1923

FIFTY-FIFTH REUNION

You already have the details of our 55th via Ike Phillips and "Skiddoo." However, for the sake of the record, here again are some of the highlights of a fine reunion.

On the assumption that our class picture will accompany these notes and with the help of Clary Goss, I have identified all of the 1923 men in the picture. If you are wondering who is who, let me know. Sorry, I have been unable to identify all of the 1923 ladies - and I don't like to guess. Suffice it to say that according to Ike's count we had with us 50 classmates, 26 wives, 7 widows, and 9 others - a total of 92.

Most of us arrived at Middle Fayerweather to register mid-afternoon of Friday, June 9. It rained off and on most of that first day, with a resulting transfer of our cocktail party from the class tent to the Faculty Lounge. Thayer Hall, which has eliminated the individuality and the accompanying uncertainties of the eating clubs of our day, is indeed a far cry from freshman commons. Friday's buffet dinner was good! President Kemeny's reception, followed by the Glee Club concert, completed the day.

Saturday proved there really is nothing so fair as a day in June. Once again we gathered in the White Church for our class memorial service, this time to remember the 406 men who are no longer with us. It was a solemn time, a reverent time, and a sad one too, as we listened again to Pudge Neidlinger's stirring "In Memoriam."

Men and women met at ten o'clock in Dartmouth Hall for our usual class meeting, which featured reports from all class officers. As we were about to adjourn and almost as an afterthought, all class officers were re-elected for another five years. As Ike comments, this kind of confidence is reassuring and much appreciated by us all.

Saturday luncheon was at the Inn, followed by the annual meeting of the General Association of Alumni in Spaulding Auditorium. Cocktails preceded our reunion dinner in Thayer Hall - a superb meal of filet mignon. Charlie Zimmerman at his master-of- ceremonies best dissipated completely the solemn note that had begun our day. Monk andAna Keith deferred to Dick and Nan Townsend, who were given the Road Runner Award for coming the longest distance to reunion. Not incidentally, there were several others who, while they won no prizes, traveled considerable distances to be with us: Cap Palmer from Los Angeles, Beth Brown and Mox and Kay Hubert from Florida, Hip Conley, Bunny and TrueMetzel and Karl Williams from Illinois, MajorBird from Michigan, and Bud and AnnetteFreeman from Wisconsin, to name a few.

The highlight of the reunion dinner was the unveiling by Truman Metzel of the symbolic check to the College for $2,313,242.25 which represented our reunion gift project. I am not certain what Dartmouth now realizes in average rate of return on its endowment, but certainly this sum will more than perpetuate our annual class giving.

At this point in time our reunions coincide with commencement, a proper finale to our class gatherings. To me, parading to preferred seats to the applause of hundreds of parents and friends is a thrilling experience. True, we are there because we are the fortunate ones who have been able to make it so far. More than that it is a welcome recognition that Dartmouth after all these years brings us back to where we started, a place we still love well.

Reporting this commencement and reunion brought on memories of June 1923 and a search through the yellowed and fragile records of that time. Here is what I found:

June 3, 1923: sing out, Rollins Chapel, a solo by Jack Booth.

June 16, 1923: Daily Dartmouth pictorial supplement - the class in caps and gowns at the Bema; Halsey Mills in the Sahara Derby; Roy Brown clearing the high bar; class officers on the senior fence, canes in hand - President Don Moore, Vice President John Allen, Treasurer John Foster, Secretary Lou Lewinsohn, and Class Marshal Joe Miller.

June 17, 1923: baccalaureate exercises, Rollins Chapel; violin solo, Manny Rubin; solo, Jack Booth.

June 19, 1923: commencement program, 154th year; commencement addresses by PudgeNeidlinger, Ike Phillips, Arthur Gordon, and Kully Lundberg; The Williams Jewett Tucker Fellowship award to Bob Maxwell; Joe Zone, valedictorian, Dick Townsend salutatorian, and 33 men in Phi Beta Kappa.

The Daily Dartmouth of June 19 included an editorial by Pete Howe. The day was described as warm and sunny. We gathered at the senior fence at nine and proceeded to Webster Hall in the wake of President Hopkins, Governor Brown, the governor's council and staff, the College Trustees, faculty, and reunion classes. And so it ended and began - Commencement 1923.

These hearty members of 1923 gathered once again in Hanover, celebrating their 55th.

Box 2 Francestown, N.H. 03043