1954

In honor of his 50th birthday, Pete Barker's wife Gail secretly arranged a roast at New York City's famous Friars Club. The entire proceedings were videotaped for posterity. Emcee duties were carried out by Rolland Smith, anchor of the C.B.S. evening news, and friends arrived from all over the country for this posh, blacktie affair. A great evening and extremely professionally done. Pete has advised me that he has been contacted for membership in the American Association of Retired Persons and Action for Independent Maturity. Pete's big 50th present was a home computer. The class of 1954 was represented by the other two-thirds of the quasi-permanent reunion committee, Dick Page and John Gillespie.

John Buffington was recently named chairman, president, and chief executive officer of Olson Farms Inc. of Sherman Oaks, Calif. John was president of West Foods and Techniculture Subsidiaries of Castle and Cooke Inc.

The opening of Quartermaine's Terms, late in February in New York City, brought a great review in The New York Times for the "wholly wonderful cast." The play unfolds in an English school and focuses on six teachers. Our own '54 answer to Paul Newman, John Cunningham is cast as a pipe-smoking bore who spends vacations touring "out-of-the-way, urban, domestic architecture" but who proves far more crafty than he looks. The Times review equated the approach of the playwright, Simon Gray, with the Chekovian style of writing, in which the tragedies and absurdities of life become one and the same. For '54 theater buffs and John Cunningham fan club members, this should provide a most enjoyable evening. Highly recommended.

Did you see Tom Corcoran with his beautiful Waterville Valley spread out behind him on C.C.N, all-news T.V. on New Year's Day?

Ned May reported that his son, Thornton '79, was married in Cleveland in November. A large cast of Dartmouth alumni was on hand and Ned's other son, Edward L. May Jr. '82, served as best man. Ned's new daughter-in-law Janet has truly married into a Dartmouth family. Ned and his wife Mary live in Ann Arbor, Mich., where he is a business planner with the Ford Motor Company.

The nation's greatest libraries have traditionally been great collectors of prints, and the Boston Public Library has always been one of the greatest. The keeper of the Boston collection, Sinclair Hitchings, returned to Hanover late in February to discuss one of America's greatest living print-makers, Peter Milton. Milton was artist-in-residence at Dartmouth this past winter term. Sinclair has been a Milton aficionado for many years and shared his insights into Peter Milton's life and work and continuing evolution at a well-attended lecture at the Hopkins Center Hood Museum of Art.

Since 1961, Sinclair has been overseeing the Boston Library's vast collection of prints, drawings, watercolor paintings, and photographs. He has organized 120 gallery shows, launched traveling exhibitions, and edited numerous books on the graphic arts. Sinclair got his start in this rewarding field at Dartmouth, studying under the late Professor Ray Nash, an internationally-recognized historian of the graphic arts who, as director of the College's Graphic Arts Workshop, inspired an extraordinary number of students over the years to pursue careers as fine printers. A picture of Sinclair's magnificent office is reproduced on the next page.

Sinclair lives with his wife Catherine in Arlington, Mass.

An impressive note from the United States Department of State advised us that the Department of State has named William H. Mansfield III to be the dean of the School of Professional Studies and Academic Affairs at the Foreign Service Institute in Arlington, Va. The institute is the State Department's principal school for training U.S. diplomats. As dean, Bill directs education and training programs in professional diplomatic skills and is responsible for contact with outside academic institutions. Bill is an officer in the Senior G Foreign Service. Bill lives with his family in Bethesda, Md.

Jim Doig, professor of politics and public affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University, has published two important and timely books this past fall. In CriminalCorrections, which focuses on politics and institutions for offenders engaged in street crime, distinguished contributors explore issues confronting policy makers and administrators in corrections. Topics include the role of the courts, juvenile justice, and conditions in prisons. The second book is entitled New York, ThePolitics of Urban Development. This is an important book both for people who work for government as well as for those who study the governmental process, and it will be required reading for all those interested in the cultural, economic, or political forces of the New York metropolitan region. Jim is a former member of the Metropolitan Regional Council's transportation committee.

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