1950
It's a lazy Sunday afternoon. Hours ago the platform (or paddle) tennis game ended. The light mist slowly turned to rain, then snow. There are no mountains here to ski, so it's cozier to curl beside the fire and to forget the elements. It's more relaxing to write to you.
Since the news has been heralded for months, the actual dissolution of AT&T was anticlimactic. Buried amid the flood of releases about the event was an item that Fran Austin was appointed vice president of operations and elected to the board of directors of the New York Telephone Company, one of the operating companies of NYNEX. (Unscrambling the alphabetic potpourri resulting from the breakup is beyond the scope of this column!) In his new position Fran will direct general operations in providing local telephone service to over six million customers.
For most of us, Reader's Digest is a magazine, one with pithy or humorous squibs the most fun reading at the end of each article. For a few, Reader's Digest is a world-wide diversified publishing company. Its magazine has a legendary circulation, but the company is also one of the world's largest publishers of hardback books and recorded music. For years Bill Cross has been treasurer and chief financial officer for the company. But now, as director of administration and finance, his responsibilities have expanded to include "all U.S. facilities and personnel activities." There is more.
The titles mask the task. As Reader's Digest has diversified, so have Bill's activities. (Even the corporation has lost count, as careful reading of the news release indicates.) He directs Source Telecomputing, an electronic information service in Virginia; Original Print Collectors Group, a New York company that sells limited edition art works by direct mail; and QSP Inc., the nation's largest fund-raising organization, catering to special institutions such as youth groups or schools. To round out his work-a-day functions, Bill is a vice president and director of the corporation. He is also a director of CML Inc. and a member of Chemical Bank's midtown advisory board. Bill and Judy, the parents of three live in Somers in northern Westchester.
After a long stint in the Seventh Division of the U.S. Army in Korea, where he won several medals for valor, Fran attended law school at Boston University. He joined the telephone company as a traffic engineer in 1954. His experience in the Bell world is unique, since his entire career has been spent with the same company,, although he was relegated to the Bronx for several years as general manager of operations there. He was appointed vice president of customer service the complaint department in 1977. His latest promotion was the next logical step. Fran is a vice president and director of the Fifth Avenue Association and is a trustee of Wilbraham and Monson Academy. He resides with his wife, the former Joan Hanley, in Manhattan.
The word had to come. Here it is, buried in the middle, for the first and only time this year. Every year our head agent Bill Sullivan receives a letter commending 1950 for setting a new year-out record. This year we are sure to set one for the 34th year out. The paradox is that we just as consistently trail the leaders in the Green Derby, which matches our performance with peer classes. Why the anomaly? We break absolute records because we were the first integrated, cohesive class after the war. Since we have set precedents, we are expected to perform, so our goals for relative records are tough. Each year they are tougher. To meet them we need everyone's help: first, as participants; second, as thoughtful donors. The 1984 Alumni Fund campaign begins officially on April 1. Please consider your means and send a meaningful gift early.
Tidbits here and there: The peripatetic Scott Olin popped off a plane in Houston to greet Dolph Cramer and, some time later, spent a delightful evening in Chicago dining with Hugh and Jane Brower. The College is planning to sell a large parcel of land near Auburn, Mass. a gift from Ed Tuck for use as a micro-electronics research and training center. Joel and Ruth Leavitt turned a food industry convention in San Francisco into a reunion with Ted and Janet Bamberger at Fisherman's Wharf. The story becomes more interesting: Jack Greeley's retirement locale on Big Sur turns out to be a 120-acre ranch, one that may induce dudes to ride on mountain trails. Free-lance photography is still Chuck Martin's vocation, but running in 10,000-meter races and triathalons takes most of his conditioning and time; his wife Sally reports a visit with Tom Green, professor of physics at Seattle University. Several of JohnCaldwell's proteges, including Bill Koch and son Tim '76, are skiing in the Nordic events at the winter Olympics.
The fire's dying and the snow's getting deeper. Two chores lie ahead one is shoveling, the other is replenishing the fire. Relaxing time is over. The spell has been broken and it's time to leave you, time to move on to these mundane realities. Enjoy the coming spring. So long.
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