1937
This is a special year for the Alumni Fund: its 70th anniversary! Last year it failed to meet its goal. That has never happened two years in a row and we surely can't let it happen in 1984. The goal is $10.3 million, which is $928,000 more than last year. With the hopedfor 70-percent participation we can make it. So please send your contribution in early with an increase, remembering that today's dollar buys only one-third of what it did in 1967. That should give you an idea what inflation has done since 1937- Our tuition then was $450 and now it costs $9,090 per year! But look what has happened to incomes since then. All pretty ridiculous.
So let's all get behind Al Bryant and his team of agents. Keep in mind that changes are happening up there for the better, such as reviving the Carnival ball to the music of big bands!
We hasten to correct our recent report on Al MacKenzie. He did have a very serious heart attack last year and almost died in the first 24 to 48 hours, but he did not have a bypass. The operation was to implant a pacemaker for a few days until his heart began working with regularity. He and Isabel talk often with Janet and Ernie Roos. They have been traveling about the country in a recently-purchased motor home so far to Canada, Arizona, and Kentucky. May we assume that fall reunion next September 22 is in the cards? Al says"he's getting stir-crazy which means going somewhere soon.
A note from Barb Pierce said she and Hank were fresh back from their island paradise of Bequa (at the bottom of the Caribbean chain) with news of near tragedy. She was a passenger in a little machine which, from her description, sounds like a glorified golf cart. The driver lost the brakes and they hurtled down a steep hill with hairpin turns, finally leaving the road, flying 25 feet or more through the air, and crashing into the woods. Everyone survived, but Barb, whose leg had been trapped between the metal bars of the front seats, was in bed for ten days with lacerations, multiple bruises, and cracked ribs. On a happier note, there was a message delivered to the Pierces that Nancy and MikeWright were staying in a hotel nearby, so they met for lunch. The guys had not seen each other since graduation.
Carl Noyes sent us a scenic photo of himself and his lovely daughter Debbie skiing in the Alps. They joined a group organized by well-known skier Penny Pitou for two weeks. One week was spent in Soden, Austria, and the other in Davos, Switzerland, where the U.S. Olympic team was in training. One downhill run was 12 miles with a vertical decent of 6,500 feet, a bit much for Carl's vintage legs. A pity this publication cannot reproduce color photos as the scenery was spectacular - especially Debbie, who was Carnival Queen in 1970.
We regret to pass along the sad news that Al Grey lost his wonderful Jean in Florida. She had been sickly for some time before suffering a severe stroke November 28 that rendered her unconscious until she died February 26. He has planned memorial services in Haworth, N.J., in late May and another later in their beloved Gloucester.
Marg and Ben Doran are back from New Zealand, where they had attended the dedication of a plant for which he had been a consultant since 1980. Ben was full of news as follows. They had lunch in Hawaii with Lydia and Art Sloggett. While walking his dog, Vin Turecamo had blacked out from a clogged carotid artery and woke up in the hospital. Tom Nast had had a similar thing a while back and it appears the survival rate is 100 percent. They took a six-week U.S. Lines freighter trip down the east coast of South America (last year it was the same but down the west coast with William and DorothyHeroy). Among the eight passengers, oddly enough, was Mackey Burke, with whom the class had lost contact due to his apparent lack of interest in the College. Lastly, Ben said the Heroys were on a four-week alumni safari to Kenya and Tanzania.
Word comes from Bill Clay's daughter Jeanette that he died in his sleep January 31. It was not completely unexpected as Bill had a history of heart problems. We have lost yet another dedicated classmate who will be missed in many ways.
Fred Vogt is just back from a tour of Thailand and Burma. Fred says that a Vietnamese student he had in the Literary Volunteer Program told Fred of his escape by boat from Vietnam. He had to pay six ounces of gold for the boat trip and was dropped off in Thailand, where he lived in a refugee camp for three months before getting to the United States. He was lucky!
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