1947

Hi, classmates. It's still late summer, and I'm catching the deadline for the November issue. I think that if we prepared these columns one year in advance, at least then we would have the sequence and the seasons in proper perspective. I'd be writing in summer, you'd be reading in summer, and ditto for winter. We're having a beautiful summer, full of sailing and swimming, and as usual I don't like to say goodbye to Martha's Vineyard. That's somewhat funny too, because I spend all work weeks in Keene, and I also just hate to leave New Hampshire, and I'm always pleased to return. But then the Vineyard has a clamp on us while we're there. Dottie and I enjoyed sailing in our 19-foot O'Day Mariner, a small boat by yacht standards, but we are those who love it.

As I write, we are planning to visit classmates Doug and Elton Burch at their Nantucket home. We also plan to attend the wedding of Cotton and Verah Johnson's daughter, Karen, in Brewster, September 8.

I have a nice note from Bud Nossiter in New York who responded to a bit of journalistic teasing in an earlier column. He enjoys a fellow named Jason Joseph Nossiter, a potential class of 2005. Jason is his grandson, through son Joshua who was class of '79. His other son, Jonathan, graduated this past June, a Senior Fellow at Dartmouth. Bud is writing a book dealing with North and South. It's about the Third World versus the Industrial World, rather than Blue versus Gray. This should be one to read, so watch for it in a year or so. Bud will be traveling in London-Geneva-Frankfort during September and October, so will miss our executive board meeting and mini-reunion at the Norwich Inn in late September. He'll plan for the next one, though. Note it's October 5-6, 1985.

Norm Fink received acclaim as a consultant to Barnes and Roche in Rosemont, Pa. This is a sideline to Norm's job with Columbia University as deputy vice president for development. Norm has risen to the top of his field which is raising, acquiring, and planning for funds for long-range development in institutions. From the University of Pennsylvania, then Brandeis University, and finally Columbia, he set standards of excellence. Pennsylvania has a Norman S. Fink Room, and who knows what Columbia might come up with. His wife, Helen, not to be outdone at all, besides bringing up Hayden and Tricia to capable, responsible adulthood, has made a name and large following in her field of interior decorating. In 1982 she embarked on a business involving a patented design for a table setting motif which is highpriced, very classy, and most sought after. A remarkable family, and congratulations.

A long letter came from Len Sommer in Connecticut. An earlier column had hit a responsive note. He has a very talented son, scholar, all-state athlete, all the qualifications, who did not end up at Dartmouth, and Lennie was upset at the time. I myself had a son and daughter who would have liked to have been accepted in Hanover, but who weren't. Another daughter did make it. My feeling was that UNH and University of Pennsylvania, respectively, did better jobs for Tom and Carol Chase than Dartmouth did for Suzie, but Sue did like Dartmouth. Things did work out for the better. But I'd like to comment on my response to Lennie, as I feel there is relevance for a lot of us..

I enjoyed Dartmouth while I was there, and it was good for me. I have lifelong friends, and the association over the years has been fun, worthwhile, and rewarding. But I like Dartmouth for what it was to me it has owed me nothing over the subsequent years. I feel the College has undergone a considerable amount of change. I happen still to like and enjoy the institution, but others may feel differently, which is okay.

The important part is the association with classmates, the enjoyment of coming back, every so often, or the contact with Dartmouth people. Whatever, it's what it means to me that counts to me, not how it has changed or how it is up there now. I think anyone who continually is in close touch with the College people and who visits the Hanover scene regularly every few years or more that person will find a lot to like. So, if it's enjoyment of the College you seek, the way is more contact, not less. More frequent visits, not less. You'll still find what there was when we were there, when you get our class together in a reunion. That's what it's all about for me.

See you soon.

63 Maple Avenue Keene, NH 03431