1949

Lots of '49ers were in Hanover for our annual October mini-reunion. Since homecoming was scheduled for the last weekend of the month, the customary attractions of changing colors and a hotly-contested Ivy League championship had both succumbed to a late September chill.

A casual survey in the Faculty Lounge on Friday evening revealed that many class members were using the weekend to visit undergraduate offspring, while others had come to roam through the ever-increasing number of local "shoppes" or to visit with old friends. For whatever reason, it's a tough habit to break.

The class executive committee, at its annual meeting on Saturday morning, selected the weekend of October 18, 1980, for next year's mini-reunion. It will again be homecoming, and Harvard will be in town. In addition, Class President Al Wagner will explore the feasibility of arranging a class activity in Williamsburg on the weekend of October 11, when the Dartmouth football team will be playing at William and Mary. Bob Liechti was voted Class-Agent-of-the-Year, and Bert Rodman was appointed to chair the Pick Axe award committee for 1980. Details on these and other executive committee actions will appear in subsequent class newsletters.

The conferring of the Gold Pick Axe award at our Saturday night dinner is one of the high points of the fall weekend, as this year's presentation attested. This year's committee head, Sam Kilner, made the award to Edward Horst Leede, with a citation which read as follows: "During your undergraduate career at Dart- mouth, interrupted by the U.S. Marines, your multiple talents for leadership, friendship, and sportsmanship were clear to all who knew you. Following graduation you spent two years playing basketball with the Boston Celtics before continuing your education at Harvard, where you earned your M.B.A. in 1953. After these years in the East, you went west to seek your fortune and, with a clear view of the future, immediately entered the oil and gas business. You started with Helmerich and Payne Inc. of Tulsa, Okla. After a brief assignment in Midland, Tex., you were brought to Tulsa, where you met and married the lovely Margaret Anne Benchoff. Shortly thereafter, you were reassigned to Midland, which is still your home. In the late fifties, you struck out on your own as an independent oil operator and today are president of your own oil and gas company.

"Your family grew to include Kevin, Michael (Dartmouth '81), John, Katie, and Peter, who today keep you traveling from Texas to California, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts for visits. With this fine family, you ski and play tennis, and we understand you have even developed a skill at squash.

"In addition to building your own successful gas and oil exploration business, you have managed time to be a director of the Midland National Bank, the Petroleum Club, the Hillander School, the YMCA, and the Foothill Group of California. You have also found time to serve your college as club liaison officer, class agent, our 30th reunion giving chairman, district enrollment director, member and chairman of the Dartmouth Athletic Council, and, currently, as vice chairman of the Campaign for Dartmouth.

"For these many talents and achievements, it is with great pride and admiration that we call you, Ed Leede, our friend and classmate."

Good health and happiness to each of you and your loved ones during this holiday season.

2 Cornfield Road Simsbury, Conn. 06070