1954
Grid-lock (grid'lak), n.. [American colloq.] The ultimate traffic jam in which city streets are so clogged with vehicles that all intersections become blocked and traffic is hopelessly paralyzed in every direction. Frequently used with an adjective, as in "dreaded grid-lock."
This menacing new word conjures up a night- marish vision of New York City stricken by bumper-to-bumper paralysis due to the two- week mass transit strike. Yet despite it, a hearty group of '54 alumni and wives were on hand for Dartmouth Night at the Plaza Hotel on April 8 to pay tribute to John Kemeny on his tenth anniversary as president of the College.
Dave and Judy McLaughlin were at the head table, along with Elaine and Frank Wright.Jerry and Dorothy Goldstein were at the '54 table, as well as Millie and Lo-Yi Chan, Hughand Phvliss Roberts, Dave and RosemaryMandelbaum, Dana and Anne Low, and Don andBarbara Berlin. The Lows and Berlins were very pleased that their sons Rick Low and GeoffBerlin had both just been accepted at Dart- mouth, early decision, to the class of 1984.
Also at the '54 table were Mike Morrissey, Pete Gutland, Dick Pearl, and this scribe, it was a good turnout despite the hazards of a complete transportation tie-up. Dick Pearl told me he is very active in politics in Bedford, N.Y. He is now consultant to the town board on en- vironmental affairs.
Peter Kenyon asked me to remind you that the 1980 fund drive is well under way and that S 100,000 is the class goal for this year. Peter is also aiming at 80 per cent participation (com- pared to the College average of 66 per cent). Thus, if you haven't done so already, you must get a check in the mail immediately, since the campaign ends June 30. Let me add a few words from a recent letter we all received from Dave McLaughlin:
"The class of 1954 is a pivotal class in deter- mining the future of Dartmouth College. The older classes which have helped to establish Dartmouth's pre-eminence in higher education have now passed that responsibility on to the classes of the fifties, and because of our success and leadership, '54 is clearly identified as the primary group from which other classes will take their lead. As we are each indebted to Dart- mouth for the opportunities she has given us, the College is indebted to the class of 1954 for assuring the greatness of our Dartmouth. Join your classmates in making a leadership gift to the 1980 Alumni Fund."
Lo-Yi Chan passed along the information that Ron Lehrman and wife Pat have just returned from a trip to London. Ron's legal practice is in international trademark law, with clients rang- ing from Rolls Royce to Superman. Pat, a former dancer with Jerome Robbins, is now a candidate for a master's degree at New York University.
Lo-Yi also said to look for Larry Martz, assistant managing editor of Newsweek, on radio and TV talk shows as he spreads the word of a new venture, Newsweek Focus. Larry is the editor of this bi-monthly magazine, each issue of which will be devoted to a thorough look at a single major issue. Larry's wife Anne is studying biology at Hunter College; son Geoffrey is a musician in New York City; and daughter Jenny Anne is graduating in drama this June from Wesleyan.
Millie Chan is conducting Chinese cooking courses in New York City, and two of her students have been Pat Lehrman and Anne Martz.
George Haskins dropped me a note about his recent activities. "Since September of last year I have been having a new house built, because, on March 1, I remarried and, in the process, ac- quired two additional sons. Sheila Gerling, a widow who attended Western Kentucky and works as an advertising sales manager, became my wife. Her sons are Robert and James, senior and freshman in high school. Now there are five children from 20 to 14. Wow! In January I started my second term as a governor of the Society of Real Estate Appraisers. This puts me on their board for another three years. The society is a professional trade association. I was also listed in the 1979-80 edition of Who's Whoin Finance and Industry."
Did you see the lovely photography of Ev and Helen Rattray in the May issue of NationalGeographic magazine? The caption mentioned that Ev had recently passed away, and the pic- ture of editor Rattray standing in front of his small village newspaper office, examining a first edition of his paper, was beautifully done. The picture was in a feature article about eastern Long Island.
Your class officers met in Hanover at the an- nual spring get-together in early May. Lovely "grassing" weather prevailed, and the festivities were held in conjunction with the Green Key Weekend. Your officers got a lot of work done, plus a lot of recognition. The class of 1954 won the coveted Class of the Year award. Exact details of this past year's accomplishments will be outlined in the next 1954 newsletter.
This will be our last column until the October issue. (The ALUMNI MAGAZINE is not published in July or August, and the September issue is devoted only to reunion reporting.) Therefore, although it's a bit early, we want to give you a run-down on what Joe Mesics has planned for mini-reunions this fall.
The big Williamsburg, Va., weekend will kick off on October 10 with a '54 open bar reception at the Williamsburg Motor House, starting at 9:00 p.m. A '54 tailgate party will precede the William and Mary game the next day, October 11, after which the College will host a cocktail reception and dinner at the Williamsburg Inn. On Sunday there will be an opportunity to take an Alumni College tour of Williamsburg. This will be a great opportunity for you Middle Atlantic 's4s to get together, so why not make plans now to be there.
The following weekend, October 17 and 18, will be the Harvard game in Hanover for homecoming weekend. There will be an infor- mal '54 get-together after the bonfire at the Hanover Inn on Friday night, and the class will host an open bar party right after the game in the Faculty Lounge on Saturday.
Two weekends later, Yale will travel to Hanover and our class will be hosting another post-game cocktail party on Saturday, November 1, at the Hanover Inn.
Dartmouth is celebrating 100 years of foot- ball this fall, which is the reason for both Har- vard and Yale visiting Hanover in the same year. So we hope we'll see many of you at one of these big games this fall. And we hope Middle Atlantic alumni will make every effort to join us at Williamsburg for this first-time-ever game.
There will also be a party after the Princeton game on November 22, but we will save details on that for the October issue. Have a nice summer and please plan to turn out for one or more of these games this fall.
The class of '54, at its 25th reunion las,year, won all three silver reunion cups the Class of 1894 cup for the largestpercentage of living alumni present duringthe end-of-the-week reunion period and theClass of 1930 and Class of 1942 bowls forsetting all-time College records in largestnumber of alumni and largest group to at-tend a reunion. Basking in the glow of suchsuccess, and seeking ways to encouragesuch attendance by other classes, '54decided to establish the first new reunioncup at Dartmouth in 38 years. The Class of1954 award will be made to fifth-year re-union classes that establish a new recordfor the largest number of classmates pres-ent. The 54 reunion committee felt thatthe new cup would provide an incentive forfifth-year classes to best former records. Itwas hoped, according to John Gillespie '54,that this would "do a great service to Dart-mouth by getting graduates to attend earlyreunions" so that "coming back would beeasier as the graduate got older." Gillespieadded that the '54 25th reunion committeePete Barker, Dick Page, and himself—also ran the class's 20th and is layinggroundwork for the 30th. The new cup, aclassic Revere bowl, was engraved by Car-tier Inc., of which Ralph Destino '54 is pres-ident. Admiring the award are, from theleft, Gillespie, Destino, Barker, and Page.
The class of '54 was presented with the Class of the Year Award during class of- ficers weekend in May. The citation praised 1954's many achievements, including its "outstanding communications network"; 71 per cent dues participation; "strong class projects"; successful schedule of executive committee meetings and mini-reunions; and "the completion of a long string of record- breaking years" with a series of records in reunion giving and attendance at the class's 25th last June.
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