1949

Dear Forty-niners,

This column marks the end of the 1980-81 year for the class notes and also provides a three-month respite from those first-of-the-month deadlines. In a few days I will be in Hanover to attend the annual class officers' meetings and workshops. This delightful weekend not only provides an opportunity to visit with old friends but also to catch up on the life of the College. While the planners of these affairs strive for variety, there is enough sameness to accomodate the nostalgic needs of the most devoted.

Along with attending classes, questioning students and faculty on current issues, we will be fully briefed on the state of the College including the makeup of next fall's freshman class. The class secretaries will meet on Saturday morning and lament the fact that people don't write letters any more ... a fact of which I am keenly aware. After an hour or so of exchanging ideas we will convince ourselves that we can do better and adjourn for lunch and the afternoon activities which for Barbara and me will be hiking over the Dartmouth Skiway and consuming beer and steak at the Brundage Lodge.

During a recent conversation with Skip Ungar he told me that one of his recent cards contained a complaint that the same names keep appearing in our columns. While the reason for this may be obvious, the solution eludes both of us. For the record, the following 31 men out of a class of 534 were represented in this past year's notes: Wagner, Crawford, Daukas, Ungar, Kilner, Thomas, Gramstorff, Tracy, Rooke, Bright, Flanagan, Bronson, Smoke, Soule, Durning, Urstadt, Bailey, Chapman, R. Smith, Woodbury, Hanselman, Alden, Proom, J. Sullivan, Leede, Quirk, Gorton, Kopp, Towler, Burzard, and K. McClain. Although this is hardly a resounding success for an ex-news hawk, the list does have diversity. Not everyone is a politician or company president, yet each has done or is doing something that is significant to him and of interest to others. That's what this column and the news letter are all about ... to provide a forum for you to share your humorous and sad personal experiences and subjective opinions that 35 years ago gave us our common cause.

Give it a try, it might become contagious.

"Let your hair down"; I edit all copy. Reveal the real you to those who, like yourself, shared a few brief years following a world war.

Have a great summer!

2 Cornfield Road Simsbury, Conn. 06070