1932
Some weeks ago I had a nice visit with Judge Milt Alpert of Albany, N.Y., who now spends his winters in nearby Pompano Beach. True to his promise of last summer, he attends our Ft. Lauderdale Dartmouth Club monthly luncheons and has volunteered to be one of our guest speakers. Milt is still "judging" at the Court of Claims in Albany, which involves his deciding (without jury) on lawsuits involving money against the state. He and wife Lillian made an extensive trip to Poland and Israel last summer. They are justifiably proud of their son Bruce '69, who is a doctor specializing in pediatric cardiology at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. Milt sees Bill Bennett frequently in Albany and was planning a reunion with TedEllis of Hollywood. The judge has five grandchildren, two boys and three girls, all enrolled at Dartmouth!
Ben Burch was busy this past winter building a new house in Norwich, Vt., which he hoped to have ready for sale around this time of the year. It is his first venture at building a new house, as in the past he and wife Dorothy have remodeled some 150 houses. The Burches were away for several weeks in February visiting friends in Barbados, with the possibility of seeing AndréStollmeyer in nearby Trinidad.
Lest we forget the hard winter behind us, DonSimpson wrote me back in February, "We have been through and in fact, are far from out of, a great national disaster. Grace and I have been lucky, as we live in Tonawanda, just north of Buffalo, and have been able to get out and to have heat. Our thermostat is very low (60°), and if it were not for an electric space heater which we carry around the house as necessary, we'd be frozen stiff. When this stuff starts to melt, great troubles loom ahead for the entire area." Don was preparing for a trip to London and then to Egypt to meet up with Terry and Ade Nitschelm. We hope they are now completely thawed out and enjoying warmer temperatures.
Bob McConnochie and wife Alice showed up at our annual Dartmouth club banquet when Dean Ralph Manuel of the College addressed our group. Bob has a motor home and travels extensively, having just returned from visiting his daughter in Long Beach, Cal. Maybe he and the Carlton Wards will be hitting the roads together. Are there any other enthusiastic motor home travelers in our class? We were pleased to see Helen and Alex Christie at this same meeting and hope to see more of them at our mini-reunion this fall.
Jim Whiton must be reading his ALUMNI MAGAZINE; in the January issue I wrote that Al Gerould was trying to locate him, and Al wrote me, "I am glad to report that Jim Whiton has swallowed the anchor and come ashore at 118-B Coulton Ave., Port Charlotte, Fla. 33952." We would like to hear from Jim and our other missing classmate Roland Sundown.
From Bob Fendrich I hear that John Swenson lost his dynamite! Bob sent me a N.Y. Times clipping, dated February 23 indicating that the police of Concord, N.H., had discovered two snow-covered caches of stolen dynamite which had been missing from the John Swenson Granite Company of Concord. John, please send us some details of your lost dynamite. It sounds like a good story. Bob also announced that he was not completely recovered from his recent hernia operation and was taking an automobile load of prospective athletes to Hanover for an on-the-spot visit of the campus.
We are finishing our third week in Australia at this farming town of Toowoomba, which is about 100 miles inland from Brisbane in Queensland. My distributor for grain driers, who is from this area, is showing our equipment at the fair in nearby Dalby, and I've corralled managers from all parts of Australia to see the units at work and extend our coverage. The Dalby fair is the most important in Australia for agricultural equipment. I should finish up in another five days and head for home via New Zealand and Samoa to Francisco.
A few weeks ago, I was in Afars and Issas - named after the two main tribes, the Afars to the north and the majority Issas, who are of Somali stock - the last African colony of France is lurching uncertainly towards independence. Its future is marred by the prospects of a nasty desert war and possible economic chaos. France, which has occupied this sunblasted volcanic outpost for nearly a century, is scheduled to lower the Tricolor for the last time by the end of July. After that, it is anybody's guess as to what will happen in this strategically important enclave at the entrance to the Red Sea. Both Ethiopia and Somalia vital interests in this area and perhaps are preparing for a tank war in the desert should either one move against the newly independent sate There are about 200,000 inhabitants in this 8.800-square-mile enclave - many of them nomads and 90 percent illiterate. Djibouti's only natural resources are sand and camels; and unemployment, I understand, is over 50 per cent.
If any classmate is interested in having a stamp from Afars and Issas, he should send me some news of his activities, for which he will be duly rewarded with a stamp.
Bill Morton will be happy to know that my American Express card is accepted in Toowoomba. It's a strange name, but it is the largest inland city in Australia after Canberra!
While crossing the Nullarbor Plain (formerly a prehistoric sea) on our two-day train ride from Perth to Adelaide, Addie and I counted 27 kangaroos and saw some emus and foxes. This is 25 more kangaroos than seen on this same journey that our son Eric '68 and I took in 1967. This should please the many conservationists in our class, although I do think that my eyesight was improved somewhat by the slugs of whiskey held in my mouth (and swallowed frequently) to alleviate a toothache.
We are looking forward to a luncheon in San Francisco with some 32's who are being rounded up by Carl Ward.
Best regards to all - your obedient servant,
Secretary, 911 North Northlake Drive Hollywood, Fla. 33020
Head Agent, Ellerslie Farm, Rt. #2, Box 151 Berryville, Va. 22611
