1956's 20th

Line Spaulding, when he assumed presidency of the Class at the 15th Reunion, pledged to increase class cohesiveness and participation. Certainly, the turnout for our 20th as well as the camaraderie of those attending, left little doubt the Line had succeeded, for we broke the college record for the total number of people attending Reunion (including wives and children) and fell just two shy of the returning alumni record.

Of course. Reunion Chairman Bob Dumont and his staff can take credit for the smooth way everything went and Cube Conroy can take credit as always for the good weather.

Amazingly, Tom Harper came from Italy to attend and there were many like the Crowleys from Seattle and the Wheelers from Los Angeles who came from 2,000 miles or more.

The highlight on Friday was not the dinner but rather its locale, the new Thompson Hockey Arena which also hosts the basketball games. This facility is so superb that it is inevitable that hockey and basketball will flourish for many years to come since recruiting should be much easier. For those of us who stood in the cold confines or stomped our feet on the wooden benches of the old facilities, this additional change to the college campus is for the better.

Friday evening saw many attend the Glee Club concert while others started early renewing friendships at the tents. Although there were a few who were able to reminisce Until dawn, the majority of us had had enough by 2 a.m. This early retirement either indicated maturity or old age and I have a feeling it was the latter.

After a delicious (unfamiliar to our memories) breakfast at Thayer, the Class departed for the tennis courts to display its youthful image or in many cases to show off its children who in more than one instance tended to outdo their parents. The less athletic went to Hopkins Center and heard President Kemeny eloquently describe the Dartmouth scene, his hopes and fears, and soothe with rhetoric the controversial areas.

The class meeting began at 11 a.m. with a memorial service led by Ray Harrison for those classmates who had died; and as the names were read, all of us could not help but have pleasant memories of them while at the same time feeling a great sadness that they had died before their time. And how many names had to be read. After a brief, complete reading of the executive committee meeting's minutes that somehow caused a few more catcalls than usual, Line Spaulding was able to finally wrest control from the conscientious secretary-elect who was reminded time and again that he had run unopposed and still almost lost. Fortunately, the secretary-elect did not adjourn the meeting and Line was able to point out how the Class had, in fact, come on strong in the past five years, was indeed a late bloomer and has been and continues active on the Alumni Council with DonSpitzli, Leo McKenna, and newly-appointed BillSherman, and of course George Records who is on the Tuck School Board of Overseers. Line expressed great appreciation to the indefatigable Em Houck, as well as to the other classmates who performed their duties so diligently - BobFaulkner, Will Carleton, Ted Bremble, RickWorrell, Bill Miles, Pete Conroy, Buddy Schattman, Chuck Soule, Elliott Weinstein, and Egil Stigum.

The meeting continued with the announcement of Doug Keare as president-elect and his pronouncement that he will try to keep the class momentum going in the spirit of Spaulding yet try harder than ever to influence the College as now, having the leverage of being a 25th Reunion Class, is the time to do it. Doug pledged to have a feisty class that will deal in facts and the real issues.

The last three topics of the class meeting also were among the most enlightening. They were Spaulding's hope of encouraging the pluses and minuses of private education's greatest supporter, free enterprise; Roy Dixon's creative suggestion of starting a knowledge bank to not only assist people who might be able to use a classmate's knowledge but also to generate additional income for the Alumni Fund; and Chuck Soule's panel discussion of the foreign scholar program, starring, and I mean starring, our first and current foreign scholars whose erudition, sincerity, and compassion made everyone present proud that they had supported the program or guilty that they had not.

On to the picnic at Storr's Pond for bright sunshine, another amazingly fine meal, a lazy afternoon punctuated by refreshing dips into the water, and sips from the kegs.

Saturday night seemed long as Thayer Hall and its confines kept us perspiring and restless in the unusually warm summer evening despite the cool-looking beauty of our well-dressed wives. Eddie Chamberlain's speech consisted of only 37 pages of reasons why it is so difficult to choose applicants — which we already knew. Unfortunately, the speech was even more eloquent than Kemeny's, but fortunately was spiced with some real gems, such as "I am constantly reminded that an applicant is 'a late bloomer', but I never have seen the 'early bloomer'."

Line once again recognized all those who worked so hard to make this a record-breaking Reunion and was recognized by his classmates with a framed autograph of Daniel Webster. Back to the tents for another night of music and friendship.

Sunday brunch was almost anti-climatic in the sense that enough had been said to enough classmates to make it enough. Yet everybody radiated his tired happiness and was glad that he had come and that it was over.

CLASS SECRETARY