1939
We are sitting in front of our typewriter trying to remember the date of our executive committee meeting preparatory to launching into a report. — Of course ... it was April 8th ... how could we forget. The meeting had been shattered by an urgent phone call for us. It was a sonin-law reporting the birth of a first grandchild, an 8 pound, 11 ounce addition, some 21 inches long. Our daughter Bonnie had pulled off a natural birth, and we received prompt congratulations from all but Walt Darby who sulked in the corner as we held center stage. Seems that Walt had become a grandfather for the sixth time just a week or so previous, his daughter Betsy's first, and this child too had been a buster weighing in at an even 8 pounds. So it goes with proud old men at class meetings. Those who Passed out the congrats were Prexy Bert MacMamiis who naturally chaired the meeting, Henry Conkle up from North Carolina, RobbDeGraff in town from Wilmington, Sam Hird,Bob Howe, Bob Kaiser from Hanover, CornieMiller, Bozo Noland from Newport News, Va., Bill Webster, and the aforementioned grandfathers. Dusty Rohde was in town but at a directors meeting of Emery Air Freight. JunieMerriam, and Al Tishman had last-minute business meetings and ditto for Endy Smith up Boston way. Jack Coulson paid the price for his absence. He is hard at work putting together the merger of the Security National Bank with the Chemical, and as a result, he was elected to succeed Sam Hird as our Memorial Chairman. That'll teach him to put business before class.
Our Treasurer, Miller advised that we now sit on some $25,389.25, all drawing interest, and that 311 classmates had responded with their dues in the current year. This splendid kitty takes us well along toward our goal of $40,000 for a 40-year class gift to the college. Incidentally Georgie Hanna heads a committee which is looking into just what form that gift will take.
Class Newsletter Editor Darby promised us a photographic issue in his next and requested photos from any source.
Bequest Chairman Kaiser feels the Class is moving along a bit better than some of our neighbors in the high thirties and low forties. He recounts two fairly recent life income bequests of $100,000 and one for $5,000. Bob also reported, with a turn of the hat, that the fall reunion is planned for October 9, 10, 11 at Bonnie Oaks. Penn will be the opponent at Memorial Field.
With the passing of Jocko Vincens (March issue) your committee seeks his successor as the editor-in-chief of our scheduled 40-year book.
Robb DeGraff and Bob Howe discussed their vital roles as our top class agents, and reported confidence in our performance to date, although things go a bit slowly.
The meeting was concluded with a rousing lunch at the Biltmore, not far from the clock. It was here, for instance that we learned where Howe got his deep tan - ten days on a cruise of the Windward Islands on a 63-foot ketch. We also heard how Conkle elicited the expert advise of Bob Davidson in landing a plastic company for Cashiers, N.C. And now that there is industry in little old Cashiers, Conkle reported that Moose and Betsy Wyman were scheduled through in April for a weekend to case the area.
On other matters in the cold cold world, the Robert H. Armstrong Award, given for the year's outstanding contribution to the literature of real estate valuation went to Sam Dix of Grand Rapids, Mich, for his article entitled, "Real Estate and Machinery - The Market Value Problem."
On April 23 Prof. Dave Long of the Univ. of N.H. spoke to the New Hampshire Council on World Affairs on the meaty problem of "Vietnam: A Historian's Perspective." In a recent poll of UNH Alumni, Dave was voted as the most outstanding teacher that they had over the past decades, a rather impressive accolade. Long is also co-author of a popular textbook on American History with Prof. Robert Riegel of Dartmouth, and he has authored several other books and articles.
Ev Woodman has picked up almost where he left off years ago when he served as cultural affairs officer with the USIS in India, for two years, and four more years as cultural attache at the U.S. Embassy. He also served as a consultant for the Ford Foundation in the India Ministry of Education in New Delhi, and with ministries of education in Kenya. Now back to his first love, he oversees about 200 Peace Corps volunteers serving in the North African country, as director of the Peace Corps in Morocco. According to a recent Newport, N.H., newspaper article, this type of work has always had a great fascination for the erstwhile Colby Junior College president.
This issue finishes us for the year, we believe. We'll be back in the fall with fresh news.... Drop us a note if you get a minute. We'd like to hear, and so would the Class.
Fran Fenn '37 received the Alumni Coun-cil A ward during the annual Class OfficersWeekend last month in Hanover.
Secretary, 777 West St. Pittsfield, Mass. 01201
Head Agent, E. I. DuPont Co., Nemours Bldg. Wilmington, Del. 19898
