1950

The yearning time has come. Hints of red and gold, this year subdued after a dry, browning summer, highlight the woods. A nip tinges the evening air. In the hollows morning mists, waiting for the later rising sun, linger. The North Country exerts its spell, beckons. It's time to go back, time to be refreshed.

October and the foliage season has a special charm. Later comes June and the rejuvenation of reunions.

Last summer a former roommate called. We chatted about the present, then the past; about old friends scattered, most still with us in good health, one recently departed. Reunion came up, and my invitation to return. He has missed every reunion, large and small, formal and informal. In 30 years he has never revisited the campus. The thought was incomprehensible. He has missed so much, missed reforging the link to our yesterdays. So come back. Please come back this June.

Gridiron gleanings: Caution grows and optimism wanes. Three games are an insufficient sample, but the principal weakness glares. The defense is there, as usual. The offense remains potentially potent with strong running poised to set up the passing attack. Yet a porous line tempers the potential. The time for tuning up is over. Now, the Ivy test.

A generation of children grew up and learned to cope by watching "Mr. Roger's Neighborhood." We were too old and missed him; our children did not. Fred Rogers radiated an air of sincerity that Johnny Carson sometimes spoofs but that children trust. "If you can help with their fears," Fred observes, "you help their trust to grow." Although he stopped producing his show on a regular basis in 1975, children still learn through his library of old shows. A few new "neighborhoods" are added each year. This summer Fred, now a bit grayer but still young in spirit, opened a primetime family show called "Old Friends, New Friends." He noted that "we are exploring the roots of some interesting people who seem to be influencing the iives of others." His first guest was the founder of Actors' Studio, Lee Strasberg.

Five community college presidents recently spent a week in Taiwan as guests of the government. One was Tom O'Connell. We can share only bits of his observations. "The chief difference between their junior colleges and our community colleges is that their institutions each specialize in a particular vocational area. They are very practical places. Little outside the specialized vocational courses is taught." In contrast, Tom stressed "... the synergy that results from the varied mix in our classrooms and laboratories." Their system, a Europeanstyle merit system based upon examinations, results in an elitist body of highly motivated students and significant short-run gains. Yet, Tom opines in concluding, "In the long run the advantages of our open-door, more varied, and comprehensive institutions prove out."

In an old letter retrieved from the bottom of the mail basket, Don "O." Brown expressed some disappointment in a visit to Hanover. He touches on the problem: "Social standards, respect for property, and, in general, a caring attitude have declined throughout our society in recent years." And Don suggests a solution: "What is needed is some help with discipline." Training, teaching does require order, and where there had been none a few short months ago, there is now more order, more discipline.

Tidbits here and there: Skip Sutton graces the pages of CEE, a magazine produced by Sutton Publishing Co. for electrical equipment contractors. John Knapp penned a note to his 50- 55-year-old classmates; wonder who the old ones are! Jim Birney, who teaches at Bishop Whipple Schools in Faribaut, Minn., acknowledged his roots by buying a summer retreat in East Otis on the Cape. In his roaming, Ted Bamberger saw Tom and AnnO'Connell at the opera in Seattle, Ken Edelsoh at a sporting goods show in Chicago, and WaltLindenthal at a ski show in Las Vegas. Ted travels. Bill Pulley reports..that his Apparelmaster operation, a franchise program for dry cleaners who diversify into the uniformrental business, has expanded from the United Kingdom to New Zealand. Bill travels. When trouble besieged the First Pennsylvania Bank; Roger Hillas, chairman of Provident National Bank of Philadelphia, was prominent among the rescuers. Sandy Marson is the executive vice president and a director of Grantham, Inc., a plastic-molding company near Mentor, Ohio. Tom Green now hangs his hat beyond the shadow of Mt. St. Helens in Lopez, Wash. Among the missing is Ed Lawton, last seen in Chicago.

Sometimes months pass with nothing but good news in the mail. However, three times this month sad news arrived. Ray Akana died in Maui, Hawaii, in late July. In Greenwich, N.Y., Bill Sharp passed away in August. And in late September Don Daniels suddenly succumbed to a massive heart attack. We mourn each, in each case diminished a bit by our loss.

Next week we are off to revel in the annual exhibition of nature's work in New England. And we hope to witness the first win ever over Harvard in Hanover, in contrast to the cruel losses in our freshman and 25th reunion years. Our yearning shifts to anticipation. Cheers.

510 Hillcrest Road Ridgewood, N.J. 07450.