1949

During the past football season, when our class namesakes in San Francisco were in hot pursuit of a national title, one loyal fan was busy worrying about the sad state of the "sod squad" at Candlestick Park. With most games now played on synthetic surfaces, the problems of muddy turf and divots are hardly recognized outside golfing circles. At Candlestick they still employ stompers in old clothes who must rush to the field and stamp down divots during every time-out.

As reported in the San Francisco Chronicle: "History of a sort may have been made after an impeccable '49er fan, Peter Bogardus [Dartmouth '51], offered $500 to outfit the groundskeepers in blazers with red stripes. Supervisor Quentin Kopp entered a resolution to accept the gift, and it passed unanimously possibly the first time any Kopp proposal swept through the board." One local wag suggested that the zoo's elephants would do a better job, and "they work for peanuts."

I had Doug Carter on my list of people to call this month, but a letter from his mother revealed that Doug spent most of February in the People's Republic of China, and neither Sprint nor M.C.I, have installed service that far west ... or is east?

Doug is a research geologist with the geological survey section of the Interior Department in Reston, Va., when he's at home. As a specialist with EROS (Earth Resources Observation Systems) and an international representative of COSPAR (Committee on Space Research), he spends a great deal of time globehopping, and he had just returned from Egypt prior to his China trip.

The Chinese, through the office of the United Nations, sent a specific request for W. D. Carter to advise them in building a Landsat receiving station. If I can catch Doug between trips, I'll provide details next month.

A phone call to the Trinity Cathedral in Davenport, lowa, produced a brief but informative conversation with Ed MacBurney. He has been dean at Trinity since 1973, following ten years as rector of St. Thomas's Church in Hanover. The cathedral is the oldest in the country to be built as an Episcopal cathedral and serves 1,500 members and 700 active communicants.

Ed's three adopted sons have all pursued academic goals. Norton graduated from Harvard in 1969 and is now an assistant professor at the University of Texas with a Ph.D. in economics. Page graduated from Harvard in 1971, works for Polaroid in Holland, and is studying for his doctorate. James graduated from Williams in 1974 and is getting his Ph.D. in history at the University of Chicago.

Ed's wife Anne is a social worker and recently set up a limited partnership to put on workshops for various social service groups. She had spent the previous seven years with Child and Family Services.

Ed and Anne travel extensively, but their major interest lies in Nepal and India, where they spent much time in 1978 and again in 1980. During Ed's last visit, he had the opportunity to preach in Calcutta and to worship and work with Mother Theresa in her leprosarium. She helps in providing support for the 175,000 lepers under treatment out of a total leper population of a million or more.

I asked Ed what kept the massive numbers of suffering and dying from eventually overwhelming an individual's ability to care. He said he had discussed this with Mother Theresa, who likened the needy to the oceans of the world - we know they exist though their totality is incomprehensible. But, "to lift one infant from a dust bin and nurture it back to health, that we can understand."

Ed's parish is now raising funds to construct a building to house some of India's destitute while seeking personal sponsorships for 100 Indian children at an annual cost of $180 each. The MacBurneys sponsor two children, and Ed believes that this is the most rewarding investment they have ever made.

2 Cornfield Road Simsbury, Conn. 06070