1952

A note of sadness was injected into the holiday season with the loss of two classmates. Gene Teevens died in his sleep at home in Pembroke, Mass., the day before Christmas and Dave Neiditz was found dead in the parking lot of the State Office Building in Hartford Conn., on December 28. Both were victims of apparent heart attacks.

None of us in the Phi Gam house will forget Gene's bright smile and cheerful wit. The high point of many an evening at the fraternity was Gene's impromptu performance, often arm in arm with his dad, harmonizing a medley of old tunes while demonstrating some fancy footwork in a soft-shoe routine. Gene played freshman and jayvee football and varsity hockey. What he lacked in ability, he more than made up by determination, tenacity, and boundless energy. The condolences of the class go to Mary and to all of the children.

Dave Neiditz was state banking commissioner for Connecticut, having been appointed in August 1977 by the late Governor Ella Grasso. Prior to that, Dave had spent ten years in the state legislature, eight years as a representative from West Hartford and two years in the state senate. Lieutenant Governor Joseph Fauliso, who was Senate president pro tem when Dave was in that body, said Dave's "good humor, sincerity, and hard work set a high standard for those he encountered in his many business and charitable endeavors." (Please see obituary section).

Charlie Clough answered the phone, just having come in from two hours of cross-country skiing. The Cloughs live in the middle of an apple orchard in Hollis, N.H., and Charlie just skis out the back door. The snow this winter has been plentiful so I'm sure there are many tracks through the backyard. Charlie is group vice president, office systems, with the Nashua Corporation, where he has toiled since 1957. Charlie's answer to "how's business?" was a prolonged sigh. Between the economy and a strong dollar, Charlie has been battling the same things as everyone else who depends upon foreign source income. As a result, it was a good year for travel; Charlie spent ten weeks in Europe in 1981.

I bumped into Charlie completely unexpectedly about three years ago at the general store in Chilmark during a Memorial Day weekend. Chilmark is on Martha's Vineyard, and it boasts a general store and a grange hall. The town is so small you can hold your breath while you drive through. Charlie was dressed in his coveralls and looked like he lived on Martha's Vineyard year-round. (I'm sure I was as appropriately dressed.) The Cloughs maintain a retreat on Martha's Vineyard where they can escape the hustle and bustle of Hollis, N.H. The kids are growing up: Martha is at Smith but is taking her junior year at the Sorbonne; John is a freshman at Southern Methodist in Dallas; and David, Benjamin, and Thomas are in local schools. Rosemary keeps occupied by teaching modern dance to both children and adults.

A note came informing me that Don Myers represented Dartmouth at the inauguration of Dr. Arthur A. Richards as president of the College of the Virgin Islands. This event occurred in March of 1981 and the news just reached me; the note must have been sent in a bottle. The last I heard, Don was enjoying sailing the Caribbean when not pulling teeth in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Jack and Dodie Boyle report that son John was accepted at Bates. John, a running back on the Noble and Greenough, Mass., football team, was all-league and all-scholastic; he also captained both the football and lacrosse teams. Two other sons, Edward and Jimmy, play football at Wayland High, Edward as a junior and Jimmy as a freshman. Young David does not play football at Wayland High; he's only in the sixth grade. Looking back on business in 1981, Jack echoed many of Charlie Clough's sentiments about the economy. Lewis/Boyle Inc. now has three facilities, totalling 125,000 square feet. Not bad when you consider they started with 20,000 square feet ten years ago! For anyone needing materials handling equipment, Br'er Boyle is ready to help you.

At Yale 14 years teaching at the divinity school and chaplain of the medical school is one of my former roommates, Dave Duncombe. Dave graduated from Yale Divinity School and was ordained a Congregational minister. He and Sally live in Guilford, Conn., from which Dave commutes to New Haven by bicycle every day. The 35-mile round trip, which takes him an hour each way, keeps him in good shape. David continues to pursue his numerous interests from cross-country skiing and canoeing to classical guitar lessons and folk music. (In Gile Hall, Norm Logan and I used to pray that Dave's singing would improve; now Dave is in a good position to pray for us.) Daughter Betsy is a junior at the University of California, Santa Barbara; Jane is a sophomore at Tufts; and Stephen is in junior high school. Sally teaches kindergarten in Guilford.

Somehow I missed the fact that the Goldsmiths had moved to Hanover from Villanova, Pa. Harry informed me that the migration took place four to five years ago, which only goes to show how quickly time does go by! The Hanover Mafia includes Bill Breed, the oil tycoon, and Paul Sanderson, who operates his own company which places foreign high school students in high schools in this country. Harry said that Bill Montgomery is also occasionally spotted loping across the Hanover Plain. Harry is the proverbial one-armed paperhanger whose vocation and avocation merge into a host of activities related to medicine. Besides' being professor of surgery at the Dartmouth Medical School and being associated with Mary Hitchcock Hospital, Harry is engaged in research on spinal cord regeneration, has devised an operation to treat stroke, edits a medical compendium, and writes frequently for various medical journals.

My conversation with Harry was most stimulating, and if we had more time, I'm sure I could have extracted another dozen activities that Harry is pursuing. He and Linda have three children: John is a freshman at Boston University, Robert is a senior at Hanover High School, and Lynn is a sophomore at Northfield-Mt. Hermon. Between professional activities and family, it would seem that spare time is at a Premium.

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