1947

As the fella said: "I don't mind becoming a grandfather. It's just knowing that from now on I'll be sleeping with a grandmother!"

So it is with the Class of '47. It's not that we're getting old or anything. It's just that all these fellows our age are becoming grandfathers. The latest to join the club is Bob Nelson of Arlington, Mass. He proudly reports that he and Irene became grandparents for the first time in September when a daughter was born to their daughter and husband, Linda and Jim Clark, in Manchester, N.H.

(I might interject a comment here that Ann and 1 still have a way to go yet before we are thus rewarded, although it may not be as long as we think. John, our oldest, is already a freshman in high school.)

I know '47s will be pleased to hear that Cy and Glora Bee Helm are planning to move back to the States early next year when his company moves its corporate office from London to Houston. The Helms have lived in London since 1970 and were in Tripoli, Libya,, for ten years prior to that. Cy is president of Intairdril Limited, a mul- tinational company providing specialized repair and workover services for oil and gas wells and the distribution of speciality products to the oil industry. Cy Jr., 21, is in his fourth year at the University of Tex-as majoring in business administration. The Helms enjoy summer - and winter - breaks at their holiday home on Lake Travis near Austin, Tex.

All's well, too, with Doug and Elton Burch. Eldest son Chris continues helping with the prospering family business—Creative Media Services, Inc. He is also major owner of the Gaslight Inn in Fort Lauderdale. Travelers take note. Second son Peter, a master blacksmith, was traveling the Southwest searching for the right location to establish his shop. Anyone have a garage that can handle half a ton of anvils?

The Burches' daughter Wendy will graduate in June from Briarcliff College and meanwhile is editor of the college yearbook. She introduced her roommate to her brother Jeff, an account exec with MacFadden Publications in New York. Now Doug and Elton have a new daughter-in-law. Jeff married Beverly Hitch in Richmond, Va., in August. The Burches tried the Yale game last fall, but the monsoon got the best of them and they tailgated inside the car. (The Fletchers got as far as my brother's home in Weston, Conn.)

Ham and Dottie Chase must hold the world's record - they have five youngsters in college at the same time. (Are you listening. Guinness?) Here's the rundown: Fred, a junior at Salve Regina College in Newport, R.I. On the side he buys and sells homes and reconditions them, earning his full way. Tom, a senior at University of New Hampshire, who plans to attend veterinarian school. He was elected to the N.H. State Legislature (Democrat). Carol, a junior at the University of Pennsylvania interested in landscape architecture. David, a junior at University of New Hampshire. Also pre-vet. Works with his father in Ham's new business in solar energy collector panels. (Ham still operates the clean room business.) And Suzie, Class of 'BO at Dartmouth. She had some bad luck - suffered a small crack in a vertebra during a fall in gymnastics program. Not yet in college is Bobbie - a junior at Keene High School. Last summer Dottie and Ham visited Cotton and Verah Johnson at their home in Brewster on Cape Cod and "had a most enjoyable time."

The latest on the Frank Webers: Daughter Betsy is teaching in Florida. Heidi is a sophomore at Dartmouth. Ursula is busy teaching second-graders in Ridgefield, Conn., and Frank still travels and sells for Shell. They, too, consider themselves a lucky bunch.

That's it for this year. Holiday greetings to all!

Secretary, 64 Sylvan Place Longmeadow, Mass. 01106

Treasurer, 533 Wain Road Glenside, Pa. 19038