1948

It was a beautiful, early February day on the slopes, somewhere above 10,000 feet, at Vail in the Colorado Rockies. The sun was out, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and the many feet of powder and packed powder in the huge snow bowls below made perfect conditions for skiing usually found only later in the season. It was my first time on the boards for several years, and I was enjoying the effort to get my legs under me once again, to reacquire that old zing that comes from high speed swinging parallels in flying snow on the steep slope. My success was not notable, but at least there was still hope for the old bones that had always found a great inner satisfaction in this fine sport.

While dropping down from the top of the Sundown Bowl onto so-called Ricky's Ridge, I stopped below a group of skiers who were standing on the slope and looking Out over the glorious terrain stretching away below us. I was not with this group, did not know them, but was amazed to overhear one of them say something like, "And Colin Stewart led us through the deep powder along that ridge." The speaker turned out to be Dr. Jack Hartwig '49, brother of 48's Bill Hartwig. He was speaking of course of the Denver architect and former '48 Olympian who had been one of the early participants at Vail and who had designed Jack's perfect hillside house there. It was a pleasure to ski with Jack, a resident of Minneapolis, who not only holds his own on the twin staves, but had a considerable amount of data on fellow Dartmouth men and wanted to know of others.

Jack particularly wanted to be remembered to fellow orthopedic surgeon, Jack Mahoney, who lives here in Florida. The latter skis out West every winter, and the two have apparently run into each other once or twice long after their years at Dartmouth Med School. KeithMcLoud, whom I had spoken with from Los Angeles a couple of days previously, was a Med School classmate of Jack's and we both remembered with laughter some of the great stories of Keith's escapades as an undergrad and med student in Hanover. We figured that old Doc Syvertsen, the tough Dean of the Med School, had a soft spot in his heart for old Keith, now a pediatrician and a bachelor holdout in San Diego from where he still occasionally hits the California ski slopes at areas such as Mammoth.

Speaking with Keith reminded me of his par- ticipation in one of the more unusual initiation ceremonies that I heard of during our '48 days on campus. Don't know if this sort of thing still goes on at Dartmouth in 1975, but in our day the enforced application of a Tittle ingenuity was certainly a common denominator in joining some of the campus organizations. I may be a little awry on some of the details, but as I remember it McLoud, clothed in nothing more than the altogether and an old World War II sleeping bag, was dropped off in the utter darkness on the Colby campus in New London, N.H., at about 0200 hours one spring night in 1947. His test was the necessity to appear back in Hanover by 0800 hours the next morning, a task which would have absolutely destroyed any ordinary mortal. But not McLoud. I remember distinctly that at about 7:55 the following day this gaunt, 6-foot 2-inch figure in a somewhat ill fitting woman's skirt, an old sweater, and a pair of old boots, appeared on the side lawn of the house and made it to the door before zero hour. An impossible accomplishment the details of which Keith has kept secret down to the present day. Maybe they don't make 'em like that anymore.

Bill Hartwig, according to his brother, moved to Milwaukee a few years ago after having practiced law elsewhere. Bill is married, has two children, and is specializing in real estate as an adjunct to his legal background. My old 1966 Dartmouth Alumni Directory indicates that another '48, John Zillmer, also is a Milwaukee resident and member of the legal profession. How about a postcard with a little more news from you fellows so your old '48 friends can know what you're doing.

As I write this, another '48 on his way to Vail is Dirk Kuzmier of the skiing Kuzmiers. Dirk, a trial lawyer in New York City, and his elder daughter, will spend a week or so in the Rockies where Dirk will again sharpen that skill on the boards he initially acquired at Dartmouth. He may see other '48s of the Denver area such as Collin and Bill Malone plus "Sugar King" JimKrentler '49.

Bob Huke certainly deserves the plaudits of the Class for the nutritional experimentation work he is performing in the backyard of his home in Norwich, across the river from Hanover where he is professor of geography. If Bob's work is successful, it has great possibilities of helping to fill a lot of empty stomachs in the Orient. The experiment was written up a couple of issues ago in the AlumniMagazine, and by the time you read this the winter results of the work may be available as well as a fuller evaluation of its value for mankind. Nice going, Bob.

Treasurer Lou Perry forwarded some further notes that accompanied payments of '48 class dues. Pete Foster reports he is v.p. of a new concern in Wallingford, Conn., called Propair, Inc., which manufactures and distributes a balance computer for twin engine airplanes. Pete also trades in Vermont real estate, and this year his family has an American Field Service Rhodesian living with them, making a family of six. (Pete's family, to my mind, is doing one of the important things we everyday Americans can do in making ourselves, as Americans, more understood and perhaps appreciated by people from other countries who may one day be in position to influence whether their own countries work with us pr not).

Bob Mohrbacker, whom I last saw in Pittsburgh eons ago, has been with U.S. Steel for many years. He reports that last September he was transferred from the firm's Ellwood City, Pa., works to the plant in Gary, Ind., where he was promoted to superintendent of Hot Finishing. Bob's 24-year-old son, Fred, who graduated from Baldwin Wallace in Berea, 0., with a degree in chemistry in 1972, is to receive a degree in pharmacy from Pitt in April this year. His daughter Beth, 22, graduated from Slippery Rock State College in Pa., and now works as a counselor in the Women's Health Service in Pittsburgh. Bob himself now lives in Hobart, Ind.

Al Cassin, Flo and the boys moved from North Carolina back to Mass., in June, 1972, where they bought a 200-year-old Cape Cod on five country acres in Middleboro, about 30 miles south of Boston, where much of the family's time is still being spent on restoration and fixup. Al is with American Standard, Inc. as Regional Manager, Power and Controls Group, working out of his office in nearby Braintree. Sounds like a great assignment as Al's territory is New England and New York, an area which many a northeastern native would love to have as a sales representative.

Another address change is that of Vin Vayo who was at one time in Berwyn, Pa. Vin has gone south and now lives on Saddleridge Way in Dunwoody, Ga. Any further data on your activities, Vin?

Hope all '48s are enjoying a good spring by the time you read this.

Secretary, Gulf Oil Co.-Latin America Box 340910 Coral Gables, Fla. 33134

Treasurer, Apt. 3-H, 7200 Blvd. East North Bergen, N.J. 07147