1921

All the large-city newspapers reported that on the night of August 8 John L. Sullivan passed away at Exeter, N.H., Hospital. A full account of John's activities after graduation are in the obituary section. Your secretary will summarize briefly in our class notes what John did as an undergraduate.

John came to us from Manchester Central High School. His fraternity was Chi Phi. During his four years at Hanover, he took time out to join the Navy in 1918 and still returned to graduate with 1921. He became a member of the Dramatic Club, the Players, the ForensiUnion, the Debating Team, the Band, the Rollins Chapel Choir, and the Cross Country squad.

A penchant for politics manifested itself when john mounted a campaign for "mayor" of Hanover, dressed with the sartorial splendor of W.C. Fields, in high hat and long frock coat. Although it was all in good fun, I wonder if John didn't feel the episode was good training for the real thing in the future.

It is proper that this be the place to record a personal incident which emphasizes the warmth and sensitivity of John as a person, which all of us knew as undergraduates. When John was secretary of the Navy, Martha and I decided to take our two children to Washington and Williamsburg. Our day in Washington included a visit to John's Navy office. He gave us a warm welcome. He talked to the children at length about the Navy. I was restless (figuring we had taken too much of his time) and wanted to leave. John interrupted my thinking by saying, "In a few minutes, I will have half a dozen admirals here for a meeting, all dressed in full uniforms, and I want the children to meet them." He had hardly finished speaking when the door opened and in walked the admirals. John introduced each one and explained who we were. It was a warm, uninhibited, pleasant meeting.

Our classmate Emory Curtis Corbin died on June 5. You can read his obituary in this issue. Emory and Olive have been devoted in their loyalty to all things Dartmouth.

It is sad to have to report, too, that their daughter Susan, en route to attend a teachers' convention in Florida, was a passenger on the ill-fated airliner that collided with the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C., on January 13 of this year. Over 200 letters came to the Corbins expressing their sorrow over such a needless accident. The class joins with them.

Thanks to the generosity of Martha and Warren S. Ege, the Dartmouth Medical School now has a hybridoma research facility, which has the ability to provide a real breakthrough in the analysis of cancer cells and their relation to normal cells. The full story was in our last "Smoker."

May I comment about what I recall of Warren after 1921. Warren did not go to Tuck School as reported. He enrolled at Harvard Law School. None of us need to be told that Warren was one of the half-dozen superior scholars that emerged from 1921. This same brilliance of mind carried him to the number-one spot at Harvard Law. This led in turn to the editorship of the law review. I am indebted to Martha for informing me that upon graduation Warren became a clerk to Mr. Justice Brandeis, a coveted position indeed.

Warren then joined the Kellogg law firm in St. Paul (Kellogg had been secretary of state).

When World War II started, Warren moved to Washington as assistant to Robert Patterson, himself Henry Stimson's first assistant. I was a member of the War Production Board (leather division) but I still had difficulty obtaining a machine for our tannery. So I went over to Warren's office to enlist his assistance, and his secretary said, "Mr. Ege is busy please be seated." In as mild a manner as possible, I ventured to ask, "What does Mr. Ege do?" The answer came back quickly, "Why, Mr. Ege runs the War Department."

No classmate will be surprised at this matter-of-fact answer. After the war, Warren remained in Washington as the managing partner of a very prestigious law firm.

The medical school is the recipient of a most valuable gift.

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