1950
Memory begets myths. One is that spring in the North Country is nonexistent. We had forgotten, but this year the myth was expunged.
We had left home under dull, gloomy skies after a week of chill rains. As we drove north, the lush early spring gave way inexorably to brown pastures and gray hills. In Vermont only a pale tint on the valley willows foretold the awakening season.
Then Hanover. Mornings were crisp, and fog nestled in the hill folds. Under soft blue skies the days warmed into the seventies. The cam- pus abounded with life and color students ex- uberant in the unshielded warmth, woodsmen competing on the Green, the leaves unfolding. Evenings welcomed a quiet stroll in the balmy air. Memory reveled in reality.
By Sunday the Vermont hills flowed in shades of green highlighted by forsythia and early flowering trees. There is no lingering in a North Country spring. But its moment is resplendent.
Given that evocation, it is time to plan. The event: the 1980 fall mini-reunion. The date: Oc- tober 17-19. The place: Hanover and Woodstock. The scenes: torchlight parade, Dartmouth Night, class meeting and bring- your-own brunch at the Outing Club, football versus Harvard, cocktails and dinner at the Woodstock Country Club, the first class award. The entr'acts: conviviality, songs and music, good cheer, conversation, old friends, memories. The mood: nostalgic.
This year the mini-reunion and the game highlight 100 years of Dartmouth football. There are no guarantees about either the weather or the game. There are two promises. The game will be exciting. And the weather will be typically Hanoverian: the unusual will prevail.
One couple we hope to see this autumn is Walt and Ann Lane. Their assignment in Florida is an interlude. Walt is chief of testing for Sikorsky Aircraft and has been temporarily relocated to the development flight test center in West Palm Beach. The southern peninsula is satisfactory for some recreation tennis a short bike-ride away, or canoeing among the alligators. But the Lanes are "unreconstructed and unreconstructible Yankees," who sorely miss the granite hills in any season. With luck, the Lanes will have colleague Jack Connors in tow.
Florida attracts business as well as tourists. Texaco selected Coral Gables as the site for its Latin America/West Africa division and ap- pointed Cal Minor as senior vice president in charge. Cal has ex- perience in depth, hav- ing joined Texaco as a sales trainee in 1950 (a good year). His mat- uration proceeded in managerial positions in exotic locales: Port- au-Prince, Abijan in the Republic of Ivory Coast, Bogota, and Jamaica. In 1967 he rose to manager of Texaco Brizil with headquarters in Rio de Janeiro. For a short while in 1971 Cal was general manager for administration in the international sales department in New York be- fore being elected vice president of the petroleum products (what else?) department of his present division. See you in the stands at the Harvard game, Cal.
What do you say when "upstarts send Charlie down the tubes?" The Providence Jour-nal chided Peat, Marwick and championed the company's erstwhile deputy chairman and chief operating officer, Charlie Davison. The in- surgents proferred a Texan; the Journal preferred its hometown man.
Tidbits here and there: Over lunch EmilHudak and Whit Williams, who works for Readers Digest in New York, agreed that Ed- die Jeremiah '3O, in addition to being renowned in hockey, was also a superb baseball coach. Eddie was, simply, a good man; his secret was his understanding and warmth. Jay Buck is a senior vice president at Northern Trust in Chicago. Dartmouth has one of the lowest at- trition rates in the country. At least tem- porarily, Bob Perry is (or was) located in Hooksett, N.H. If Dave Grinnell approaches you for the Alum Fund, remember that as direc- tor of financial development at the Detroit Country Day School he raised over $1 million for a new gymnasium. Still, for Dave, the Hanover hills are greener. Last fall Jim Martel went to New Orleans, ostensibly to attend the annual convocation of CLUs; this fall the clew is Hanover, a shorter trip from Delaware. BillTurino has accepted a position in individual in- vestors services at Morgan Stanley. "At Home" flags are flying at Wind in the Willows Farm after a two-year refurbishing hiatus by Randi and Nev Chamberlain. The novelty may soon wear off, but Jack Avery has retired from Avery Engineering to pursue his avocation, politics. After 30 years Jack now has time to plan to return for mini-reunion in October.
The past record of the Alumni Fund is en- viable and envied. Both the College and the class of 1950 have set the standards. But the record, reflecting the past, is not sufficient. The needs of the present are greater; the reasons are evident. Therefore, our challenge and our goal are higher. Pitch in and help. Thoughtfully. To- day.
He spent only a short time among us, but memories of him remain. Recently we heard that Frank Rom died in August 1979.
Another year ends. Too quickly, too soon. Have a great summer. Refresh yourself. Then return in style to start our reunion year early, in October. See you there and then.
510 Hillcrest Road Ridgewood, N.J. 07450
