1950
Yesterday was Memorial Day; tomorrow, Labor Day. Elusive summer slipped away.
Relaxing for several months was a cherished reward. Events happened, but the reaction was passive. Suddenly, however, a deadline looms. Reporting time has returned.
The Alumni Fund is always with us as old news, new news, continuing news. By definition, the refrain is hauntingly familiar: new goals, higher requirements, successful achievement, new records. Head agent Bill Sullivan repeats the refrain this year, reporting 376 gifts (not a record, except, perhaps, as a low) for a total of $158,530, a new record for a class 32 years out. Excepting reunion classes, only two other classes raised a higher total. Bill and his minions deserve our commendation and praise.
One aspect of these data, however, nags. Our dollar total is laudatory; our participation level, suspect. The fund's participation objective was 67 per cent; that objective, the best in the country, was all but attained, with 65.6 per cent total giving. Our 376 gifts, in contrast, barely reached the 57-per cent level. Once upon a time the class of 1950 could be depended upon for at least 72 per cent participation. The wayfarers are many. One question: Were you counted?
Why the continuing concern? The Campaign for Dartmouth focuses attention on the total present needs of the College a minimum of new facilities, endowment, and current operating funds. All gifts, including Alumni Fund donations, are counted in accumulating campaign totals. Yet the fund continues, as President Hopkins so aptly noted, as the living endowment. We were once recipients of the benefits from this endowment; now we are responsible for its perpetuation. The responsibility is real, not one lightly disregarded. Sharing the responsibility, each as we can, serves the multiple different memories and constituencies that represent Dartmouth for each of us.
A special word to the uncommitted reflect once more. Commit. The campaign is drawing to a close. It offers an excellent opportunity to commit a five-year plan of giving, particularly to the fund, at the level meaningful and realistic for you. Commit, and be among the counted.
Gridiron gleanings: Some things remain the same. Yale is favored again, despite the loss of 16 starters. Cozza's reign in New Haven recalls the Blackman era in Hanover.
In the preseason picks Dartmouth leads the pack of spoilers. The question mark, unusually, is defense. The offense, for a change, appears to be solid with a tested quarterback, Frank Polsinello '84, and a string of jackrabbit runners led by co-captain Sean Maher '83. A primary goal: beating at least one of the non-Ivy teams, which this year include Colgate. It is tough to regain momentum after a I—3 start.
Vantage point is all. His wife or some judge often admonishes Francis Kear with, "You've had your say; now, please shut up." Therefore, he wonders at the recent reference to " . . . another voice long silent." Vantage point, or point of view; that's all. Francis reports seeing Marv Kohl, who has long since left Brooklyn for North Woodmere. Hobnobbing as of old with Kingsley Jarvis, now located in Norristown, Pa., is more difficult.
The postmark read Newport, N.H., but the news was from Certina, Italy, the site of a recent reunion of the fabled Tenth Mountain Division. Newc Eldredge's colleagues in this secluded, high-altitude village included John Litchfield '39, a former captain of the Dartmouth ski team who still races as a veteran, and Larry Jump '36, a pre-war French army ski instructor and, more recently, the founder of the Arapahoe ski area in Colorado. Newc also reported that Jim Birney will join GordiePinkham as a resident of Eastman. Jim, however, will be at least temporarily retired, a coveted status.
The Bank of Tokyo has appointed Clift Whiteman deputy general manager of the banks New York agency and executive vice president of the Bank of Tokyo Trust Company. To accept these positions Clift resigned from Irving Trust, where he was a senior vice president and the division manager of its worldwide operations group.
Tidbits from here and there: Turning the tables, Stan Brodsky submitted to open-heart surgery several months ago; he has since returned actively to his practice of psychiatry. Beaumont, Tex., had too much H&H (heat and humidity), so Dick Ledyard jumped at the chance to return north as general manager of Graybar Electric Company's division in Grand Rapids. Ben Maeck practices medicine in San Francisco, but he sends his children to New England for a sound, old-fashioned education. Looking for more time for either leisure or creativity, Sam Vitt promoted himself to chairman and chief executive of Vitt Media International. Blazing trails for the Industrial Bank of Rhode Island is Doug Smith, who is starting a branch, the Fleet National Bank, in London; meanwhile and in her spare time, his wife Meredith teaches fashion at American College. Marland Benner still heads a successful sales and marketing organization Benner, Birdsong, and Associates headquartered in Orlando. Phil Charron spent his summer in Joan-of-Arc country working on a study-travel project for Deerfield Academy, where he spends his winters teaching; Joe Medlicott is down the hall.
Most of the mail this summer contained happy notes. Two were sad, reporting the deaths of David C. Pittenger in Duxbury, Mass., and Robert M. Devitt in Cornwall, N.Y., both after long illnesses. In a few short months we lost two pillars of strength.
Summer has passed. The vibrant season opens in the North Country. The foliage, the mists, the cool nights, the sun-filled days memory stirs anticipation. We can hardly wait to return. Until we see you there, perhaps at mini-reunion time, cheers. Any time will do.
510 Hillcrest Road Ridgewood, N.J. 07450
