1936

What ever happened to that orderly move into a life of anticipated tranquility? Having finally located an ideal accommodation for indoor-outdoor living, there then followed frustrating bouts with banks and lawyers. With the sale of the Wellesley house it seemed that there would surely be ample time to weed out, pack up, clean up, and move on out. But"the days whittle down to a precious few," as in the old, familiar "September Song," and you find yourself running twice as hard just to stand even. A move from one side of town to the other is a piece of cake. (We've done that several times.) But with 75 miles between residences, there are quite a few problems in logistics. My New England heritage and my wife June's frugal nature prevented us from wholesale elimination of unnecessary and unwanted lares and penates. How do people ever move from Boston to San Diego or from Yakima, Wash., to Yulee, Fla.?

Once at the new location comes the first disheartening discovery that there is a vast difference in what purports to be "broomclean." In the course of a stem-to-stern scrubbing, the shallow well crumps out, necessitating the sinking of a new and deeper well. We of the post World War II era of Mr. Blandingand his Dream House now find ourselves 40 years older and beset with many of the same problems. And of course in the middle of it all I had to take a week off at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Clinic to correct a nagging ptosis, and then in the middle of August we had to drop everything for a four-day family reunion in Deep Creek, Md. (Rightfully advertised as Maryland's best-kept secret.)

But enough. From Hanover comes the good news, for her and for this publication, of the promotion of the class notes editor, Dana Grossman, to associate editor of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE. We class secretaries all will miss you, Dana, with your subtle whip, your red pencil, and your ever-ready, cheery help for us in time of need. The ALUMNI MAGAZINE is lucky to have her. Congratulations, Dana, on your new challenge.

Some people may get their kicks out of playing musical houses. Others are more adventurous and lose themselves in travel. Ren Ostrom reports that earlier this year he and his wife Frannie joined up with Char and Ged Carrington '43 to go on the Dartmouth Indonesian voyage to Bali and the Java Sea. In all there were about 30 Dartmouth couples three from the class of 1936: the Ostroms, Magri and Court Catron, and Peg and JackGreenwood. Ren says they had a great time, even though the Catrons beat them at bridge regularly (I guess Court hasn't set aside his wily ways) and Jack insisted on wearing a straw sailor hat with Penn colors to the amusement of many of the natives. (It seems to me that the straw sailor was Jack's badge of identification some ten years ago in Portugal.) Ren says he has a picture of the three '36ers, but since it is in color we can't have it reproduced here.

Another color shot will have to be seen elsewhere, too. Cathie Lynch sent a fine picture of Paul Lynch high in the air in a parachute over Acapulco Harbor! Paul had himself hooked up in some sort of a device towed by a high-speed motor boat, and he soared majestically at a height of some 2,000 feet for about eight minutes. (Dare we risk the inevitable comment: You don't have to pub-crawl to get high in Alcapulco?)

For news of and about a trip that almost any of us would have given our eyeteeth to take, I urge you to dig out Frank Kappler'\s latest issue of "Tithe," in which he reports all too briefly on his 18,000 mile peregrination through South America. And even with all that time and exposure, is it Brazil or Brasil?

Frank's accumulation of hews spans some six or more months. Now that I have a spanking new mail box, in Mashpee, how about filling it with notes of import, inspiration, and data on the second half of 1983?

12 Godfrey Road Mashpee, MA 02649