1948

These notes are being written on a beautiful afternoon in early January in the countryside outside Miami. The degree of warmth and sunshine here makes sitting outdoors in shorts and shirtsleeves a perfectly natural thing on this winter's day, but makes this old New Englander a little nostalgic for the fight to keep warm which was always characteristic of open air activity in and around Hanover in the winter.

Which brings up the added problem today of the energy shortage. As I write this I pray that the main body of the winter, which is still in front of us, doesn't turn abnormally cold As a sales rep for an oil company I understand that at this moment the eastern seaboard and cold upper midwest regions of the United States have a good, high inventory of home heating oil on hand, an inventory which will carry the area - without a severe or prolonged cold spell - through the winter with only normal current heating oil production in the refineries. If, however, really severe cold develops, that inventory can be drawn down very rapidly. If this happens, refinery production of this product must be increased, which increase would mean an offsetting decrease in the production of gasoline during the cold months. But it is the gasoline production in the winter and spring months, production at a rate higher than current usage during this period, which enables the gasoline inventory to be built to a high level by the time the summer season of great gasoline consumption begins. Thus, we're lucky to have a high heating oil inventory in the cold east/central portion of the States today in early January.Let's hope only normally cold weather prevails through the winter so that production of this product will not have to be increased above normal and gasoline production thereby decreases; otherwise we can expect gasoline to be even shorter in supply than now anticipated next summer if the Arab embargo continues. All of which is to say that it behooves all of us to reduce consumption of oil wherever and whenever we can in the effort to mitigate the effects of the real, overall shortage that now exists in spite of those doubters who seem to believe that the shortage is faked.

Ian Macartney has helped the petroleum problem in Europe. For the past dozen years Mac has been in England where he headed Amoco's exploration activities from Pall Mall, London. England is presently receiving a considerable volume of natural gas from North Sea fields discovered during Mac's tenure in Britain, gas representing badly needed energy during the current 3-day workweek caused by lack of energy in that country. Mac, Carla, and kids have just moved to Chicago, and South America will be Mac's next petroleum exploration beat for his company.

News from the trucking industry in Michigan advises that Ray Richard has been elected executive vice president and director of Kelsey-Hayes Company. Ray has been a frequent and successful mover in the heavy equipment and motor manufacturing businesses and in management consulting. He's one of a good many ’48s who have lived abroad, having spent four years in England with Cummins Engine Co. Ltd. with whom he was a V.P. and director. Ray and wife and three sons now live in Bloomfield Hills.

Any '48 who is a lover of authentic New Orleans jazz would do well to pick up one or more of the commercial recordings of the New Black Eagle Jazz Band. This group of seven part-time musicians, of whom our own Bob Pilsbury is pianist (and Pete Bullis "54, banjoist), is having great success in bring back this great old style of music in all its color and life. I understand and that afficionados of the form can find the band in full feather on most Saturday nights at its home base in the Stickey Wicket Pub in Hopkinton, Mass., not far out of Boston. Be prepared for a lively evening of great jazz and for Pilsbury at his best.

Norm Laird is now assistant vice president, marketing, for the Becton-Dickinson Division of Becton, Dickinson and Company, manufacturers of medical institution laboratory devices. Norm has been with the company since 1950, most recently as national field sales manager for the B.D. division. He has served as secretary of the Military Surgeons Sustaining Membership Society. Sunn and Bonnie list home as 357 Rodney Road, Wyckoff, N.J.

Back to the Far East for Dick Bredenberg. He and wife Huldah have just returned to Nagoya, Japan, for seven months where Dick will teach at Kinjo Gakuin University as he did four years ago when he began an exchange program between Kinjo and Eckerd College of St. Petersburg, Fla., involving about 70 students each year. On such a fine foundation, Dick, what's next?

The Alumni Records office has provided a few address changes. Dave Walsh, who has a son or daughter (sorry my records don't show which) (son Christian. Ed.) in this year's freshman class in Hanover, is now located with the American Embassy in Dakar, Senegal, Africa. GordonWinkler is with the United States Information Service and his mail address is Box 2000, APO, New York, but we don't know the location. Where are you, Gordie? Is it Thailand? Jerry King is with the Department of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, John Alden can be reached through the YMCA in Greenwich, Connecticut, and Gil Shattuck has moved to Vincennes Road in Charlottesville, Virginia.

That's it for now. See you next month.

Secretary, Gulf Oil Co. - Latin America Box 910 Coral Gables, Fla. 33134

Treasurer, Apt. 3-H, 7300 Blvd. East North Bergen, N.J. 07047