1944
Last winter's gas shortage caused the postponement of Freshman Weekend from January until May 2-5, and that meant good weather as well as good parents. John Bird, attorney for U.S. Steel, won the long-distance prize, coming north all the way from Birmingham, Ala., to swap tales and sip brews with son John.
Also on hand were: John Baker, Pelham, N.Y., physician and sportsman, and wife Pat, to see daughter Maura; Buzz and Jean Bensinger, who put an out-to-lunch sign on the Stroudsburg, Pa., law office to visit daughter Margaret-Ann; Tom and Ardis Close, Norwich, Vt., who only had to trek across the Ledyard Bridge, to say hi to daughter Ellen; and Paul Jones, shoe engineer from downeast Maine, who came to share Thayer Dining delicacies with son Dave.
Incidentally, keeping up with the Paul Joneses in Hanover isn't easy. Not only is there freshman son Dave; there is also junior son Cameron. And when you walk into College Hall to register for Parents Weekend, there sits Chris Jones, Paul's Wellesley grad daughter (who also spent her junior year in Hanover as an exchange student) who just happens to have been working for Dartmouth since last September as administrative assistant to the College Chaplain.
And as usual, Dave and Patti Eckels held the annual Freshman Parent Happy Hour for all '44s and affiliates. Trouble was the weather was so nice not many showed.
That same weekend the College hosted the 27th annual intercollegiate Woodsmen's Competition; two days of canoeing, ax throwing, log rolling and felling, sawing, speed chopping, and all manner of other chubbery activities. Back competing on the alumni team was Jim Averill's son Bob '72, now in his second year at Tufts Medical. Bob directed a similar weekend as a Dartmouth undergraduate and was back to see if he still had the old touch. Dr. Jim came up to confirm that he had, leaving behind on the family farm outside of Northampton, Mass., his maple sugar, cord wood, and Christmas tree chores.
Warren Kimball doesn't quite bicycle the nine miles between his Pleasantville, N.Y., home and White Plains office, but he does get up for early morning rides "just to keep the legs in shape." He wasn't even puffing the day we reached him by phone. When not on a two-wheeler, he's in a four-motor job, flying around the States for his department store insurance business. He's a grandfather twice by daughter Joan who lives in Wayland, Mass. Another daughter Lynda was married last December and is now in Connecticut, while daughter number three, Gayle, is "very happy as" a student at Colgate." Son Warren III Ia freshman at Marietta College.
It wasn't much of a New England winter, but Dick Wilson, Wellesley, Mass., psychiatrist, got up N.H. way for skiing, nonetheless. And, as he always does, on the way home he came to Hanover for a meal at Thayer Dining Hall. "It jacks up my spirit very winter to come back abd be among the students." he said. "Besides, it's a darn good meal." Dick's own kids: Rick at Harvard Med.; Anne at Swarthmore; Mark at Yale; Sally in junior high.
Joe Garry called on the blower a couple of times. He's still in the resort business in Lake George. N.Y., but he's also bought an acre or two in Naples, Fla. "Just love that sun and sand," he says. Joe's civic duties include membership on the bill drafting commission of the State Legislature and that means frequent commutes to Albany. And besides, he's got a fourth grandchild coming along.
Ho-hum-what'll-I-do-today Greg Rabassa, Queens College professor, has just translated another book, Paradiso, by Jose Lezama Lima, which the NY Times not surprisingly called "a skilled . . . monumental task." Greg, who won a National Book Award in 1967 and has been nominated for others, was also a visiting Fellow of the Institute for the Arts and Humanistic Studies at Penn State in April.
More kudos for Dr. Marsh Tenney who in April was appointed to the Nathan Smith Enjoyed Professorship at the Dartmouth Medical School. Chairman of the Department of Physiology, Marsh joined the Med School faculty in 1956 and was one of the prime movers in the'school's "refounding." Nathan Smith, of course, was the fellow who founded the Dartmouth Medical School in the first place, 177 years ago.
While on the subject of Tenneys, it won't surprise you to hear that son Steve '74 graduated Ust fall ahead of schedule, cum laude with disimction in geology. Other early grad, dumb-kid Spring of their dumb '44 fathers include: Fred(.rafs John, distinction in math; Dick Allenby's Kent, magna cum laude with high distinction in biology; and Dick Whiting's Steve, magna cumlaude with high distinction in Government.
Also in Hanover: Ophthalmologist CharlieRegan's son Jim writes for The Dartmouth; and manufacturer/investor Jack Haffenreffer's son John '76 is a sophomore lacrosser.
Researcher Ezz Hale has discovered that "ere are 21 '44s currently serving the College in one way or another: club or class or college officer. Alumni Council, etc. There are also 623 active" grads and non-grads. Wouldn't it be - mething if all 623 gave something to the 1974 Alumni Fund! A first in the history of the place, Why not give it a try? Deadline is June 30.
That's it. Blessings.
Secretary, 309 Crosby Hall Hanover, N.H. 03755
Class Agent, Lawyers Cooperative Publ. Co. Aqueduct Bldg., Rochester, N.Y. 14603
