1944
Huzzahs and kudos and it couldn t have happened to a nicer man. It's top secret news as I write this, but perhaps the best damn translator in the country, our own Gregory Rabassa, will have received an honorary Litt.D. degree at Dartmouth's June 13 commencement ceremony. He is the second "44 to be so honored; the other is Monte DuVal, who received one in 1972. Greg has won every prize and award conceivable for his translations of Latin American authors from Portuguese and Spanish into English, and he's also a pretty snazzy professor of languages at Queens College on Long Island.
It is hard to say who will have been prouder at this year's commencement. Greg Rabassa or his daughter Kate '82, as each watched the other climb the platform stairs, father for his Litt.D., daughter for her A.B.
Other '44 youngsters receiving degrees were Joe and Dorothy MacFarland's daughter, Mary 'B2, the late Shih-Yeuh Wang and Carol's daughter, Hilda 'B2, and Lern and Elinor Arnold's son, Barry '76, who tucked his Tuck M.B.A. under his arm.
As an old jogger and runner, I'm impressed right out of my New Balance sneaks by the swiftness of foot of Maryann and Don Pfeifle s son Hank. All he is is one of the top distance runners in the world, that s all, and at the tender age of 31. He was chosen Maine's runner of the year in 1981; he won the Marine Corps marathon in Washington last year; he was right on Salazar's heels in a ten-kilometer race in Miami January 9; and a week later he ran the Orange Bowl marathon in Miami in 2:16.41. Those of you in the know will know that that's just eight seconds behind Salazar s recordbreaking time in April s Boston Marathon, and, man, that's cruising.
Hank is married and working in the engineering section of you guessed it Nike running shoes in Sacco, Maine. His twin brother Lou is also in the shoe business, in Andover, Mass. Between them they've made Maryann and Don grandparents five times over.
Mention of Maine leads to mention of Murchie Jean and Dick Murchie, that is. "Murch" sold his shipbroker's business on Long Island in 1976, and he and Jean moved to Naples, Fla., where they had been vacationing for years. They have since acquired a building with four apartments, and Murch is working hard taking care of the property and his tenants "when I'm not out fishing."
They summer in Maine regularly, and this summer they are closing on a cottage way up on the Maine-Canadian border (near Princeton, Maine, to be exact), where the salmon run. "I've been salmon fishing there every summer for almost 20 years," Murch said, "and you can't beat it." The Murchies' three children are all out of school, married, and building careers.
Closer to home, in Manchester, N.H., Charles Pappas is still toiling 70 to 80 hours a week, seven days a week, in his restaurant, "The Back Room." The place seats 300, so you can see that running it takes a little doing. But I love it," Charlie says. "It's a family establishment, and 1 have a couple of cousins and even a couple of my kids working with me 140 employees in all. We started out as an icecream parlor way back when, and it just got bigger and bigger." The four Pappas children all live in the area, three of them within two blocks of Charlie and his wife Mary.
Dave Eckels, director of research in Dartmouth's Alumni Office, says with a glint that he worked in Manchester right after the war and taught Charlie Pappas how to make a decent milkshake!
Charlie and Dave get together fairly often, and Charlie also keeps in close touch with his old fraternity brother Kirk Bassett. Kirk still runs the "Bird and Hound" men's store in Belvedere, Calif., and he and wife Bernie are currently vacationing in Italy.
Another early retiree, but not at all because he likes it, is Bill Reinman, a former real estate consultant in Youngstown, Ohio. He says he's been retired since March 1973 when he developed coronary problems. "Since then," he says, "it has been a ridiculous chain of hospitalizations, etc., for these and numerous vascular problems. My travels have been limited to visits to our children, which is hard to get used to after having traveled and visited 45 states during my working days." The Reinmans' four children are all married, and one of their twins recently had twins. "Can anyone else in the class match that?" asks Bill.
Dave MacGregor, happily retired in Goffstown, N.H., finds that travel is what keeps him and wife Marion young. "We try to get in four or five major trips a year," he says. "Last year we did Hawaii, Holland, the Canadian Rockies, and the Caribbean." And can anyone match that ask I.
Dr.n Holley, with Continental Insurance in Glens Falls, N.Y.., stays young by bicycling five and a half miles to and from work every day. His first wife died in 1976, and he remarried a year later. His two children are both in college, and his wife Martha's are 15 and nine years old. "We lead a nice, quiet life," says Dan, "happily working our two acres on the weekends."
Two of Dan's Dartmouth fraternity brothers have also been with Continental Insurance Jack Downes in Middletown, N.J., and DonLindell, who is now retired in Stamford, Conn.
Finally, I must end on two sad notes. News of the death of Donald Currier on April 23 came from his wife; an obituary will be in this or an upcoming issue. And Art Peabody's wife Joan died of cancer in February. Our condolences go to both families'.
Have a lovely summer. That's it. Blessings.
Frederick L. Hier 304 Parkhurst Hall Hanover, N.H. 03755
