1923
Bud Freeman writes: "Annette and I were lucky enough to escape part of the horrible January weather by a too-brief visit to a hideaway which advertises in the ALUMNI MAGAZINE as "Barefoot Elegance." It is the Abaco Inn on Elbow Cay in the Bahamas. We recommend it. This area is the winter retreat of Peg and Pete Jones, where they have a delightful home overlooking the ocean and appropriately named 'High Dunes.'" Accompanying Bud's letter is an excellent color picture of the Freemans and the Joneses standing in front of the small Methodist Church where Pete acts as lay preacher.
When he got back to Wisconsin Bud wrote again to tell me of a dinner meeting he and Annette had with our two 1923 scholarship recipients. Their impressions of this contact will be of great interest to the entire class, and since there is no space for it here I have sent it to Ike Phillips for publication.
In February I had a pleasant letter from David Sheppe '75, who is doing graduate work in Paris. David receives the Alumni Magazine on a very delayed schedule and came across my comment of last fall about Joe Bruning, who was his grandfather. Enclosed with his letter was one for Ike Phillips, who roomed with Joe at Culver and was a fraternity brother at Dartmouth. Inspired by the "Roots" phenomenon, David is gathering personal recollections of his recent forebears while contemporary sources are still available.
The past winter has been a very hard one for Priscilla and Clarence Goss. Priscilla had a couple of hospital sessions, the latter of which ended on December 26. Two days later, Clarence slipped on the ice in their driveway and broke his right arm and five ribs, with a resulting lung puncture. As of now - the end of February - both are optimistically recovering. Priscilla says, "By the time spring comes we should be in good shape again."
Fran and Jim Hennessy brightened an otherwise dreary day with a pretty card from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Appropriately, the greeting was dated, "Valentines Day 1979."
In January Charlie Zimmerman endured a drop in temperature of nearly 100 degrees to fly from Florida to Quebec City to receive the Distinguished Friend of Education award of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. I am sending the text of the award to Ike in the hope he can find room to print it in full.
Walter Holmes was a classmate of mine at the Newton, Mass., high school. Having kept fairly good track of the others of us in that category, I have been distressed over the years that we have had very little news of him. CapPalmer recently heard from him, however, and I followed his letter with my own. Walt's reply will also, I hope, appear in "Skiddoo." In brief, he is doing great, is a semi-retired real estate broker, has four married daughters, 8 grandchildren, a nice wife, and has traveled a lot.
Also a fine letter from Ken Fortune brought us up to date on his family - a daughter, a son, and five grandchildren, one of whom graduated last year from Lehigh and is now an officer in the 101st Airborne Division.
From Paul Soley comes word that he has bought a condominium in the university district of Seattle, Washington. Here he will be near the University Hospital and Medical School, where he hopes to go to interesting clinics and take postgraduate courses that may interest him. More particularly, he will be near his beloved daughter and son-in-law and their four children.
This is to acknowledge also other letters which I greatly appreciate and will hold for a later issue - from Hal Malmquist, Ruel Smith,Ted Caswell, Truman Metzel, and Charlie Rice.
It is with great sadness that I must report the deaths of three more of our number - WalterBradlee Smith on February 10, SolomonCharles Levine February 14, and WalterBoudinot Rahmanop February 24. Also the widows of Roy J. Hayes, Henry T. Bowne and Jesse P. Luddington.
Box 2 Francestown, N.H. 03043
