1940

Part of the glory of a college class is the diversity flowing from that shared campus experience; my notes for this month's column testify to just a few of the many ways '40 classmates have followed their different fortunes.

An example is one of those taking advantage of our bargain offer for a late copy of "Time Well Spent," published for our 25th reunion, namely, Lew Lambert. He wrote from Riyadh in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where he is head of the department of anesthesiology at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, and I read between the lines that he has participated in a most gratifying adventure in bringing the healing arts and sciences to a people who have not known the benefits of modern medicine.

"We have watched our hospital grow," he reports, "from a 25-bed operation to a 280-bed hospital encompassing all specialties." Where once they "waited anxiously for the next patient," Lew now knows the reality of that old saying, "Bar the doors, they're coming through the windows." "We could use double, or triple, our present facility," he notes.

Meanwhile, he and his wife Sam, who has been working at a PX there, have purchased what he describes as a "small flat" in Cyprus and are thinking of retirement there. The time table is uncertain because, he says, "We both enjoy what we are doing in Saudi." i

There's no hint in Lew's letter of the tensions regularly reported in the press between Greek and Turkish Cypriots. Rather, he describes Cyprus as "a beautiful, warm island that has been little touched by bloating tourism. The people are the most friendly and helpful people one could meet."

It's the kind of note that suggests there's hope yet for homo sapiens.

Bob and Crosbie MacMillan bring news of another '40 physician named Lew, Lew Chipman, practicing still down Delaware way. But that's not where Bob and Crosbie found him. They were at Totem Park in Ketchikan at the south end of the Alaskan panhandle toward the end of their first tour of this nation's last pioneer state. Although traveling by themselves with son Jaimie, Bob and Crosbie were joined by a large group from a cruise ship as they listened to a park guide tell about historic totems. In the middle of the guide's spiel, Bob felt himself nudged in the ribs by Crosbie, who was whispering, "Don't we know that couple in the middle on the other side of the circle?" As you may guess, they were the Chipmans, also "doing" an Alaskan vacation. It's a thrilling experience, according to the MacMillans, who flew into Fairbanks, made their way south to Anchorage and then to Juneau by boat and train, and also visited Kiska as well as Ketchikan. "What scenery!" says Bob.

Happily, despite all these travels, the clan members keep returning to the Big Green well at Hanover. A case in point is Tom George, our renowned artist whose landscapes of the mountains of mainland China and Scandanavia have earned him national acclaim. Also a prophet with honor on his own campus, he was invited to be the artist-in-residence at the Hopkins Center during the fall term next year and has agreed to do so.

During a break from his legal chores in Seattle, Bill Holman came east with Emily on Harvard business, and thereby hangs a tale. After Dartmouth, Bill enrolled at Harvard Law, Class of' 43, but, with the draft on his shoulder, transferred the next year to Harvard Business School to take advantage of a special one-year program. Entering the Navy in '42, he was sent by that service back to H.B.S. for another year, receiving his MBA there in '43. After the war, he returned to Harvard Law, completing his degree requirements in '48. Thus, this past spring he found himself on the 30th and 35th reunion committees for Harvard Law and the 35th reunion committee for H.B.S. At lunch at the Hanover Inn after his triple header at Harvard was over, Bill acknowledged he'd had enough of reunions for one year, but he said also that he is still looking forward to '40's 40th in 1980.

Meanwhile, two more us have retired to enjoy the fruits of labor. They are Sid Harrington, who has settled down in Longmeadow, Mass., after a 37-year world-girdling flying career for Pan-Am, and Welles (Brud) Seller, who is moving to his Falmouth, Mass., vacation home after 28 years as president of oil businesses in the Springfield-Greenfield area, during which he's seen prices more than quadruple.

Sid, incidentally, entered the record books on December 6, 19.52, when he set a pre-jet age trans-Atlantic speed record of 11 hours, 16 minutes westward across the Atlantic, pushing a Rainbow Clipper across the 2,706 nautical miles from Shannon to Kennedy at an average speed of 247 miles an hour.

And speaking of records, under the guidance of our head class agent extraordinary, ArtOstrander, the Class of '40 this year, for the tenth year in a row, set a record for dollars given by a class so many years out of college, this time for a class 38 years past graduation. And several of these records still stand, as leadership goals for classes yet to come. Congratulations, Art, and all whose contributions helped the Class achieve that enviable record.

303 McNutt Hall Hanover, N.H. 03755