1948

One of the pleasures in writing these monthly notes is the newsy and sometimes complimentary letters that very occasionally come one's way. To those '48s out there who have sent such epistles to this struggling correspondent, my everlasting thanks. You've provided a reward for which I'm indeed grateful. Lest I be misunderstood and considered discourteous, however, to the great number of you who at some time considered sending me a note of derision or justified condemnation for something I wrote, but who did not do so, my equally grateful thanks. The message of the above is that to make this little column an interesting piece to read, I need news from you fellow wearers of the '4B ribbon, or your family or friends news which is good, bad, or indifferent, friendly or unfriendly. Your undoubted modesty makes writing this column extremely difficult. As Eleazar probably said to Samson Occom before the latter left for England in the dawn of our institution's history, "Write me, Sam. In wampum's name, write me!"

I have not enjoyed a conversation in some time as much as one with Bob Welch the other night. Bob, who has lived with his family in St. Clair Shores, Mich., for a number of years, is a teacher by profession. He really loves to teach and is the director of secondary school curriculum in the Grosse Pointe school system. He had a fascinating career in Uncle Sam's Navy during and after World War II, earning a Presidential Commendation Ribbon for sailing a 125-foot LCT, usually full of ammunition, all over the South Pacific, from Pearl to the Philippines via many of the tiny islands in between (including Johnson, Eniwetok, Ulithi). He lived through the horrendous Okinawa typhoon of early 1946, of which locals still speak with awe to day. He studied at Chicago U. sometime during this period when Robert Hutchins was there; and Bob didn't know that a building he passed every day housed an essential element of the highly-secret Manhattan Project. Bob also attended Midshipman School at Notre Dame when Jackie Cooper was well known to him and others, and came as a V-12 to Dartmouth in 1943. He later returned to Hanover, finally earning his degree in English and comparative literature and a Phi Beta Kappa key in March of 1948. He taught on a practice basis in the Hanover and Lebanon school systems and obtained a master's back at Chicago in 1952. Although they haven't seen each other lately, Bob believes his closest friend is Herb Bender, who was a buddy in Hanover. Both attended Navy intelligence school together and both taught at St. Paul's in Garden City, where Bob also coached baseball. Both have made obvious successes of their lives. Bob has lost touch with Dartmouth but still feels a strong fondness for the institution and his old friends. Herb is a highly respected teacher in the public schools of Poughkeepsie, where he's been president of the Mid-Hudson Dartmouth Club. Bob and Herb are certainly a couple of worthy examples of the teaching profession as are a number of other '48s whose accomplishments have from time to time been mentioned in these notes.

Another '48 whom Uncle Sam led to Hanover is Pete Owen, now and for many years a resident, with his family, of Fort Wayne, Ind. Things haven't been easy for Pete since he received his degree at Tuck in 1950, and he's been able to get back to Hanover only once since then. When the bottom fell out of the energy business a couple of years ago, he had to abandon his personnel placement business. In its place he began a small consulting practice to provide financial expertise to hard-pressed Midwest manufacturing firms. Sometimes it's been a long wait between checks, but he seems to be surviving. Enough so in any case that last summer he was able to get back for ten days to the glorious outdoor mountain life he's always loved, this time in the Wind Rivers of western Wyoming. (You were in lan Macartney country there, Pete.) Based on what he has seen of the current depression in his own area of the country, Pete hopes he's wrong in thinking it will take three to five years for industry in the upper Midwest to recover.

Oil executive Dave Anthony reports from Tulsa that the recent merger of his Cities Service into Occidental Petroleum has resulted in his appointment as domestic compensation manager for the combined Oxy-Cities Domestic Exploration Group, not a bad move for a fellow who a year ago had fears of being out of a job due to the then-imminent Gulf takeover of Cities, an event which didn't happen. Dave reports with glee that he recently received a postcard from Fritz McTarnahan and his wife Joan in Egypt which pictured Fritz on top of 2 camel. Fritz, he said, looked just a little bit nervous!

Class Agent Ken Young reports with justifiable pride that in mid-January, the class o-1948 had surpassed for this year's Alumni Fund its best-giving-year record of about 80,000 ducats for the 25th reunion ten years ago. Still a long, long way to go to hit $308,000 for our 35th. but a good start. Congratulations to those who have helped to date. (The fund would have done even better if Ken hadn't shot a 174-yard hole-in-one in a tourney on his home course at Del-Aire Golf Club, a feat which undoubtedly cost our extroverted leader and thus the College a small fortune in the clubhouse bar!)

Reunion Chairman Warren Daniell and his aide-de-camp Ray Richard report that good progress is being made in developing the program for 1948'S 35th in Hanover on June 1316, as confirmed by Barney Hoisington in the latest newsletter. It won't surprise yours truly if 100 of us are there along with wives, etc. There will be planned activities, but the main emphasis will be on having plenty of time to be together with your old buddies for a revival of the fun and laughs of our undergrad days. Be on hand if you possibly can!

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