1956

It is not too early, or too late, to be planning to join in the Seventh Annual 1956 Fun City Fantastic. This gala event will be held the weekend of January 27—29, 1984, with head quarters at the Yale Club in New York City. Send your checks or money orders to Peter "Cube" Conroy to reserve your room or place at the dinner table. Serious aspects of the weekend, such as class executive meetings, will be severely constrained and no doubt poorly attended.

Your secretary is indebted to Jean Rosen wald and Bill Tell for reports of the West Point weekend in mid-September. The Friday evening cocktail and dinner mini-reunion at the Hudson House brought together a stalwart few. In addition to Tom and Jean Rosen wald, the organizers, Mike and MarjorieGrunebaum came from Chappaqua, N. Y. Joeand Odessa Elliott took a weekend off from the Bronx, where Joe is the rector of St. Paul's Church. Bedford, Mass., sent a delegation comprising Win and Martha Bridge. Philadelphia was represented by Glen and Carolyn French. Doug Keare was also present, leaving after the game for Brazil to deliver the $10-billion loan from the IMF, no doubt.

On game day, the weather, the parade of cadets, and the Big Green (in the first half, at least) provided a fine weekend of football and fellowship except for one minor flaw: the fact that our team lost. Joining those from Hudson House were Bill and Karen Tell,Duke and Bridget Hust in from Minneapolis, Len and Lee Clark, Dick and Georgia Whitney, Howard and Lois Sodokoff, and Johnand Helen Higgs. Les and Estelle Reid got the prize for traveling the farthest distance, being on a visit from Aberdeen, Wash., where both of them are doctors. Although not officially one of our classmates, Langdon Harris '54, a friend of many '56s, and his wife, were also at West Point. Your secretary was otherwise engaged, running a good 5K at the Corporate Invitational Run. Unfortunately, the race was 10K!

Fortunately, other class secretaries send me news of you guys. I am indebted to Don Norstrand '26 for the information that Massachusetts Mutual has announced the appointment of Egil Stigum as its general agent in Boston. In addition to his Dartmouth degrees, Egil is a CPA and a CLU. The list of honors he has earned in the insurance indus try is awesome: Leaders of Leaders, President's Council, Legion of Excellence, Million Dollar Round Table, and Eight-Million-Dollar Forum, plus 22 national awards of various sorts. The one that confirms my suspicion that most insurance is sold on the golf course is Egil's membership in the elite Master's Club. Congratulations, Egil.

Classmates will have seen in recent issues of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE news articles on the John Sloan Dickey Endowment for International Understanding. The endowment will honor "the values and achievements exemplified in President Dickey's lifetime of service to the cause of international cooperation, liberal arts education, and scholarship." It is a fitting tribute to "our" president, who urged us, as students during a period when the Cold War was at its coldest, to be open to understanding and sensitive to diversity as we attempted to sort out our country's role in the world. Classmates who wish to consider participating in the endowment may want to contact Bill Tell, who is a member of the national executive committee.

On to the 50th birthdays. Out in Springfield, Ill., Chuck Beard will be hoping for a cold winter as he clicks by the half-century mark in December. He is vice president of a heating, air-conditioning, and roofing contracting firm. It is unlikely, however, that his four sons will accord him any respect in his advancing years. Surprise that he is still able to move about, yes. Respect, no.

Four of our classmates will have 50ths in California. Bob Black in Malibu, Len Neely in Alamo, and Jim Nelson in San Rafael will all pass the day quietly in terms of what we know about them. Dick McClintock, a physician in Ukiah, is more willing to share his thoughts: "The older I get, the more fun I have." Thank you, Norman Vincent Peale.

Back in the East, Bob Castles will no doubt audit someone on his birthday unless he takes the day off from Arthur Young to stay home in Garden City, N.Y. Charles Crane will work up another pension, perhaps his own, at Northeast Administrations Inc. in Madison, N.J. Gordon Lend will have his hands full as headmaster of the Roland Park Country School in Baltimore. Perhaps the students, all girls, will sing "Happy Birthday." If not, his son will think of a fitting way to honor the day.

Up in Boston, Harry Petter will observe the day in an appropriate fashion, doing something for somebody else. Harry is a minister with the United Church of Christ, presently executive director of the Ellis Memorial and Eldredge House. Charles Driscoll will celebrate either on his 40-acre farm or at the Science Museum in St. Paul, Minn., where he is director of personnel. Somewhere in the world, Pete Kolar will reach the half-century mark as an Agency for International Development representative. In a prophetic and disturbing observation in our reunion book Pete notes, "While still an optimist, my constant and direct exposure to the deteriorating events in the Central American microcosm gives me apprehension, particularly since my colleagues and I at AID and the State Department who are very close to the events are not able to come up with effective nor long-range solutions. My apprehension grows when I see that the same is true in our dealings with the myriad of other tumultuous hot spots..." Remember that this was written at least three years ago. My faith, Peter, is that you, and others like you, will continue to try.

Celebrating his birthday a day earlier than anybody else will be Dick Hlavac, the librarian at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. Dick and his wife Jacqueline, whom he met during his naval service in New Zealand, returned there to live in 1964. He notes that he is "willing to talk endlessly . . . over a keg of beer." Does anyone know the name of a good Kiwi beer?

Finally, Alan Peyser, an engineer and chief operating officer of TDX Systems in Bethesda, Md., will be 50 in December. He speaks to and for us all: "I am still a kid at heart." In addition to birthday wishes to the above classmates, advance season's greetings and best wishes for the New Year are extended to all. Peace.

The class of '54 was well represented at the dedication in October of the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for the Social Sciences. A plaque, aboveleft, testifies to the class's contributions to the project in the name of one of its members, while two other classmates stand on the gallery namedin honor of President David McLaughlin '54; surveying the new building, above right, are '54s Rodman Rockefeller, left, and Lo-Yi Chan, right,architect of the center.

15 Old Hyde Road Weston, CT 06883

THIS GALLERY IS GIVEN BY TIIL CLASS OF 1954 IN HONOR OFDAVID T.Mclaughlin '54 DARTMOUTH'S FOURTEENTH PRESIDENT AND MEMBER OF THE CLASS