1935
This month's column is somewhat of a potpourri. Some items are held over from last month, when our column (along with others) was pruned to accommodate an abbreviated, energy-saving January issue. Others are fresh, wafted in on the holiday mails. Perhaps with a liberal sprinkling of rum, the resulting mixture will have the savory appeal of a carefully-aged holiday fruit-cake.
Year-end brings word of new retirement plans. Bill Walrath has stepped down as vice president of advertising for Oscar Mayer, the wiener people, but will take on occasional consuiting projects. Valdemar Johnson has forsaken Chicago for Colorado Springs, in what appears to be another retirement decision. Eddie Offutt plans to hang up his shoes next October after 20 years in government service (Department of Health, Education and Welfare). Tim (Fay) Reed writes "If I can survive five more years of being told 'go to hell,' I can retire. How teaching in High School has changed since 1935."
As retirees sooner or later discover, the golden years soon produce a need for meaningful projects. Colonel Fred Kayser writes "I couldn't stand the inactivity of retirement, so I'm back working for the Army - this time in mufti. Now at the Army Engineer School at Fort Belvoir (Va.). Just couldn't fade away, like old soldiers are supposed to do."
Bill Krieg, while retired from the Foreign Service, has just completed the first draft of a book-length study on "the peaceful settlement of disputes through the Organization of American States." It's a project for the Stale Department's Central Research Division. As for other aspects of retirement, Bill adds "Haven't begun to miss the cocktail parties yet, and doubt if we ever will."
Small world department. Ted O'Brien writes from Naples (Fla.) that his next-door neighbors in retirement are former next-door neighbors of Betty's and mine. You just can't escape your past! On the personal side, Ted reports "Our youngest daughter adores Aspen; our oldest loves Scarsdale. I'll take the warmth!"
Far from retirement, Don Hagerman faces his busiest year ever as headmaster of Holderness School. "Heavily involved in our centennial program to raise funds for endowment by 1979." Of the family, Don adds "Ibba and I now count eight grandchildren. All three daughters and son happily manried."
Dan Regan claims he still manages to keep his golfing sons in line. "Every year before the annual Invitational Golf Tournament at Worcester (Mass.) Country Club, I give the boys a playing lesson. After observing all the things one should NOT do, they both do very well. First once; second three times!"
Lowell Haas calls attention to the fact that the Specht twins both have a son on campus. and asks "wonder if they look enough like their dads to have everyone confused?" Frank's son Tom is a freshman; Ralph's boy Scott a sophomore. Other sons of '35 in the freshman class are Fred Haley's Evan, Quent Anderson's Max, and Cliff Mills' Dick.
Tom Kroner's boy Mitch who graduated in June, is now at Villanova Law School. Tom adds: "Daughter Meryl going to France for second semester. Dot and I are in the same old groove, and now with fuel rationing, will try to keep warm!!"
John Gilbert writes of a pleasant reunion of old Occom Pond neighbors this past summer. He and Barbara spent a weekend with Betty and Bill Lingley in Richmond, Wash., and were joined by Tahoe and Line Washburn. "It was the first time we'd gotten together since 1946. We encouraged all to come East for the 40th.”
After a valiant effort to make a go of the Byrd Polar Center, Dan Cotton writes: We achieved some modest success and went broke. For about a year now, I have been in industrial real estate; getting plugged back into the business world at age 60 is a thought provoking experience. Jean and I are now planning to go to Germany to pick up a car I bought in August."
From Joe Sholkin comes news that Phelps Luria married off daughter, Debbie, in early November. “phelps sure throws better shindigs now than he did when we roomed together, Cathy's influence, no doubt!".
Willard Kempton reports he is still teaching at Broward Community College in Ft. Lauderdale, and running a small resort and youth hostel in Alton, N.H. summers. Also teaching these days is Al Zimmerman, whose work with SCORE (Senior Corps of Retired Executives) led to an assignment teaching marketing at Bryant-Stratton Business College in Boston.
With all the trash on TV these days, it's good to learn that Hal Stanton has won the battle for prime time, with his show the Golden Age of Movies, in Agawam, Mass. "After four years of late night slots and Sunday afternoon, it's great to be on at a decent hour (7:30 Thursday evenings).”
In a speech to grain millers in Minneapolis, Dud Russell put his finger on some dimensions of our energy-wasting binge of recent years. Dud pointed out "it takes seven times as much fuel to move one ton of freight by truck as by rail. While it takes one man (often two) to move 20 tons by truck, three or four men can handle 100 carloads (7.500 tons) by rail!" As director of transportation for the Minneapolis Grain Exchange, Dud speaks with some authority on the subject.
Dick Schneider is mixing plenty of world travel with his duties as head of neurosurgery at the University of Michigan Medical Center. "In the fall, the World Neurosurgical Federation meeting in Tokyo and the Korean Neurosurgical meeting in Seoul took Madeleine and me to both these countries. March takes us to Caracas, Venezuela, and hopefully June will find us in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Although these trips are 'business', there is always opportunity to renew acquaintances and learn from colleagues."
A newsy holiday note reveals that Walt Holmes has signed on as city business administrator for Nashua, N.H., and will be moving there in late January. During the year, daughter Carol was married and Walt and Edith drove to Seattle to visit son Tom, recently returned from Vietnam and now studying architecture at Miami Dade University.
Well, the mail bag is empty. Hope your New Year's resolutions included a promise to write!
Secretary, 840 Westcliff, Deerfield, Ill. 60015
Treasurer, Apt. 323, 9820 Crawford Ave. Oak Lawn, Ill. 60453
