1949

Want to brighten up a dull January weekend? Enroll in the D.O.C. annual cross-country ski clinic. Barbara and I did, along with 75 other alumni, townsfolk, and assorted students. We enjoyed two days of fun - both on and off skis - and received instruction from the most patient and genial of Dartmouth student-skiers. After Friday-night wax talks, equipment lectures, and movies, 25 student instructors provided the personal assistance we needed as we moved out over the Hanover golf course on Saturday morning. For those of you who have chased the little white ball around those hills, they're a lot more fun to ski than play. A variety of packed powder trails provided hours of shirtsoaking exercise and winter vistas. A square dance and keg of beer Satruday night at the D.O.C. house on Occum Pond put the finishing touch on muscle and might. The total cost for all of the above: $3.75 each. Alfred Kahn, please take note.

Bud Hughes writes that he and Lois spent some time with Eddie Dooley '26 while attending a Securities Industry Association convention at Boca Raton, Fla. Eddie was one of Dartmouth's most outstanding athletes and a "legend in his own time" back in the midtwenties. Prior to his retirement he served as boxing commissioner for New York State, an appointment made by his long-time friend, the late Nelson Rockefeller '30. Bud says that "although now in his seventies, Eddie still has a 17½-inch bicep that's like grabbing onto a log."

Los Angeles has a new law firm as Bob Weber has turned in his professional cap and gown to join his wife, Victoria Shemaria, in the firm of Weber & Shemaria. Bob and Vickie live in Beverly Hills with their three children. Vickie's practice is exclusively immigration law while Bob's is primarily civil litigation.

Also making a mid-life course correction is Doug Thomson, who has just been named president and chief operating officer of Toy Manufacturers of America Inc. (TMA). Doug is the former president and general manager of the consumer products division of Uniroyal Inc. and, since November 1977, has also served as an executive on loan to President Carter's Reorganization Project. He acted as a consultant in the Office of Management and Budget in Washington, D.C., and was assigned to a study on how domestic and international economic decisions are made. TMA, headquartered in New York, is the trade association for the multi-billion-dollar U.S. toys, games, and decorations industry. Its manufacturermembers account for approximately 90 per cent of the nation's sales in toys, games, and Christmas decorations.... It's almost like having Santa Claus in our Class.

One promotion announced recently involves Henry Williams, who has just been elected senior vice president of the trust banking division of Berkshire Bank & Trust Co. in western Massachusetts. He had previously been vice president and trust officer. Prior to joining the bank in 1972, Henry was vice president of finance for the Jones Division of the Beloit Corp., manufacturer of paper mill machinery. Henry maintains an active interest in the College and his community. He served as president of the Dartmouth Club Officers Association in 1967, is currently director of the Berkshire Theater Festival and of the Berkshire County Historical Society, and is a member of the Tanglewood Advisory Committee. He and wife Joan live in Lenox, Mass.

During the recent newspaper strike in New York City one of the "sub" papers ran the following column: "When Charles (Jay) Urstadt of Bronxville and his Battery Park City Authority get through prettying up the lower bellyside of the Big Apple, it will shine, shine, shine. Urstadt is chairman of the State Authority to create landfall along the Hudson (opposite the World Trade Center), and has he ever succeeded, turning more than 100 acres from sludge to terra firma. Eventually the site will house some 40,000 people in 16,000 apartment units, shopping facilities, etc. They are calling the one-time Mamaroneck High and Dartmouth swimming star a 'Wonder Worker' and with reason. He is just that."

A phone conversation with Gordon Thomas a few days ago revealed that in addition to being a wonder worker, Jay is also a Republican, which didn't coincide with Democratic Gov. Hugh Carey's 1979 appointment plans. So it would seem that once again talent places a poor second to political expediency.

"Punchy" also revealed that Spike Smith's wife Nancy is expecting in July and is an oddson favorite to beat out Ed Grant in the fortyniner "last gasp progeny sweepstakes." Do we have any challengers?

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