1938
It's always gratifying when someone whose intelligence you greatly admire reaches the same conclusion you do, even when it's a fairly obvious conclusion. Ergo, it was satisfying to your secretary to read President Kemeny's comments in the March "Bulletin" about the trustees' decisions regarding admissions guidelines.
President Kemeny said, "We could have pleased all constituencies if we could have simultaneously increased the number of women significantly, not decreased the number of men and kept the size of the College the same. Unfortunately, that's a logical impossibility."
That's about what I suggested, or was trying to suggest, in my comments in last month's notes (which I wrote before receiving that "Bulletin"). I also pointed out that this "logical impossibility" can be hedged, somewhat anyway, through the utilization of the Dartmouth Plan, also referred to as year-round operation. YRO is a compromise; YRO is a trade-off; YRO has many disadvantages. But it seems to me that it's the best solution, given the alternative logical impossibility. How it seems to many other alumni will be made known via the letters column of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE for months to come, I'm sure.
The resources review column of the Denver Rocky Mountain News in mid-March carried a fine write-up about Jim Todd, including a picture. Jim, as regional vice president, will be in charge of a restructured unit of Standard Oil of California. The clipping conveying this information came to me with a Boulder, Colo., return address but no name. However, Hanover mission control (the Alumni Records Office) established that the sender was Jim McKenna. McKenna and Todd were roommates 40 years ago.
That same invaluable reference source (ARO) sends news-hungry secretaries cards indicating address changes from time to time. Recent '38 gleanings have Don Goodrich at Apt. 203 , 4908 38th (natch) Way South, St. Petersburg, Fla. 33711, from Charleston, W. Va. (though that may have been just for the winter); Bill Main at 1551 Briar Hill Rd., Gladwyne, Pa. 19035, from Houston; Shorty Pabst at 35303 West Pabst Rd., Oconomowoc (that place again), Wisc. 53066, from Snowmass, Colo.; and Fred Pickering at Blackrock Turnpike, Redding, Conn. 06875, from Rye, N.Y. I believe that rye is cheaper in Connecticut (before you get to Rye), or maybe it's the other way round. All distilled liquor is cheaper in New Hampshire than in Maine.
My thanks to Carl Von Pechmann for a thoughtful letter. Time goes on, and 1938 gets to be longer ago, and we are all inevitably affected, and we try to be game about it. Carl is one who succeeds, that's for sure.
Ted Thorne conveys very kind words, and they are much appreciated. Ted also reports with concern the sobering news that his wife Edna's brother, Charlie Mann, is at Mar; Hitchcock, after extensive but successful vascular surgery. Charlie will be out before these notes reach you, but I'm sure he'd be glad to receive a card at home - Garden St., Topsfield, Mass. 01983. Charlie and Ted and Bob Forgan made up a colorful and memorable threesome at the Sigma Nu House in 1935-38.
Secretary Box 187 Damariscotta, Maine 04543
Head Agent, 9 Ledyard Rd. West Hartford, Conn. 06117
