1955

Here it is spring, but what follows happened in a winter that most of us, other than the ski area managers, would rather forget.

A small but hardy band of '55s met at the Hanover Inn in early January for a ski weekend. The Tom Roulstons, Harry Ambroses, and Norm Fines, plus Bruce Alexander, were joined by the Bob Edwardses, who drove down from a Stowe ski holiday to join the group. Perhaps this is the start of an annual winter weekend tradition.

You read in this column about Pete Dromeshauser's involvement in the revitalization of the Pleasant Mountain ski area in Bridgeton, Maine. I visited the "Kraut," skied the mountain, and had a beer on the house. It was as advertised, a pleasant experience. I was impressed with Peter's ski area which is only 18 minutes east of Conway, N.H., away from the crowds and traffic of Mt. Washington Valley. A recommended site for next year's ski gathering.

Roger Young continues to make news, and that is not terribly surprising, with his being the chief spokesman for the F.B.I. Mark Starr sent a newspaper article from the Los Angeles Daily Journal entitled, "FBI Gets Unexpected Help in Identifying Marijuana Plants." It seems that Roger had been quoted by the press as saying he had never seen a marijuana leaf, and a California man decided to do something about it. Being in the artificial plant business, he mailed a fake marijuana plant in a plain brown wrapper to Roger. It now sits in his office at F.B.I, headquarters in Washington as a reminder of the new role the F.B.I, has taken on in narcotics work.

Mark is an attorney in Carmel, where the soil is fertile and conducive to growing such lucrative plants.

Back to New England, Swift Lawrence was recently presented the coveted Alumni Award by the College for his unselfish work on behalf of Dartmouth. In addition, Swift, who has been executive vice president of the Pawtucket Institution for Savings in Rhode Island, was elected president and chief operating officer He joined the bank in 1977 after having been president of the Falmouth National Bank in his hometown on Cape Cod for a number of years Despite the complexities of today's Reaganomics, Swift and his wife Kit managed to enjoy a sailing holiday in the Caribbean on a chartered sloop.

I received an interesting letter from Joe Giden's wife Ruth, telling about their family tour of England and Scotland last fall. One of their stops was in the town of Dartmouth in Devon Ruth sent along a nice picture of Joe standing next to a roadside sign for the town, but unfortunately it couldn't be printed here because it was in color. The Gidens have been living in Los Angeles for the past 22 years, "taking advantage of mostly everything in the area has to offer." When Joe is not backpacking and skiing in the Sierras, he is a partner in a general law firm specializing in real estate. The Gidens recently spent the weekend with Hank Neuberger and his wife Sally at their Lafayette home in the San Francisco area.

I am sorry to relay the news of the death of our classmate Arthur Feinstein, as reported by his wife Bobbie. Art, who also graduated from Thayer in 1961, succumbed to lung cancer last November. His obituary will appear in a future edition.

In a previous ALUMNI MAGAZINE, the dates for the combined 30th reunions for the classes of 1953, 1954, and 1955 were erroneously reported. The actual reunion dates are June 1114, 1984. Certainly, you will be hearing this date more often as we approach that milestone. In the meantime, your ideas for our 30th are needed to insure a good turn-out and a successful weekend.

89 Cedar Cove Lane Swansea, Mass. 02777