1931
Maybe it's because Shep's bills for class dues were on a new, larger form with more room on which to write, but news is pouring in along with dues payments. Shep splits the notes between Bill Wendell and me. There are more than enough for this column so if your note doesn't get printed this time, be patient. All notes will be used.
A letter from Stalwart Bill Minehan reminds me that we "are the only older Class with a plan for memorializing our deceased members ... this started with Red Gristede in 1971." An "In Memoriam" booklet was issued this fall by the Alumni Fund Committee, listing all memorialized alumni. Just to show you how much is going on behind the scenes, BettyNichols sent the booklet with a note to all widows who gave last year, while Bill Minehan did the same for all other family members who gave, and for widows who were not donors. Bill is now in his fifth year of sustained effort as head agent. Beside his job, my job is a sinecure.
Ernie Moore writes that his foot is slow in knitting so he's been on a week to week basis with nature. His company has asked him to stay on through January on a consultant basis. Nobody ever made me an offer like that - probably the sigh of relief at my retirement was barely inaudible. Ernie sent a clip from a Boston paper with a picture of Dr. Charles Sullivan, outgoing president of the Clover Club of Boston.
A card from Bob Baumrucker answers my query as to where he was when we went by his house in a bus last February. "Had I known your schedule I'd no doubt have greeted your bus, but we usually hide behind shutters as the tourists roll by! Just back from a fine long weekend with Vance and Libby Dickerman in San Diego after a week with an F- 111 pilot nephew now based at Las Vegas. We're taking off for about six weeks in the Bahamas out islands - back in time for the spring skiing." It's a tough life, Bob.
George Phillips was in Guatemala and Mexico during the last half of December. MartyZinn wrote to Shep Wolff on a postcard imprinted "Two Zinns are better than One!" Cute. Dick Fisher reports from Hilton Head, S.C.: "Our life here is most enjoyable. We swim and golf nearly every day. I still work on the golf courses as a "Starter' or 'Ranger' so I meet a lot of people I know from different parts of the country. I see Dutch Holland playing golf every week and he is fine."
Dig this missive from Red Gristede: "Spent three weeks on the road - Lake Placid to Whitefield, N.H. to the Balsams at Dixville Notch. Couldn't get rooms for the three of us at under $100 without meals! On to Montebello, Canada at a great spot - the Seignory Club; on to Ottawa and then back to Lake Placid. Seven stops in 16 days, ten of which I had a queasy (Virgo) stomach (from eating A & P food or something). At $40 per day I had to live on Cream of Wheat, tea and toast, boiled milk, custards, mashed potatoes, ice cream, together with Kaopectate, pheno barbital (nerves), Hamotil, Blackberry brandy and a few bananas." Phew!
Ted Johnson writes from Falmouth, Maine: "Our retirement life goes contentedly, if not quietly, forward as we divide our time between home and the chalet in Bartlett, N.H. We seem to have a great many demands upon us for community activities when we are in Portland; the result is we anticipate weeks among the hills as a pleasant relief in solitude."
I am still trying to find out if Rosy Rosengren got voted in as director of Windsor Gardens Association Board (Colorado).
Shep Wolff, who forwarded most of the above notes, gave me a blow by blow description of his recent hospitalization. However, he states that when we returned for his 30-day checkup all was found in order. "I was given another machine whereby by telephone to the hospital the machine will transmit everything the doctor wants to know about both my heart and the 'gooser.' What a day we live in!"
Shep continues: "Helen Soule is surprising everyone with her ability to get around (with some difficulty) and to do things for herself."
As I sit here the rain is mixing with the falling snow, and the two-week-old ice is slick and slippery. So I think I'll glide down to the post office to see how many 13¢ stamps I need to get this epistle to Hanover.
Secretary, R.F.D. Box 15 Chebeague Island, Me. 04017
Treasurer, Dogford Road, Etna, N.H. 03750
