1947

Happy autumn greetings to one and all after another summer that sped by much too quickly.

The news is sparser than I'd like, in part because Townes Harris and Ginny Mather are doing such a great job reporting on '47s in the class newsletter.

But it's a pleasure to learn that Ralph Roth, who had been vice president for production, of Knight-Ridder Newspapers, Inc., has been named president of the Detroit Free Press. As such, he is responsible for all business operations of the newspaper. He was described as a "first-rate newspaperman of proven ability."

After leaving Tuck School, Ralph became a sales executive with Mergenthaler Linotype Co. He joined Ridder Publications in 1957 and became a key executive prior to the Knight-Ridder merger in 1974. Knight-Ridder owns 34 newspapers nationwide.

Bob Schlichting, vice president and national director of the municipal bond department of Kidder, Peabody & Co., Inc., has been elected president of the Municipal Bond Club of New York. A resident of Livingston, N.J., Bob joined Kidder in 1950.

I'd like to hear Pat Martin's comments about life back here in the states now that he's working out of Middlebury; Conn., in his new job as general manager of conveyor" and elevator belting for Uniroyal, Inc. For four years he was general manager of Uniroyal Manuli, an affiliate in sunny Italy. The family should be settled in their new home by now.

Those of us who hated to see the "Mary Tyler Moore Show" go off television nevertheless can appreciate some of the reasons producer GrantTinker decided to end his wife's series. According to an article in the Boston Globe, now it's time to start making money.

For six of the seven years "MTM" was on the screen, Tinker and his wife had operated at a loss. Now he hopes to get some of his money back through the sale of syndication - reruns - rights to individual stations. Mary "might" appear on the new "Lou Grant" show and on "Rhoda."

Creative Media Services, Inc., the advertising media consulting firm operated by our own Doug Burch, has opened a Hartford office, one more indication of how well things are going with the firm. Doug and his attractive wife Elton were the subjects of a fine piece in the magazine Media Decisions. Elton has been named a member of the board of directors of The Commonwealth Group, Inc., a national marketing consulting firm. Daughter Wendy graduated from Briarcliff College this year. Doug also was a featured speaker at the 76th convention of the Mid-Atlantic Newspaper Advertising Executives Association in Pipestem, W. Va., in August.

Class Treasurer Norm Fink also has been busy. His latest literary effort - "1977: Rites of Passage" appeared in the July issue of Collage, the publication of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. Subtitled "From the tripod to the waterbed of philanthropy," the article examines the metamorphosis of charitable giving since 1969.

Bill Jacobs has been appointed to the commercial department of Home Realty, Inc. of Framingham. A Wellesley resident, he is a past president of the Charles River Dartmouth Club. Before joining Home Realty, he was treasurer of William Nelson Jacobs Associates, Inc., a Boston architectural firm.

Way back in May, Mort Morrison and his wife, who live in Auburn, were co-chairmen of a concert-dance featuring a performance of the Jack D'Johns at Assumption College. The event was sponsored by the Alumni Association of Assumption and the Worcester Alumni Club of Dartmouth, with the proceeds benefiting the scholarship funds of both schools.

A personal note in closing. There's been a change in the life style of the Fletchers. The newspaper has switched me over to daytime hours, after 23 years of working nights. It came as a surprise to me, when I finally was able to get my eyes opened, to discover how many people actually are up and moving about so early in the a.m.

64 Sylvan Place Longmeadow, Mass. 01106