1934
By a round-about route, we have fresh news of a southwestern classmate. I had seen a young friend of my son's just before he took off for Arizona, so he had me in mind when he landed in Tucson and the first thing he saw was a DARTMOUTH ALUMNI MAGAZINE! Turned out his hostess (mother of his brother-in-law) was Flip Harris, widow of Herb Harris. The family had gathered for her birthday and she was delighted to talk of Dartmouth. She and Herb had moved out there to a neat ranch with horses to ride and mountains to gaze at. Her sons, Steve and Mark, live in Rhode Island and run the textile converting business Herb started.
Now, I promised a Washington wrap-up. Sorry, no budget miracle to report, but the class does have many down there watching the current action with a knowledgeable eye. One such is Ed Kelley. He spent years working in the Executive Office Building next door to the White House. He keeps busy now with a heavy country-wide correspondence built up through the years, and now that he's released from watching the Redskins mow down the opposition he has more time for reading and helping Dora keep tabs on their two sons.
Bud Clabaugh is another '34 who stayed with government service after World War II duty his with naval intelligence. His postwar career was with the F.B.I. Now retired, the Clabaughs claim they are thoroughly enjoying life, centered around their Alexandria home and their son and daughter twins. Their college watch includes Wabash, from which he was graduated.
It's easy to see why Arne Yensen wasn't standing by his Bethesda phone when I called. He kindly followed with a report on what he's been doing since retiring from naval ordnance. He and his wife keep watch on her mother in Florida, their married son Kermit, a computer product manager in Corvallis, Ore., and their son David, a Congressional committee aide. Then it's a choice of tennis, square dancing, piano, or gardening (teaching it, no less) and short trips, like to see Earl Draper in Myrtle Beach last year.
Not far out of Washington, Herb Heston has settled in the beautiful horse country of Virginia, in Warrenton, after years as director of development at Smith College and Deerfield Academy. Health problems (Alzheimer's disease) have precluded his doing the farm work he'd hoped, but fortunately a daughter and her husband live on adjoining acreage and keep watch over a herd of Black Angus in joint pastures as well as over their three sons (UVA, Randolph-Macon, and high school). Molly reports that their oldest daughter lives in Frederick, Md., and has four children, including a son at Syracuse majoring in Herb's public relations specialty and a daughter who has provided Herb and Molly with two great-grandchildren. Son Frank '65 is raising two more of their grandsons in Northampton and keeps them informed on Dartmouth affairs. It's certainly not easy putting up with his disability, but Herb does have an active, growing family to expand his world.
Link and Carla Daniels were not at their Chevy Chase residence when I phoned, having already flown to Delray Beach, Fla., where Link writes they now spend half the year. He word-paints a fascinating picture of their home on the intercoastal waterway of sailboats and sunsets, pelicans landing and egrets in flight. To that he adds the gamut of tennis, swimming, and conditioning jogs. They keep up the tennis on their own court during the summer in Chevy Chase, with Carla and their son giving lessons to promising juniors. Link promises to take on the senior challengers at our 50th.
I didn't really expect to find Roily Wilson at home. Now that the Navy has allowed him to retire he seems to be investigating all those places the ships didn't take him. A card received just ahead of my Washington sortie came from high on the Himalayas in Pakistan, following stopovers in Ladakh, Bhutan, Jodhpur, Udaipur. But my letter in February found him in Washington and willing to share his travel experiences.
What exotic places he's seen! First, while career Navy, he was based (with his family) in places like Gibraltar, Taiwan, Japan, and the Philippines. Then, while helping the Red Cross, he got to Vietnam and Thailand. And since retiring he's seen the rest of the world. He's taken the trans-Siberian railway and been to China four times even to Tibet. He's been sailing in the Aegean, down the Nile, and around Indonesia. He's checked out fascinating places from Easter Island to Sri Lanka and the Seychelles, from New Zealand and New Guinea to India, and from Malaysia to the Persian Gulf states. Mary Jane went along on many of these adventures. I think they should have a display at our 50th, complete with maps, brochures, and travel tips.
Maybe Stu Barber, who also resides in the Washington area, will check in by next month. No doubt he has been wintering elsewhere.
140 North Broadway, #F12 Irvington, N.Y. 10533
