1950

How fast the summer slipped by, the year, and the years. Pause and reflect that 30 years have passed since we first arrived on the Hanover plain, a variegated group of callow youth and seasoned veterans. The elms that then surrounded the campus - so few remain - were yellowing fast in the late September sun. Names that now evoke pleasant days, dimmed laughter, and old friendships were then just tags and meaningless. Dartmouth, too, was only a name about to become an experience. Thirty years, and counting.

The Yale game this year was a disaster in a sea of mud. Dutifully, despite the torrential rains, we drove to the bowl, our annual pilgrimmage to New Haven and the chance to see the likes of Chuck Gardner, Ann and George Jewett,Ken and Suzanne Sutherland, or Bob and DodieThompson. A lull in the storm greeted our arrival and we actually had a chance to scout the area for the sight of a familiar face. None appeared in the smallish crowd bundled in foul weather gear or huddled insecurely in makeshift tents. Then the rains returned, even harder in mounting winds. Lunch in the car was cramped and dismal. By game time we gave up and returned along a tree-strewn parkway listening in gloom to a game gone sour. The mud stilled the tearing backs.

My forecast still holds, even though it was cut last month by our new editor, thus leaving you without an independent assessment of gridiron prospects: if the team can beat Harvard, it will be a winner. Oberg, the man to watch, may be the first Dartmouth back to crack 1000 yards in a season.

Mass Mutual Life has named Don Hannigan assistant general counsel and a senior officer. Don joined the company soon after graduation, serving in the New York group office until 1958. While there, he earned an LL.B. from the School of Law at St. John's U. and was subsquently admitted to practice in both New York and Massachusetts. Don is a trustee of the diocese of western Massachusetts and a member of its board of managers. In Westfield, where he and Marita live with their three children, Don serves on the zoning board of appeals.

The honors come thick and fast for DaveDavis, who might have been another familiar face at Yale, where he holds forth between games as prof of history. His 1975 book. TheProblem of Slavery in the Age of Revolution (always the same problem in a variety of settings), is a winner: the Beveridge Award from the American Historical Association for the best book in American and Latin American history; one of the 13 best books of the year as selected by the New York Times; the Bancroft Prize from Columbia; and the National Book Award in the category of history and biography. But awards are not new for Dave - in 1967 he won a Pulitzer.

While on sabbatical leave from Yale last year, Dave was a fellow at the Huntington Library. He managed to find time to put together the Benjamin Rush lecture for the convention of the American Psychiatric Association - the intimidating confrontation of an historian by shrinks! Then the clincher: he and Toni were expecting their second child on 4 July. DickEchikson has lost his status.

In Deerfield, down by Manchester, RogerMathes runs a lumber business incorporated under his name. He writes that he often sees JimCavanaugh, who is a stalwart competitor up the road a piece. Rog indicated that Jim has had a rough year, complicated by the illness of his father '19. The press of activity has kept Jim from "... contacting people like Gerry Sarno, who for 26 consecutive years has sent me a St. Patrick's day card signed Gerry O'Sarn."

Tidbits here and there: the saga of the Franklin Society Federal Savings and Loan and John Dwyer continues with his appointment as chairman of the board in addition to his duties as prexy and CEO. Gordie Pinkham has switched his sales hat from International Paper to Weyerhaeuser without changing his locale from Wayland, Mass. The Ed Tucks visited Benand Joy Shaver in Akron while passing through last summer. Soccer coach Tom Griffith announced that Bruce Bokor '76 of Tenafly, N.J., won the Norman Grant Clark soccer award for 1975. Quest/77, a new magazine due sometime in January, will be edited by Bob Shnayerson, a steal from Harper's (more later). Joe Sardella's daughter Brita received her '76 AB magna cum laude.

The Alumni Fund reached its '76 goal. 1950 did not. We failed as a class to fulfill our promise, especially in the critical category of participation. It is not too early to start thinking about 1977 so that Joel Leavitt can smile again.

Most of the foliage will have disappeared by mid-October, but we can't wait to get back. We shall sample the cider for you. Cheerfully, cheers.

Sam Vitt '50, left, UN Day committeechairman, with Secretary-General KurtWaldheim at a UN party.

Secretary, 510 Hillcrest Road Ridgewood, N.J., 07450

Treasurer, 19 Claybar Drive West Hartford, Conn. 06117