfall on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. It's poor reporting that we have only the raw facts on one of this column's great all-time stories - we'll do better next month.

Incidentally, the last time we looked (which admittedly was a long time ago, like 40 years) Pete and Dave Larrabee held the elapsed time record of 58 hours for the Connecticut River canoe run. Wonder how that one stood up.

Dick Hazen, senior partner and co-founder of the engineering firm of Hazen and Sawyer in 1951, was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in April. This is the highest professional distinction that can be conferred on an American engineer. The Academy shares with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility of advising the federal government in matters of science and engineering.

The College has promoted Dick Olmsted from his business manager post to the newlyestablished one of director of planning, responsible for planning and major construction. Reporting directly to Vice President Rodney Morgan, Dick will devote a major share of his time to long range planning and will be particularly concerned with the energy crisis as it affects present and future operations.

Whit and Dorothy Daniels "are now in our best years,, since our retirement from salaried employment." They spend the warmer half of the year at their Paradox Lake camp near Schroon Lake, N.Y., where they rent cottages to summer vacationers, and the balance between Delmar, N.Y., and travel. Whit is an Adirondack Park commissioner, paints, sails, motorcycles, and hikes with Dorothy. From Whitsend on Paradox he sends a copy of a family newsletter, and we quote from his contribution:

"It is not the act of retirement that has made our life great, however, but coming to know the Bible as the actual word of God and asking Jesus Christ to take charge. This commitment and experience of rebirth occurred with both of us at the same moment, at high noon of August 12, 1971 on a rise of land overlooking the beautiful waters of Schroon Lake. That moment was preceded by long conversations with [son] Jeff over many months and much reflective Bible reading. It brought immediate and radical changes in our preferences and pleasures. For one, my yen for drinking - which was getting the upper hand - simply dropped away. Reborn as babes in the Lord, our concern now is growth - mainly through prayers, Bible study, and fellowship. The Lord's answers to our prayers have been astonishing and joyful...

In June Fred Leyser wrote happily from a peak in Darien of the arrival of No. 4 grandchild, the first for daughter Wendy. Charlie and Dorothy Meyers had visited recently. Volunteer work as president of the University of Connecticut Foundation, chairman of the Kiwanis Club Scholarship Committee, and church treasurer was keeping Fred out of trouble.

And College Trustee Bill Morton has been appointed an ex officio member of the Board of Overseers of the Dartmouth Medical School. As you know by now, Tom Curtis, running as the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate from Missouri against incumbent Democrat Thomas Eagleton, felt compelled to resign the class presidency, and the executive committee prevailed on Howdy Pierpont to step back into the breach. If this column reaches you before October 12, it won't be too late to be urged to join the fall gathering of the Class Howdy has organized for the Princeton game weekend in Hanover.

Just about the time Richard Nixon was going under, the Noddy Nixon matter surfaced again. Avid readers will recall the puzzles that developed after John Keller raised the query, was Noddy Nixon the bad guy in the Rover Boys or Tom Swift, and it was established the answer was neither, leaving the mystery of who was Noddy Nixon? It appears that all the time Rod Hatcher was lying low with the vital clue, Rod now writing: "I am quite certain that Noddy Nixon was the skulking mischief maker - a skilled motor-meddler and propeller bender who harassed the heros of 'The Motor Boat Boys' series current in the years, say, 1922/25; sound standard stuff, but well below the classical range of the Swift/Merriwell epics." Our operatives are busy tracking this live lead, and we anticipate a final report next month.

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