1939
Our thanks to Mike Ellis for his excellent column in last month's issue, written while your secretary was sojourning in Spain and Portugal. Regrettably, we brought home no baubles as a result of our international brush with the geriatric set of the tennis world. We will elucidate only to mention that when you team up with a Dane against two Germans and one of the latter lobs over the former, the Dane shouts something unintelligible. We never learned whether it was a curse or a recommendation to cover his back court. In singles we lost to a will-o'-the-wisp Swede, figuring that if McEnroe and Connors can't beat them, why should we ?
On a more substantive subject, we regret to report the deaths of Wally Trautman on October 22, 1984, Jack Haverfield on December 27,1984, and Lew Joel on January 6,1985. (Obituaries, along with that of Vic Whitlock, will follow in this or subsequent issues.)
It would appear that the issue of the Indian is once again with us, if it ever did leave; and some of the battle lines are being drawn right through the middle of our class. You have all seen John Steele's thoughtful letter in "'39 Out," which laments the use of the newsletter to present the opinions of the football cocaptains, and the "questionable taste" of hawking the class patch, resplendent with the familiar Indian head. On the other side of the ledger we received a copy of a halfpage review in The New Haven Register of Benjamin Hart's book, Poisoned Ivy, by ArmandoChardiet. Army takes a sympathetic view of the book, including, of course, its insistence that in bowing to an "aggessive minority to abolish the Indian symbol, the rights of the majority have been violated." In yesterday's mail we received a copy of a letter directed to Bob Davidson from Kenny Mac Donald, who says, in part, "wearing the patch will create a regretful caricature of our doing: old men, not only living in the past, but perpetuating discarded and unworthy history, done by the wearers and in a setting of academic collegiality." We regret that we cannot print the excellent letters in this column, being bound by stringent space limits, but we feel safe in the knowledge that Davidson, with unlimited scope, will have done so by the time you read these lines. At the risk of poisoning the well, if not the Ivy, we hazard the unseemly editorial opinion that we wish our peers had something of greater import to discuss than this much-bruited symbol dichotomy. Maybe even an Ivy League championship with an "abominable snowman" on the shoulder pads would be a relief.
And talking about Ivy championships, we have a communication from John Perry, who recently was appointed to the membership committee of the Dartmouth Sponsor Program, whose task is to create the wherewithal to have prospective freshman/woman candidates visit Hanover. We happen to know that this group has been doing a great job in introducing worthy youngsters to the considerable attributes of the College. Although the program gets little promotion, it goes about its task with considerable efficiency, and John points out that a member of the sponsor program can get allotted tickets in the sponsor section at football games, something you may wish to consider.
Ever since Bob Davidson made his tonguein-cheek remark having to do with CornieMiller and your scribe acquiring computers, with a strong inference that we both under- wrote our purchases with the benefit of class dues, there have been some who have assumed this to be a fact-enough of you to warrant a mention in these lines, refuting it 100 percent and suggesting that although most of what Davidson writes can be taken as gospel, some of his stuff is worth nothing more than a good chuckle this being one case in point.
Bud Finch, (nee Finck) has just gotten around to advising us that he changed the spelling of his last name a few years ago. It's been a source of confusion to some, so we're glad we now have it straight. Bud confesses that he abhors writing letters, which explains why it has taken so long to learn of the above. He says he does not miss the northeast, having moved on to Beverly Hills, Calif., where he is a sales rep with Burlington Furniture and has no intention of retiring, as he's enjoying his labors, except for the travel.
A few final tidbits: Bill and RobileeTomkins enjoyed a trip to Africa in the fall. Charlie Neer is in print again, listed as one of the top orthopedic surgeons in Town andCountry magazine. Bob MacLeod writes your scribe that he is planning on making the 45th. George and Ginny Neiley came east to spend Christmas with their kids in Sherburne, Vt., then touched base in the Boston area, and en route home to Rock Island, Ill., stopped by at the Dick Jacksons in Pittsfield for a delightful overnight visit.
777 West Street Pittsfield, MA 01201
Were 45 in '85 June 10-12, 1985
