1954
I am pleased to report that despite a tremendous effort on the part of the class of 1955 to top our 25th reunion statistics, our class can still keep all the silver cups.
Our total attendance was 918 to their 723 and we had 270 graduates as compared to their 245. We were a tough act to follow. Naturally, our 30th reunion committee is looking to break all the college records for that outing too, which I hate to tell you is less than four years away.
J. William Petty was recently appointed to the board of directors of Pepperidge Farm. He is currently vice president of the company's bakery division. Bill joined Pepperidge Farm in 1979 from Champion Valley Farms, Inc., a division of Campbell Soup, where he served as president. Bill reports that his job is far from a desk-type operation. He often is on a bakery dock at 2:00 a.m. working with one of the 1,200 distributors Pepperidge Farm deals with. Bill lives with his wife Carolyn and four children in Fairfield, Conn. His son Evan is a member of the class of 1980 at Dartmouth.
It takes a blend of optimism, innocence, and obsessed dedication to venture into the restaurant business in Manhattan, but Dr. Frank Weiser has done a masterful job of presenting gastronomical delights at his new Maestro restaurant. This is a must if you are planning a visit this fall to Lincoln Center since the Maestro is located conveniently just around the corner at 58 West 65th. I recommend the veal picatta or the three baby lamb chops. Ah, the desserts. Frank's pecan pie is pure perfection and the chocolate mousse cake was a heady pleasure.
Seen in the media: an in-depth article about Dave McLaughlin's Toro Company in the July 8 issue of the New York Times. Dave is moving to diversify the company as a hedge against unexpected seasonal weather setbacks. Needless to say, Dave is hoping for a lot of snow this coming winter.
A two-page story and a good picture of I.U. International Corp.'s President John G. Christy appeared in a June issue of Business Week. Christy's intriguing plan to sell off its stake on Canadian Utilities Ltd. through a stock swap suddenly made his firm the darling of Wall Street arbitrageurs. As of September 1, John has been elected to the additional post of chief executive officer.
Other news and notes: John F. Reilly Jr. has been elected president of Fred C. Church, Inc. Church is one of the largest independent insurance firms in New England. John is busy with community affairs in Lowell where he lives with his wife Elaine.
Bill Donovan has been named industrial lines sales manager for the Northeastern division of the American Mutual Insurance Companies. He will be located in the division's Wake- field, Mass., offices. Bill will be responsible for the development and promotion of industrial property, casualty, life, and health insurance sales in the New England states and upstate New York.
Perry J. Davis has recently joined Viacom International as vice president for Management Information Systems. Viacom is a diversified communications and entertainment company which distributes television programs and motion pictures to television networks and stations worldwide. Perry and his wife Ellen and their children reside in Skillman, N.J. (near Princeton).
If you missed the very concise article in the August 3 issue of the New York Times about Dartmouth alumni trying to "bring back the Indian symbol," drop me a note and I will send you a copy of it. The story, accompanied by artwork of the Indian symbol, points out how some alumni and students feel that the disappearance of the Indian symbol is in itself symbolic of what they see as the administration's disregard for their concerns. It is felt that minority interests have been given preference over theirs and that the ban on the symbol, in which they have long taken pride, is curtailing their right to free expression. The article goes on to mention how Dr. John Steel won the recent alumni election for trustee by a margin of 7,013 to 5,025, the first person in College history to defeat the Alumni Council nominee for a position on the Board of Trustees. John, as you may know, is a strong advocate of the return of a dignified Indian symbol, the related Indian cheers, the Richard Hovey song "Eleazar Wheelock," and the uncovering of the Hovey Grill Indian murals. John, in a recent interview, pointed out that "the symbols will not return because of anybody's pressure or demand, but they will emerge through a defense of freedom of expres sion. That's a clear message of the alumni vote."
I'm sorry to say that word has just reached me that Joseph Spagna died of a heart attack after undergoing open-heart surgery in Riverside, Calif.
Joe did not obtain a degree from Dartmouth, but he was an active undergraduate. At the time of his death, Joe was a psychiatric social worker with the County of Riverside. He was keenly interested in jogging and was a firm Newport Beach enthusiast. He is survived by his wife Susan, and three children, AnnaMaria, Lisa, and Joey.
We were pleased to note that the Department of Art at Dartmouth College bestowed an Adelbert Ames Fine Arts Award to Christopher Wilson 'BO (son of Paul Wilson).
The Ames Awards are for exceptional achievement in the courses offered in the Department of Art. Recipients are entitled to select an original work of art from the Ames Award prints acquired through the Ames funds.
In conclusion, I hope we'll see a lot of classmates at Williamsburg this October and at the big Yale game as well. Remember, Harvard will also be a home game and our class will be hosting a cocktail party right after the game in the faculty lounge at Hopkins Center. The lounge offers a spectacular view of the common and a great place to meet friends after the game.
39 Walworth Avenue Scarsdale, N.Y. 10583
