1942
By now, we've had our 35th Reunion, and we've got a new bunch of class officers . . . and I can't report on either because I'm writing this fully six weeks or more before you're reading it. Whereas I cannot go into details and specifics about the reunion or our new class officers, I know I can safely generalize about both. The reunion was great! Our new class officers are every bit as good and dedicated as our old class officers! Your new secretary will write his first column next month and confirm in detail everything I've just said.
At the Dartmouth Club of Philadelphia annual dinner, April 13, I saw Don Meads across the crowded room. Ad Winship, with President Kemeny's party, was also there and, of course, we exchanged many thoughts about the coming reunion, etc.
Prof John D. Wright, Lexington, Ky., represented Dartmouth at the inauguration of William Watkins Kelly as president of Transylvania University on April 25 in Lexington.
Dr. R. Robert Tyson, Philadelphia, is a member of the board of directors of Pennsylvania Blue Shield. Dick Higgins, Northbrook, Ill., has been elected president of the International Trade Club of Chicago for the year beginning July 1. Dick is vice president-operations, Western International Group, Bell & Howell Company. He succeeds Jim Ingersoll, vice president - external affairs, Borg-Warner Corporation, who remains on the board of directors for one year. Pete Krist, vice president, Mobil Oil Corp., was elected a senior vice president.
Thomas H. Bell '78, a junior at the College, has been named the recipient of the James A. Finnegan Fellowship Foundation essay competition. He will serve a ten-week internship in a government or political office at the state capitol of Harrisburg, Pa., this summer. He is the son of Sam Bell, Pittsburgh.
On Ad Winships's swing along the banquet circuit back in April he ran into Keith Prouty and his wife and Merrill McLane while in Washington, D.C. The Prouty's news of the moment was a recent acquisition of waterfront land in Bath, Maine, where they are planning to build their vacation dream house. Merrill told Ad that he will not be able to make reunion since he will be heading for Spain at the end of May, then he and Helene will do some traveling through France, and on to London and Scotland.
On May 6-7 all your class officers were in Hanover for Class Officers Weekend. At a luncheon meeting we all discussed last-minute plans for the reunion and reunion giving. President Kreter presided, and Treasurer JimO'Mara, Head Agent Buzz Cassidy, Bequest Chairman Guy Swenson, and Reunion Chairman Bob Kirk all gave reports. I gave one, too. Also present were our Hanover constituency: Dick Cardozo, Dick Burns, Ad Winship, AlDingwall, Jim Farley, Alex Fanelli, plus class godfather Charlie Brown. As usual, Kreter handled things like Kreter always handles things - perfectly! After all the years he's put in as head agent and class president, we'll miss his name on the letterhead - but we'll never forget his great contribution to the Class.
Received some more sad news about deaths of classmates. You've read a recent obituary in this magazine about George Brickelmaier who passed away on February 25, 1977 ... and, very suddenly, our class newsletter editor, DickSmith, died on April 25. George and Dick were both very popular members of the Class and I find it more and more difficult to comment on these losses because whatever is said comes out sounding too much like cliches. On the other hand, the simple truth is that we mourn their passing and we will miss them . . . and that is not a cliché.
Alex Fanelli writes: "Since Dick Smith and I were classmates for twelve years of our lives - and good friends for 47 years - I would like to add a few personal words to those that may be published about him in the ALUMNI MAGAZINE.
"What I shall remember most vividly about Dick are his warm affection for others and his sense of humor. He had, in a measure that made it something special and extraordinary, what I can only describe as a smiling relationship with life. It's not that he couldn't be serious - he often was - but one always had the feeling that even in serious moments he was better able than most of us to salvage (and savor) those ironic aspects that make such situations both more bearable and more worthwhile. So, when I think of Dick I invariably see him smiling, a hand raised to brush back a thatch of sandy hair, and zinging a small flash of wit in no particular direction. A few years ago, Dick and Barbara gave my wife and me a clever mobile of many pendant little mirrors. Delighted, we placed it below a skylight, and when the sun was right it would flash a hundred rays of sunshine around our kitchen. Dick was like that mobile, except that with him the sun seemed always to be in the right quadrant.
"His warmth toward others came easily and naturally from the example of his parents for whom I had a special affection from the time Dick and I were in grammar school together. For nearly a decade they cheerfully put up with the noise of our ping-pong games in the basement of their house in Pelham (Dick usually won) and they made me feel very much a part of the family. That environment of love was reflected in Dick's own deep affection for his family: Barbara, who had gone through high school with us and whose special zest and sparkle were a perfect match for Dick's, and their fine sons, Bram and Gilbert. Being with them recently after Dick's death reminded me of the happiness they and Dick must have enjoyed from a lifetime of mutual love and respect.
"During World War II, when Dick was in the Merchant Marine, an incredible series of coincidences brought him one day to the island of Aruba in the West Indies with the knowledge that I was there with a bomber squadron flying submarine patrol. He immediately looked me up and we spent a fine day together before he returned to his tanker to stand a midnight watch. That night, while trying to separate two of his brawling, less sober shipmates, he was thrown against a deckhouse and a broken rib punctured his lung. He was hospitalized on the island for a while and I would visit him occasionally to smuggle a candy bar or other contraband past the watchful eyes of the Catholic sisters. After his release he had to wait a few weeks for another tanker to pick him up so he spent much time with me on our small airbase. It was characteristic of Dick that throughout what must have been a rather dull period for him it was he who kept me and my crewmates in good cheer rather than the other way around.
"I haven't told Barbara yet, but a few months ago (for the second time) the mobil of little mirrors fell from the skylight and was smashed, this time beyond salvaging. I am not one to read anything prophetic in that. But Betty and I do miss the flashes of light in our kitchen, as we shall miss the special light that Dick always brought to our house. With Barbara's help we will find another mirror-mobile and put it up with more reliable glue. I think Dick would like that."
The next column you read in this space will be a reunion report by your new secretary. Thanks for the opportunity to have been your former secretary. Have a good summer.
Secretary, 1001 Livezey Lane Philadelphia, Pa. 19119
Head Agent, 14 Country Club Dr. Port Washington, N.Y. 11050
