1934
As you know from the '34 newsletter, Marty Dwyer asked to be relieved as secretary for health reasons (emphysema is a tough antagonist), and our executive committee tagged me. My special qualification is that I live close to Marty and can readily use his proferred assistance to help with the job. I can't hope to duplicate his superb scribing or match his intimate knowledge and memory of classmates and past events, but I'll give it a whirl until one of you speaks up and volunteers to carry the ball. Fortunately, Marty had nudged a few of you to speak up. Hubert Johnson writes that he retired from book publishing five years ago
he was senior vice president ofj. B. Lippincott in Philadelphia. Since then Hugh and wife Louise have lived in Ipswich, Mass., choosing to make the best of New England winters (skiing and ice skating included) so they would not "miss out on the special glory of April through October" at their home base. The glory includes a lot of sailing and fishing. He is an active member of Trout Unlimited, United Fly Tyers, the Miramichi Salmon Association, etc., and he regularly reviews books on (what else) fishing. He also keeps busy with lectures at Simmons and Salem State College and chairs the Ipswich Library.
In another reply to Marty's nudge, Frank Sweetser acknowledges he's still at Boston University, but now it's as professor emeritus of sociology. He had taught community sociology, population, and urban sociology with sabbaticals in such interesting places as Helsinki (Finland), Bergen (Norway), and Canberra (Australia), which led to his current dissertation on "Australian Urban Residential Areas." Being emeritus doesn't stop him from working as a research professor at B.U. for a large-scale study of disabilities sponsored by the Social Security Administration. Frank's wife Dorrian is also a professor of sociology at B.U. and is still teaching, their daughter is in Washington, their son a minister in Charlottesville.
Then we heard from Joseph Slechta, another whose career has been in the academic profession. He was professor of French at University of North Carolina until 1978, when the age limit axed that career. Joe is happy about it now, since it allowed him to shift back to music as the center pin. He now plays in four orchestras in three states, teaches, and has recently published a book called Orchestral Viola Technique that received high praise from the violin "in" set. Joe's wife Sarah is a Suzuki violin performer and college teacher. They have four children and two grandsons to provide harmony. When he wrote, he said the house was relatively quiet since there were only five teenagers in the living room and the guitars and amplifiers were not yet in full swing.
On my own, I picked up the news that Len and Jean Harrison are taking a leave of absence from Cranbury, N.J., retirement, answering the call of International Executive Service Corps to come to Ecuador. Len will help to set up and train a sales force for a new business being established to market hard and soft candy plus spaghetti and macaroni, if I heard right. I registered with that organization when I semi-retired, but have gotten no calls yet from the outer world. Our Topps executive obviously has a more marketable talent. For you travelers, Len's address through November is the Grand Hotel, Guayaquil.
From a Worcester clipping we learned the unhappy news that Russ Ireland's wife Elizabeth passed away in early August. They had been married 45 years and lived in Shrewsbury where she was quite active in many organizations. She and Russ had a son Stephen '5B, a daughter, and seven grandchildren. Russ recently retired from the Paul Revere Life Insurance Company. We extend him the deep sympathy of the class.
With Bill Scherman doing his regular miracle on our newsletter, this column is aimed at shorter bursts of news about as many of you as possible recognizing that here is where the rest of the Dartmouth family, as well as '34s, reads about our class. Okay fellows, how about a short burst of news from you.
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