1949

I would be the first to admit that a lot of things don't improve with age, but for those of you who savor old inns, mature wines, and aged cheddar, you might want to consider attending our annual fall reunion. This year's panoply of fall colors, plus the biggest Dartmouth Night crowd ever, plus some 72 "laid back" classmates, wives, and friends, plus a spirited Dartmouth-Harvard football game, had to be worth a five-star rating.

Seward "Buck" Weber was selected as the 1982 recipient of our "Gold Pick Axe" award. Bert Rodman, who chaired the Pick Axe committee, made the presentation following our Saturday night dinner in the Wheelock room. The award read:

"During undergraduate years you choose to explore a number of paths which we now realize directed you to a lifetime of good works in service to others. Through your interest in the out-of-doors you became director of membership for the Dartmouth Outing Club, and you were elected to the Green Key Society, which has long stood for service to others. You were manager of a varsity sport, a fraternity and senior society member, and, more importantly, always in our view a classy gentleman though you were never content with, or the recipient of, gentlemen's grades!

Since college days you have been a university dean, and your directorships have multiplied: You have been a director of city planning; director of admissions; and for the last decade executive director of the Vermont Natural Resources Council, a non-profit organization of concerned citizens' groups interested in critical environmental issues facing the state, the nation, and, as you so well know, all mankind.

"You have tackled major environmental issues involving energy, agriculture, acid rain, water, and land use with an understanding of how these matters divide us, but also how we can work together to deal wisely with them. You are responsible for communications and programs that educate your fellow citizens, and you can well take pride in the kind of legislation you have helped to enact in the state of Vermont, much of which has not been lost on other states and some of which has even been persuasive to federal authorities. That you and Susan have personally sacrificed a more comfortable life to work a small Vermont farm is typical of your approach to understanding the fundamentals of your profession.

"It comes as no surprise to us that in a nationwide competition you won a Richard King Mellon Fellowship to study and teach this year at Yale University.. There you are continuing to develop your expertise in environmental law, ecology, forestry, and organizational management; then you will return to the trenches as a leader and a servant.

"We take enormous pleasure in honoring your careers tonight. As you come to understand more and more about man's fundamental linkage to nature's systems, we can look with hope to solutions you will place on our agendas and build into the nation's conscience.

"We have two favors to ask of you, Seward. First, we'd like you to accept our Pick Axe Award without telling us it could have gone to someone more deserving. And secondly, we'd like permission to say frequently and at times passionately that you were a 'classmate of ours at Dartmouth.'

Each fall we add a few new faces to the reunion roster, which this year included John Adler and Vi, his bride of four months. John has joined forces with a C.P. A.-in a firm called Adler-Truelick Associates. Their promotional material states that "if your company wants to explore buying or selling a business . . . with expertise and discretion, A.T.A. knows how to make deals happen!" John's corporate development experience began in 1962 when he initiated a consumer products acquisition program for Booz, Allen and Hamilton clients. He is best known in the consumer packaged goods business as the founder of Adtel, a leading market research company.

Have a sumptuous holiday season. Vail.

2 Cornfield Road Simsbury, Conn. 06070