1948

This day in early May in Houston reminds me of those bright, sparkling days of spring we sons of Eleazar used to experience in Hanover during our years on the plain. Probably few of us can forget that view out over the Green from the Inn corner.

Spring, too, was for many a time of high adventure. Many a '48 would be found, for example, on weekends beginning in early April, after working like the very devil to get there, high on the seemingly vertical walls of Tuckerman's Ravine on the Presidential Range's Mount Washington. There, the snow was over 150 feet deep, having blown into the huge cirque all winter long. There, we men of Dartmouth enjoyed the tremendous sport that skiing on steep corn snow in bright sunshine can provide.

This was adventure. It was hard, hot work, since the climbing of the 1000-foot-high sides of the ravine, and sometimes the cone of the mountain above, was strictly on foot. Due to the heat, shorts were the common denominator in clothing, sunburns were the order of the day, and skis over bare shoulders were normal in climbing the steep "wall." The slats were donned at the top, for the breathtaking descent where the incomparable Toni Matt had reportedly attained terminal velocity.

Many a '4B experienced the thrill of skiing Tuckerman's and its two perpendicular chutes the headwall and Hillman's Highway, both frightening in their leri"gth and steepness. Among those who almost certainly suffered that pit-of-the-stomach feeling and interruption of breath on first venturing out on the face at or near the top were '4Bs Walt Cairns, Lou Clarke, Walt Friend, Bill Jones, lan Macartney, Bill Malone, Keith McLoud, Pete Owen, Foxy Parker, Colin Stewart, Bob Tracy, John Wood, and the redoubtable Ted Thorn- ton. (Would like to hear from these and those I've missed, to whom my apologies.)

I still remember with awe, on one of those bright days in the ravine while laboriously climbing the headwall, watching the aforemen- tioned Ted Thornton drop over the lip some 900 feet above the floor and start down the vertical slope. He was doing fast crowhops, looked good, and was in confident control. Without warning, however, he caught an edge and was flipped out into the air like a catapult. He landed on his shoulder some 25 or 30 feet down the slope, and then bounced in great un- controlled leaps over the sharp, crystalline corn snow all the remaining 700 feet to the flats below. What a horrible mess! Poor old Ted had made the fundamental mistake of not wearing his shirt during this escapade! When he finally and painfully came to a stop, therefore, his front and back were masses of torn, bright raspberry skin. No harm otherwise, but his tightening skin literally caused him to howl with anguish whenever he moved during the ten days or so which followed. (His friends will be glad to know that Ted still likes to try such things, as when he dived into Meriden Brook and hit his head on a rock during the '4B 30th reunion in Hanover. Wonder what he's plan- ning for the 40th?)

Last issue we inadvertently omitted JohnHatheway as a '4B who is becoming a part-time resident of Hanover. John, as an alumnus, has loyally served Dartmouth in any number of responsible volunteer capacities. Thus, it's good to see him with a house in his beloved Hanover.

While thumbing through the 1979 annual report of Phillips Petroleum, I came upon a photo of one of 48's most successful business executives, Dave Meeker. Dave looks good, somewhat more mature than in his Aegis photo, and finds time to be a director of this fine firm as well as president and chief ex- ecutive officer of Hobart Corporation in Troy, Ohio. He is also active in civic affairs and, with wife Helen, can be proud of their son who graduated with the class of '7l in Hanover.

One of our good sources of alumni informa- tion is Truman Metzel '23, who forwarded an excerpt from the Chicago Literary Review about his '4B son's bookstore, Great Expec- tations, at 911 Foster Avenue in Evanston, 111. "This major league bookstore has attracted a lot of philosophical talent," wrote the author, "the shelves of modern philosophy being as good as I have seen anywhere." Nice going, Truman Metzel Jr.

Got your Alumni Fund stub in yet? I'm on my knees for news for the next issue, in the fall.

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