1948
As these notes are being applied to paper on a Friday evening in early October, the 94th edition of Dartmouth's proud football team is preparing for tomorrow's second game of the year, this one against Holy Cross on the Crusaders' home field in Worcester. As in last year's season, the first game was lost this year, this time to the University of Massachusetts in Hanover to the tune of 14 to 7. This was UMass' first football win in history against the Big Green. It is somewhat difficult here in Miami to know much about the odds in tomorrow's far- away game, but local press scribes here indicate that Holy Cross is the slight favorite even though the forecasters are obviously wary of wagering against Dartmouth's fighting team which has somehow pulled so many impossible games out of the fire in the past. Of course by the time any '48s read this, the 1974 Holy Cross game will be history as will probably also be the Princeton, Brown, and Harvard encounters. As an avid follower of the Green's gridiron fortunes down through the years, yours truly expects that, win or lose, this year's edition of the Indians will maintain the exciting traditions that have always thrilled us other Dartmouth men in the past including the unbelievable 1973 aggregation.
Johnny Van Raalte and Bobo Russell have both forwarded a highly interesting press release about 48's leading proponent of Grand Opera, Nat Merrill. Nat, who as producer and director is responsible for almost one-third of the operatic productions now available to the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, has accepted a three-year assignment as principal producer and general director of technical services with the Opera du Rhin in Strasbourg, France. Nat and Louise are presently spending September, October, and November in Strasbourg, ana will be there again in the second quarter of 1975. In the interim they will as usual be in New York. Nat's position with the French group sounds most intriguing as he will, per the release, head a project "to modernize and rebuild the lighting and technical installations in Strasbourg and in its sister theaters in Colmar and Mulhouse' in addition to staging at least two new Productions during each of the three years. In the current 1974-75 season the latter will be a new Carmen and a new Don Carlo. In the past Nat has collaborated on productions in many other widely-spaced communities including, among others, Vienna, Frankfurt, San Francisco, and Central City in addition to New York. Any '48s who visit the Metropolitan should look with pride for Nat's name on the program as testimony to a highly technical and difficult job well done.
Several weeks ago I had the pleasure of a phone conversation with Bing Aspinwall in Palm Beach, Florida. He and his second wife Valery came down from Washington just under two years ago when they bought a small radio station, WPBR, of about 1000 watts which, as Bing says, "is perched on a sand dune on the beach where it reaches about 40 miles up and down the coast, covering the majority of Palm Beach County." Bing and Valery, owners, act respectively as general manager and program director. Don't know whether Bing's fellow '48 radio man, Pete Swinscoe at nearby Fort Lauderdale, is within listening range of WPBR.
Bing advised that Pentti Siiteri, a classmate, friend and fraternity brother at Dartmouth, is married to his sister Helen and that Pentti received a Ph.D. some time ago at Columbia in biochemistry. Pentti, he said, is currently in research at one of the universities in the San Francisco area. Bing added that his other sister Joan married his Dartmouth roommate, George Jamison '46. Quite a Dartmouth family, the Aspinwalls.
Most '48s who ever spent any while at Dartmouth out around the Outing Club House at the northern end of Occum Pond or on the nearby golf links in summer or winter will remember the names "Hilton Field Country Club" and "Hilton Field Lane." The former name is well known and describes itself, but the latter, less well known, is the small extension to Rope Ferry Road that runs past the club house and out onto the golf course along the western edge of the Vale of Tempe to the footbridge. I remember these Hilton names well from those days as a happy kid running around Hanover. Imagine my intense surprise, therefore, to learn from Howie Hilton, now in Tampa, that his forebears were given the original land grant for what is now Hilton Field, the golf course. And that his family has long been involved with Dartmouth and Hanover, his father having been of '09. Howie, I had assumed you were a native of Chicago, which assumption was strengthened by your having roomed with Tom Davis, still a Chicagoan today. For me a tremendous per- sonal surprise. Howie is engaged in public relations work with his own company. In spite of living in Tampa he has been able to become highly occupied with far-away Alaska where the Alaska Pipeline is at last under construction. He also represents, among others, the Tampa Bay Rapid Transit Authority. Howard married in 1948, and at least one offspring has already-graduated from college.
Dick Weaver, part of that freshman triumvirate that occupied a top floor corner room in Richardson Hall back in that wartime July semester of 1944 (the others being Van Raalte and - unless my memory is completely gone - Bob Reynolds - apologies and shoot me if I'm wrong, Bob) and his wife Norma had their second son on March 31 this year. Heartiest congratulations to you both, Dick. The Weavers are now back in Buffalo after a period in Houston, and Dick is still in the lumber business. Van Raalte reports that Dick, Pete Page, and himself are to meet in Hanover the weekend of the Princeton game (which will be history when this is read).
All for now. Need news! Please write! This request is particularly directed at you wives, as you are one of best sources of information about '48s.
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Treasurer, Apt. 3-H, 7300 Blvd. East North Bergen, N.J. 07047
