1940

As the deadline for this month's column approaches, another college year is ending, and the next great event is 1940's 45th reunion. It is with great anticipation that I look forward to joining a host of one-time peagreen freshmen, now a bit older and wiser but unchanged when it comes to exuding the warmth and friendship which pervades when our class reunes. Whether or not you were able to participate in the festivities, you will want to catch this column in the September issue where details will appear. In the meantime, let's catch up on remaining notes from corresponding classmates.

A three-time retiree is Don Shipman, ready now to back away from the daily grind and to begin smelling the roses. Following tours with the navy that began with Pearl Harbor and carried through Korea, then years with McDonnell Douglas Astronautics and finally with Mark Controls Corporation, Don reports that "Alice and I are hitting the open road and resuming our cruising."

Bob and Marcia Kelley found it impossible to squeeze in the time this past summer to attend Alumni College and for good reason. Most of their family, including ten of their grandchildren, decided to spend August visiting with them at their Vermont farm - quite a change from spending a couple of quiet weeks in Hanover. They contemplate returning to Alumni College again this year, August 4 to 15. This summer's theme is "Lest the old traditions fail" and is being led by Professors Rob Oden, Elaine Jahner, Bob Hendricks, and Charlie Wood. Want to make a last-minute stab at attending? Contact Steve Calvert at 603/646-2454.

In response to Stet Whitcher's condolence message for the class, Bob Jordan's wife, Marcia, wrote "to thank the class of 1940 for providing for a book for the library in his name. I know that Bob is as sorry as some of his other classmates that he couldn't 'Stay alive 'til '85.' He was looking forward to the 45th reunion." Thank you, Marcia!

And from Dick Everett is word that he is completing a very happy 34 years in Atlanta. "I've been fortunate in all respects and would but wish the same for everyone else." What plans have you for the future, Dick?

Among 20th-century painters Tom George is preeminent. Those of you attending reunion will receive an original lithograph by him. Accompanying the announcement of the one-man exhibition of Tom's works by the Maxwell Davidson Gallery in New York City during January and February of this year, Dr. Kenneth Prescott provided the following background, which is worth sharing: We quote: "Without a foundation in reality, abstract painting has no meaning." No quote could give you a clearer sense of the directness with which Tom approaches his work.

"George's abstract language, which he has practiced for more than 30 years, grew out of a traditional academic training. From his early years pen and ink drawings have been the seedbed of his art, painstakingly rendered directly from nature of the barren rocks in Maine, the ancient olive trees of Renoir's garden in France, and of the intricacies of gnarled Japanese tree trunks in the temple gardens of Kyoto. By the time the artist began his studies of the majestic Norwegian mountains and fjords some 20 years ago the brush had replaced the pen. . . .

"Until recently most of George's paintings have been characterized by modulated and subdued earthen colors, mixed with the white and blue of water and sky and very like the mountainous landscapes which were their immediate source of inspiration. In the paintings in this exhibition an exuberance of colors has suddenly appeared. They can be traced to the artist's recent studies of gardens and his use of pastels to transcribe the variety of colors onto paper. It all started one spring day in Princeton, right in his own garden. This new and intense preoccupation culminated last summer in Giverny (France) at Monet's garden, where George worked for five weeks making pastel paintings of the flower beds, the trees, and the pond. . . .

"Thomas George's career has been a steadfast pursuit of his own unique and very personal abstract expression, a continual research into the meeting ground between form and feeling. His is a nature-based abstraction, not impulsive or gestural, but one informed by direct observation from nature and then intuitively rendered to express what the artist 'feels he must' with the freedom that derives from the complete control and discipline of the artist's means."

With this column, I bid "adieu" as your secretary and scribe. At reunion in June, the slate of officers elected to guide the fortunes of 1940 until 1990 includes Jack Little, president; Stet Whitcher, treasurer; Ted Miller, head agent; Bob Austin, newsletter editor; Gordon Wentworth, bequest chairman; BobMacMillen, mini-reunion chairman; and last and anything but least, my successor, DickBowman, secretary. I include "Deacon's" mailing address, so that input from all of you will continue to provide interesting material for his columns: P.O. Box 336, Old Lyme, CT 06371, or phone 203/434-8142.

In closing, let me direct praise where it is due - to my wife, Zelda, who has assisted me so ably during the past six years and kept all those birthday greetings and letters of condolence flowing. Without her support and help, the job would not have been accomplished adequately. And to all of you, sincere thanks for just hanging in there - tolerant and supportive.

20100 Fairmont Blvd., #202 Shaker Heights, OH 44118

The Treasurer-of-the-Year Award for 1985 went to Stetson Witcher '40, who retired last year as vice president in charge of the commercial loan department of the Bank of Boston. As treasurer of the class of 1940 for nine years, he has produced a participation gain of ten percent - from 62 percent in 1975 to 72 percent last year. Some 46 percent of the class's non-grads have been persuaded to pay dues as well.