1949

Tom Swartz invoked presidential privilege in forwarding a letter from Dick Hoar, which gives expression to Dick's sensations in receiving the 1984 Gold Pick Axe award on October 20, 1984:

"Dear Tom: The Class of '49 paid me a signal honor when they gave me a Gold Pick Axe award. I'm not sure that any of my classmates will ever fully realize how much that recognition meant to me. I'm sure it will always be the single most important honor I might receive. I'm not usually at such a loss for words as I was that Saturday evening, and I'm not really sure what I said, but let me say now, through you to my classmates, I am deeply grateful.

"There is another side to the serious business of the award, and that has to be the fun that you and Punch and Spud and Rita had in devising the whole affair! I never realized how devious Rita could be or how naive I am 'cause I certainly was totally unsuspecting when the award was announced! Subsequently, I discovered that 'half the town' and my boss knew why I was going to Hanover weeks before I went! Who says people can't keep a secret!

"Returning to Hanover to celebrate Dartmouth Night with my classmates forced Rita and me to recognize how much we have been missing in fun and friendships by not attending the mini-reunions each fall. We shall do our best to be more active in class affairs in the future."

Equally as moving and even nostalgic is Tom's acknowledgement to Dick:

"Dear Dick, Your letter to me was really much appreciated. It demonstrated very clearly that no one can ever be considered as beyond the threshold of the Dartmouth experience. So many alumni stand at the doorway looking out into the nostalgic, bonding past and yet fail to turn around and realize that warmth and comfort within, kindled by the flames of long-standing respect and appreciation towards the College and her sons.

"You brought home in your gracious letter the fact that many of us find ourselves keeping pace in our hectic society by sliding back in our long-standing relationships. Yes, there are literally scores of our classmates with whom we have virtually lost touch. Your class's executive committee has committed itself to bringing them back into the College and class fold. This will be done by an intensive 'one on one' dialogue between 'lost' alumni and Class committee members. We want others to share what you obviously experienced as a renascent Dartmouth spirit."

Tom sounds a compelling, resounding theme: Bring 'em back into the fold. For instance, why don't I hear from Lou Harris, my old basketball-playing buddy on the Schooners? What about Norb Wild, living in La.CanAda Calif. We know he abandoned Jamestown, N.Y., but why doesn't Howie Wellman check in with us from Wilton, Conn., which sounds more posh than Jamestown? How about Dave Vogels, the multifaceted man out of Harvard Law School and the United States Air Force, last reported with Mountain State Telephone & Telegraph Com- pany in Lakewood, Colo.? If you're "lost," let me know, and I'll hype you but good. I'm especially expert at it after running Super Bowl XIX, which included a gathering of Dartmouth people associated either with the National Football League or Super Bowl XIX that could be memorialized in a forthcoming issue of the Alumni Magazine.

In that same spirit, I'm happy to engineer the reproduction of an almost-lost classmate, Gunther Perdue, with Jay Urstadt, Pete Bogardus (class of 1951), your scribe, and a guy from Cornell, Jerry Grady of Binghamton, N.Y., who is a contortionist, and was thus able to take the picture himself. That's Gunther on the far right. The others are easily identifiable. The picture was taken in the summer of 1984, but I assure you Gunther has not aged very much since then.

Some other notes: at the executive committee annual meeting on October 20, 1984, the members present wished me well in my re-election bid to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors but did not vote to send money. Nevertheless, I prevailed. So much for bringing them "back into the fold."

Class agent Burt Proom is president of American Nuclear Insurers of Farmington, Conn. ANI is a voluntary, non-profit association of 147 insurance companies, which underwrites $1,350,000,000 in nuclear-risk property insurance and up to $600,000,000 per client in nuclear liability coverage. Burt's operation is the largest nuclear insurance pool in the world. An article in The HartfordCourant sent me by Bob Rooke describes the intricacies of insuring nuclear operations. Burt Proom is certainly an extraordinary achiever, which is all the more reason for us to respond to his entreaties for the next Alumni Fund drive.

Quentin Kopp '49, second from left, with some Dartmouth friends and others, held a happy reunionin the summer of 1984. For more complete identification of those pictured, see the class of 1949 notes.

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