1961
Bob Naegele won my vote for classmate-of-the-year when his newsy letter from Minneapolis reached me a day before the postal service got around to delivering the alumni mag containing my first column as secretary. With help like that, this job is a breeze; without it, I'm stuck with trying to make press releases sound folksy. Getting back to Bob's letter, he reports that when his outdoor-advertising business permits, skiing is his all-family sport these days, with wife Ellis and their four offspring (Jennifer 14, Jill 13, Bobby 10, and Trisha 8) joining him on the slopes whenever possible. Bobby has also become a hockey goalie "better than his old man ever was." No comment. Other '61s Bob sees in the Twin Cities area include realtor Budand Jane Schoening, WCCO-TV general sales manager Jack Hansen, and hospital administrator and civic do-gooder John King, the last of whom still has a 34-inch waistline, apparently to Bob's wonder, envy, and disgust.
On a personal note, Bob and Ellis report that much joy and peace have entered their lives since accepting Christ three years ago, and Bob wonders what we all would have thought if he'd stood up in Rollins Chapel and announced his decision. Bob, if you had made such a public announcement in Rollins, it would still' be a well-kept secret. More to the point, however, most of the letters I have received as secretary reflect maturation of views and changing life values since our know-it-all days in Hanover. To quote elder statesman Bob Dylan recalling his rigid youthful beliefs: "Ah, but 1 was so much older then; I'm younger than that now."
On a similar note, Al Hale writes from Hawaii that he has "gotten into spiritualism again after 18 years of 'time out' for reason, rationality, and Western views." He's become more heavily involved in some of the Eastern disciplines, yoga, meditation, and in particular following the teachings of Baba Muktananda. On the career side of the ledger, Al was a school director with the Outward Bound program in Minnesota for five years, then taught in a graduate program in experiential education at Mankato State University before moving to Hawaii this summer to work with a newly-founded Hawaii Outward-Bound school. He is now busying himself figuring out how to set up a course to challenge the kids to a cross-island adventure from the rain forests up to the barren lava fields to snow-capped Mauna Loa, across the Kau Desert and past the Kona Coast by out-rigger canoe. Al says he's really happy doing what he's doing (hard to believe?), but that he sometimes dreads the ALUMNI MAGAZINE "with all that success and wah-who-wah stuff." Poor guy!
Also on the do-your-thing theme, GreggMillett writes that he and his wife "pulled stakes and took off' to try their hands at homesteading in Nicaragua after pursuing the more conventional pursuits of getting a Ph.D. at Stanford and teaching for five years at the University of Texas. Gregg goes on to report, "Three boys later, we've built up a cow herd, coffee and banana plantation, orchard, gardens, house and barn, several thousand posts of fencing, and a menagerie of small livestock." With all that out of the way, Gregg plans to take some teaching assignments at the Universidad Centro America in Managua. Having outdistanced the College's alumni address sleuths for a number of years and therefore having missed out on the news, Gregg asks what's become of former roommates Ivar Jozus and Don Roberts, and whether Dick Noel is still pole-vaulting. The latest word is that Ivar is lawyering in Middletown, Conn., Don is an architect in Cambridge, Mass., and Dick is a banker in Rutland, Vt„ presumably without pole in hand.
For those of us stuck in more pedestrian pursuits, Frank Stephen's letter from London suggests a more plausible combination of business and pleasure. Frank works for Esso in connection with its natural gas operations in Germany, the Netherlands and Norway. Besides complaining about the high cost of liquor somewhere in Norway called Stavanger where he was stuck for all of three weeks, Frank and his wife Dorothy report extensive travels throughout Britain and Europe, including a skiing vacation in the Italian Dolomites at "a most reasonable and thoroughly enjoyable, un- discovered ski resort." It remains undiscovered because Frank didn't disclose the name. A mention in this column isn't quite as devastating to an unspoiled resort as a feature in Playboy, so why not share the discovery, Frank?
Secretary, 728-14th. St. Pacific Grove, Cal. 93950
Treasurer, 105 Crosby, Hanover, N.H. 03755
