1940

What a gallant competitor we have in Art Ostrander — in the Alumni Fund, as in swimming, as in life. He just never stops striving. He didn't wind up in the Green Derby's winner's circle this year, despite 40's patented frantic finish. Nevertheless, he still led us to another Alumni Fund record for years out — our 14th straight — as he organized, cajoled, and prodded a whopping 73.5 per cent of us into giving $91,129 to help perpetuate Dartmouth in all its excellence for the present and into posterity.

Good sport that he is, he was also generous in his praise for all 358 '40s who gave and helped, and in his salutes to the two classes that topped '40 in the derby — 1936, for its great showing as the first non-reunion class to break the $100,000 barrier, and 1937. And irrepressibly, without breaking stride, he immediately sounded a clarion call to the colors for next year's drive, that 40 may break the 40th reunion record.

By the time this is printed, those who rallied to watch the Big Green open its defense of the Ivy League crown against Princeton will have voted the class's thanks to Art, and, like him, taken aim on June 1980, when even the arithmetic proclaims a fantastic 40th for Dartmouth's fabulous '40. So, if the dates are not reserved on your calendars, take a moment now to block out June 9-12 as the time when we will once again make "grey old maples ring ..."

But be assured that for all our nostalgia for past joys and glories, the College on the Hill continues to garner kudos from those knowledgeable in the realm of higher education. Last spring, Dartmouth was one of 12 colleges and universities honored by the Academy of Educational Development for its academic distinction. From the 275 institutions nominated, the academy, which has former President Ford as its honorary chair, selected Dartmouth for its leadership in computing, for the strength of its arts programs, for its dramatic advances in foreign language instruction, for its innovation in the Dartmouth Plan for year-round operation, and for the general effectiveness with which it introduced coeducation a couple of tunnel vision reporters notwithstanding.

As for the newest generation in the Dartmouth succession, it's great! I speak from first- hand observation, having just finished "leading" one of the celebrated freshman trips. My charges were six members of the class of '83 — three men and three women. With 25-pound packs on our backs, we ranged during three days on the trail from Smarts Mountain, which we climbed through gale-lashed rains spun off in New England by Hurricane David, to 4,810- foot-high Mt. Moosilauke. The intensity of the experience highlighted the exceptional character of the students, and, gratifyingly, I can attest that the old place has lost none of its magic for the young in heart. By the time we returned to campus, I would have been prepared to swear that their blood had turned as Green as the forests through which we had climbed. I only wish each of us could have shared the experience. Had you, you would feel good about the future of Dartmouth, particularly as you watched the students' faces when, at the Ravine Lodge, Dean Manuel '58 echoed the challenge originally issued by John Dickey '29: "You are the stuff of Dartmouth; what you are, it will be."

Now to catch up on some of the news backed up from summer and spring. In a nice, linkage, Gard Ashley, who chairs the foreign language department at Franklin College in Indiana, was called upon to write the citation that accompanied the honorary doctorate in literature that Franklin bestowed on Tom Braden, our man in Washington. Calling Tom "a man of vision," Gard also lauded him for his "foresight in defense of freedom in the world, for his innovative contributions as a teacher, administrator, and trustee in the academic world, for his outstanding accomplishments to the media and in free-lancing writing."

Bill Bumsted, recently retired, reports that during a visit to the new winter retirement home of Fred and Peggy Eaton at Sea Pines in Hilton Head, he received good lessons in the art of leisurely living from both Fred and Art Mountrey, who was also there with his wife Marguerite. While Fred had traveled north from Venezuela, where he had headed the Sears operation, Art had decided to move south from New York advertising circles, and he is now building in Hilton Head. Bill also reported that Ted Ellsworth became a grandfather again when his daughter Kitty Stoner (Bill's godchild) had her first, a girl.

In the progeny department, it was fun to have Joan and Hugh Dryfoos' son Mark up here for the summer as he started his first of four summer legs toward a master of arts in liberal studies.

From news clippings: Roger Conant has been named a trustee of Huggins Hospital in Wolfboro, where he's living in retirement, and FredPillsbury has been re-appointed by Bay State Governor King to the State Lottery Commission. Underlining our changing times, JohnBrowne had the sad chore last spring of closing down Browne's Pharamcy, which his grandfather started 76 years ago in downtown New Bedford, Mass. Brownie still operates one pharmacy, in nearby South Dartmouth, but that's the last of what once was a chain of six. But in this riptide of change, the class and College can be beacons, so don't forget 40's 40th in June '80.

R.F.D. Pinnacle Road Lyme, N.H. 03768