1921

Most writers after finishing a book indulge themselves in lazy vacations, but not Andy and Harriet Valentine. Theirs, An Island's People: One Foot in the Sea, One on Shore concerns Long Island and examines old letters, diaries, journals, inventories, and wills. The 156 illustrations range widely: a Quakeress dress, blacksmiths and basket makers, an apprenticed slave boy, merino sheep, cucumber culture, and colonial and English homes. Now they are at work on two more projects.

Still an active lawyer, Bill Fowler likewise is proving himself as an indefatigable researcher. In 36 pages he has delved into the history of Union Chapel, Little Boar's Head, N.H. For five years he has been working on ShakespeareRevealed in Oxford's Letters, and his book will run to two volumes. Time is not of the essence. Bill hopes to live to 83, which is the number of miles he and Sherm Adams '20 walked in just one day, May 31, 1920, from Skyline to Hanover. Bill's 140 th sonnet is founded on the belief that Oxford was the true "Shake-speare."

In a full life Ben Tenney wanted always to be where the action was, and so his intense career as physician and Navy man until he was 75 prevented him from completing his autobiography. His experiences during World War I with the French army were only sketched. He and Constance miss old-fashioned trains and ships in slow motion. Speed and crowding in airplanes make Washington, Conn., seem particularly delightful: cutting of firewood, golf, reading, pleasant friends, good food and good wine, and a fireplace fire.

Although Hastings Walker is "completely retired," and although he has "no idea of resuming work on his book about tuberculosis in Hawaii," the urge to complement in words what he has done in wiping out the disease and building the Leahi Hospital may be stronger than he anticipates. His son David '53 of San Francisco, a professional artist, publishes articles about American Indian artifacts.

True, Ralph Steiner has a book in the making at the Wesleyan University Press, but he and the press cannot decide on a title. It's about his life as photographer and the art of seeing, and he and Caroline cannot see eye-to-eye about it either. They scream yes-no at each about the 16 titles, and the Press merely murmurs quietly, "No." It and Ralph are charmingly trusting: no contract, no advance payments, no deadlines, no high blood pressures, no hour-long vituperative telephone calls. "Forget the money," says Ralph. "Just allot me 100 free copies to give away." One will go to the Dartmouth College Library in memory of his beloved roommate of two-and-a-half years. Warren Homer.

Werner Janssen in his autobiography, nearly finished, will reminisce about his musical life as conductor, composer, and pianist, and his adventures in the U.S. and foreign countries where he established enduring friendships with famous musicians and musicologists.

As late as last autumn, Larry Nardi joined a class in creative writing given by a U.S. Naval Academy professor. Staggered at first by one of his early assignments - write a poem - he enjoyed the experience so much that 55 years too late he wishes that he had taken composition courses at Dartmouth. "If I am to become a writer, I must work and work and write and write and write."

"Once a newspaper man, always a newspaper man." For Chuck Moreau, it's true in spirit, if not in print. In 1968 he sold the South Orange-Maplewood New Record; in 1977, his Bloomfield Independent Press and the Glen Ridge newspaper. True in spirit, yes. Still in fine fettle, Chuck did not really want to sell. After a sojourn in Wyoming, he plans a bicycle trip in Vermont this autumn.

And Chuck's name was affectionately mentioned by four persons apropos of Ted Merriam,Joe Walker, Bob Wilson, and Alpha Chi Rho. They were Norm and Louise Carver, and Charlieand Dorothy Gilson at a Hanover Inn luncheon last summer. The Carvers were en route to Shakespeare plays in Canada. Although Norm retired as far back as 1968 after 39 years as manager of the Kalamazoo Civic Players, honors continue to be heaped upon him. In June the Michigan Theatre Association gave him a distinguished service award for his outstanding contributions to drama. Some 300 persons attended "Michigan Theatre" and participated in seminars about workshops, marketing the arts, new theatre technology, and the use of transactional analysis for actors. The Carver Center Theatre was named for Norm in 1958, and Louise as actress has played many diverse and distinguished roles.

And let us not forget the late Corey Ford, who when not writing at his desk from 5 a.m. to noon through the decades, might be found at Lüchow's. He loved the restaurant's opulent atmosphere of mahogany and May wine, Strauss and Streuselkuchen, and starched-front waiters scurrying between well-laid tables redolent of Wiener Schnitzel, Huhn im Topf, and Sauerbraten mil Kartoffel Klösse. On page 155 of Lüchow's German Cookbook one reads, "Corey Ford's Lüchow's favorite is Hasenpfeffer [jugged hare]. He likes an imported dark beer with his meal." And at a nearby table might be sitting Marlene Dietrich, who preferred Vienna Backhendl [roast chicken] complemented by a fine Moselle wine.

Box 925 Hanover, N.H. 03755