1951
Twenty-five years ago, Sunday, June 17, 1951, to be exact, 523 of us marched up the steps of the wooden platform erected in the Bema to receive our coveted Dartmouth A.B. degrees, 11 summa, 24 magna, and 59 cum laude. TedGlaser's seeing-eye dog companion of four years, "Pal," also received one cum woof.
Dick Pugh was our spokesman for the valedictory. President Dickey launched us into the "wide, wide world" with these concluding words; "And now, Men of Dartmouth, once again the word is 'so long,' for in the Dartmouth fellowship there is no parting."
Theologian Reinhold Neibuhr gave the baccalaureate address. Other honorary degree recipients were Frederick Lewis Allen, editor of Harper's; Amos Noyes Blandin Jr. 'l8, Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court; Russell Cowles, painter; Ralph E. Flanders, U.S. Senator from Vermont; Frank Pace Jr., Secretary of the Army; and Arthur Hays Sulzberger, publisher of The New York Times.
The festivities had begun with Class Day on Friday afternoon, June 15, 1951, when we gathered at the Senior Fence and were led by the Band to the Dartmouth Hall lawn, where BerlBernhard gave the Class Oration; Jim Wheatley, the Class Poem; and Paul Staley, the Address to the College.
From there, the Band led us to the Old Pine, where Jeff O'Connell, dressed in Indian costume, rode in on an old white mare to deliver the Sachem Oration. Mike lovenko gave the Farewell Address to the College. Then we broke the clay pipes we had been smoking on the Old Pine stump.
In between Class Day and Commencement, there were parties (fraternity and otherwise), a dance, Band and Glee Club concerts, a play, a baseball game, and the alumni luncheon Saturday noon, at which, among others, Dave Leslie, our newly elected secretary-chairman, spoke.
Turning to the present, we had our second (I believe) classmate profiled in the Wall StreetJournal on April 12. The headline which introduced 37½ column inches of article summed up the story: "Super Salesman - Chicago's Dave Hilton Excels in a Tough Job: Selling Life Insurance - Persistent Hunt for Clients, Low-Key Air Helped Put '75 Sales Over $9 Million - 'Too Candid,' Nonbuyer says." What comes through is that a nice guy who tells it like it is can come out on top. Those who know Dave well should be pleased with how well the article captures his personality and character.
Hopping the Atlantic to Brussels, Belgium, Jacques Heymans is president of his own company, engaged in agency jobs and marketing consulting. He and wife Helene have four children: Eric, 18; Gery, 16; Patricia, 15; and Michel, 14. Jacques also hunts and reads.
Back in Baghdad-on-the-Hudson, bachelor Bill Hatpin lives in the West Village and works as vice president in charge of educational publishing for Oxford University Press. With Oxford for 20 years, his responsibilities include college and medical textbook lists and service on the company's management committee. In 1974-75, he was chairman, College Division, of the Association of American Publishers, and is currently chairman of the Division's Student Relations Committee. He spends his weekends in "a wonderful house on the side of a hill overlooking the Harlem Valley" in exurbia.
Slightly to the South in Wilmington, Delaware, Dick Bergman works, not unsurprisingly, for duPont. With the chemical giant since graduation from the Harvard "B" School in 1953, Dick has spent the last 15 years in various corporate diversification activities. He is currently manager, New Agricultural Products, Development Dept. Dick and wife Phyllis have two daughters, Carole, 18, and Cynthia, 13. He is a vestry member and church school superintendent, and plays golf, tennis, and duplicate bridge.
Hanover native Amos Gile returned home to run the local florist shop in the fall of 1973. After his undergraduate days, he tried medical school; served in the Navy; worked in sales for Standard Brands in New York, Canada (Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg), and South Africa; then West Virginia Pulp & Paper, and International Silver Co. from 1958-68. He then had his own company, Basic Concepts, Inc., consultants in financial marketing. Amos and wife Lorna have three children: Lorna, 25, married and living in Norway; and probably the first Dartmouth brother-sister classmate team, John and Pamela, who graduate this month.
Bob Porter is sole proprietor of Up Country Cards and Posters ("publisher, distributor, wholesaler of Vt., N.H. & Maine gimmicks") in Woodstock, Vt. He and wife Monica have two children: Bill, 17, and Lydia, 15. Bob's undergraduate education was interrupted twice by Army service; and he finally received his B.A. from Columbia in 1954.
A year in Europe was followed by a year at the University of Virginia Law School. There were then three years in Mexico City, followed by five in New Jersey as a book store proprietor. Bob returned to Vermont in 1964 and worked as, among other things, apple picker, talc miner, director of financial aid at Windham College, and ski lift operator.
I haven't completely emptied my mail bag, but I want to conclude my 137th class notes column with a mish-mash of observations, bitches, statistics, and some sunshine. I've been class secretary for just shy of a third of my life. After 15 years, I think I am becoming a bit stale and am trying to retire.
My basic bitch is classmates who have not responded to numerous news solicitations. I have gone out of my way to make it eminently clear that my column reports on everybody in the Class, whether they graduated or not, and regardless of how well I know them.
Eliminating those lost and in mail return, I have reported on 90.2 per cent of all living classmates (94.9 per cent of graduates, 65 per cent of non-graduates) during my tenure (my 25 years ago material doesn't count). That to you may be sunshine; to me it is not because of those who haven't been mentioned.
The sunshine to me has been my contacts, by mail and in person, with so many classmates, many of whom I barely knew as an undergraduate, and their families. As a crusty old bachelor, my Dartmouth 1951 "family" has meant a great deal to me.
Secretary, 45 E. 89th St., Apt. 32-A New York, N.Y. 10028
Class Agent, Readers Digest, Pleasantville, N.Y. 10570
