1961
On the eve of the big 15th (plus one) reunion, mail brings news of achievements and recognition in varied fields, and a report on the unlikely Edison of our Class.
With wah-hoo-wahs now banned, let's lead off with a rouse or two for Stephen Bosworth for receiving an Arthur S. Flemming Award in recognition of his outstanding and meritorious work for the feds as deputy assistant secretary of state for international resources and food policy. Steve received the honor in March as the result of a nomination by Secretary of State Kissinger, last year obviously.
Rhode Island may not be quite as spacious as Steve Bosworth's sphere of activity, but RussellBoss has become involved there in a world of business and civic interests to complement his family life with his wife and three daughters in the town of Warwick. Russ is an executive vice president, treasurer and director of A. T. Cross Company, the writing-instrument manufacturers and distributors, and serves as a director of the Manufacturing Jewelers and Silversmiths of America and as first vice president of the Jewelry Institute. Back on the local level, Russ was recently appointed as a member of the Providence Area Advisory Board of the Industrial National Bank, and he is also chairman of the Rocky Hill School and a director of the Boy Scouts, Better Business Bureau, and the Second Pawtucket Area Industrial Commission. What do you do in your spare time, Russ?
That good ol' country boy, Dr. Ivan Harwood, says he plays at being a redneck farmer on an occasional free weekend in the small rural community of Jamul, Calif., but the center of his life is now twenty miles away at the University of California Medical School in San Diego. Ivan is director of the pediatric pulmonary division and the cystic fibrosis center there. He claims he never would have predicted that he would wind up in Southern California, but in 1970 the San Diego area looked pretty good to him after two years with the Air Force stationed at Del Rio, Tex., the gospel-music and mail-in-your-money preachin' radio capital of the world. Ivan has successfully avoided "the tenuous bonds of matrimony," which is a remarkable accomplishment for a pediatrician-god working in a hospital full of worshipful nurses and women of childbearing age.
The inventor of the Original Incredible Weather String has described himself as "an engineer by nature, a scientist by birth, and a jackass by personality," which pretty well fits Ray Welch. His brain child is a cross between a pet rock and one of those gadgets advertised on TV that slice, dice and entice. For a mere $4.95 you can purchase Ray's OIW String, encased in a glass tube, and an 80-page owner's manual. The manual explains the multitude of uses for this seemingly simple twelve-inch piece of string, such as how you can tell if it's raining by hanging the string outdoors and checking later to see if it's wet. The OIW String can be used for instant pagination indication by readers indicates high and low tides even at night, detect earthquakes, and also detects fog, smog and smoke - just by hanging it 20 feet from your observation point, e.g., the bathroom window you can tell if the visibility is more or less than 20 feet. The String can also be used to test public opinion. Ray's manual instructs pollsters to approach a person in the street and thrust the String toward his mouth as he asks a question Ray figures it's 93 per cent certain a person won't lie to a piece of string. Not surprisingly, Ray is in the advertising business and runs his own agency in Boston when not engaged in inventing much-needed consumer products.
Fritz and Janis Kern have just moved from San Bruno, Calif., to Sugarland, near Houston. Tex. Fritz will be taking over as head of marketing and sales operations for Gulf States Toyota, covering a five-state area that includes a lot of oil, chicken gumbo, and sales prospects for Toyota.
Marsh Ledger takes the cake this month for the most improbable occupation: staff writer for the Pennsylvania Gazette, the alumni mag of the University of Pennsylvania. Without the likes of Wheelock, Webster, Hovey and Frosty and the Dartmouth College Case to write about, how can he possible come up with material to fill the pages around the class news columns?
Class President Jack Reno has tapped Bob Naegele to lead the nominating committee for the class elections to be held at the reunion June 17-19. In the midst of his sunny holiday at Hilton Head Island, Bob called to ask that I put out the word that anyone who would like to fill a class office or otherwise serve on the 11-member executive committee should drop Bob a note at 1700 West 7th Street, Minneapolis, Minn. 55423. Bob's goal is to line up a strong and long list of candidates for the voters.
If you haven't already made up your mind to attend the reunion, the last come-on I can offer is that Ford Daley's Beaver Meadows String Band will perform at the class picnic on Saturday. I don't think they were in Hanover when we were there before, unless they're really Glenn Gemelli and the Renegades in disguise.
Ray Welch '61 demonstrates one of the usesof his Original Incredible Weather String.
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