1953
We've been struggling with the yard of late, so it must be May. The chores always seem so time consuming when the days are warm and the tennis courts beckon. We hadn't realized what a long, hard winter it had been or how much damage our friend with the showplow did. But it was a vintage year for skiing - and ski racing. Wally Ashnault is still at it. Back in February, he came in second in the Rochester Cup Veteran Men's Slalom at Bristol Mt., N.Y.
Dave Halloran wrote that the skiing was good in Austria, too. Beverly and Dave and their family - Mike, 15; Elise, 13; Tracy, 9; and Jenny, 3 - are living in Germany but have managed to travel throughout Germany, Denmark England, and Spain. Dave is selling aerospace equipment. It's a nomadic life, but they are good nomads.
The March 23 Boston Sunday Herald had an in-depth report on John Dodge and Quail Ridge, the 380-acre, $50 million, low density golf and tennis community outside of Delray Beach, Fla. The article reiterated the same amazement I felt when I visited John and Lydia a year ago. "Its plan is unusual because so much water and woods have been preserved and because the knolls and contours are unlike the usual flat terrain of South Florida. The site varies from 13 to 27 feet elevation." John is also a director of the Hanover Inn.
The National Association of Insurance Agents has announced the appointment of FredEngland as chairman of the insurance industry associations in New England. He is executive vice president of the Hastings-Tapley Insurance Agency, Inc., in Cambridge and president of the Wilcox-Hodges Insurance Agency, Inc. in Woburn. He and Val and their three children live in Reading, Mass.
Burton Bernstein has written a book which has great promise for being a big seller. It's a biography of James Thurber and entitled, appropriately encough, Thurber. Burton writes regularly for The New Yorker so it's more than fitting that he be the author. In the March 23 New York Times Book Review, Skip O'Hara who teaches English at the University of Connecticut, wrote the critique. About Thurber himself: "Walter Mitty is amusing, but in the context of his creator's life, Mitty's avatars suggest a coy self-glorification of uncharming qualities. Thurber accurately described himself as 'that tall, wild-eyed son of a bitch with hair in his eyes, and a glass in his hand, screaming and vilifying.'
About Burton, Skip wrote, "Bernstein is uninterested in depth analysis, defining 'the real joy of Thurber' as 'simply a God-given ability to be funny and trenchant in a totally original way.' He is content to lay the thoroughly documented life before us, commenting trenchantly himself upon many works but sensibly leaving ultimate judgments to us." By the way, the book is illustrated, 532 pages, Dodd Mead & Co., and $15.
Eliot Robinson reports joyously that son Douglas was accepted for the Class of '79.
Tony Chambers dropped a note from Highlands, North Carolina, one of the most beautiful places in this country. He and Isabel have been living there for three years now, although it was Tony's boyhood home. They left the hustle of Atlanta and a big corporation, Life of Georgia, for a family business, Tudor Hall Real Estate & Insurance. The quiet life. Highlands is a. summer resort for Florida residents who get too hot in the summer. The land is hilly but not intimidating. The Highlands Country Club is challenging, beautiful, and the place where Bobby Jones trained the year of the Grand Slam. Today's golf cart path makes do for a super cross-country run. Tonysays that six months of the year it's wild and the other six you end up talking to the dogs asleep in the front of your office. Sons Tucker and Tommy are off at school which only leaves one at home.
Your writer has made some changes, too. For almost 20 years I had been with our family company which is a distributor of food processing equipment. A small company in harmony is beautiful; in discord, it is severely handicapped for today's business challenges. So, two of us have started a new company which represents eight manufacturers of packaging - aluminum foil and plastic - for the food industry. The company name, would you believe Blossom Industries, Inc?
Secretary, 23749 Stanford Cleveland, Ohio 44122
Class Agent, Union Underwear Co. 1290 Avenue of the Americas New York, N.Y. 10019
