1947

63 Maple Avenue Keene, NH 03431

Can it be the Christmas season once again? Life is a wonderful cycle. As kids we dream of Christmas, then as we realize as teenagers and young adults we are too old to be cute, Christmas is an economic problem. Then our own kids what wonder and glory in fixing Christmas for them. And then soon they are the too-old teenagers, and Christmas really is a big economic problem. Not the end of the cycle, however, as there are grandchildren. We are blessed with nine of these, two identical boys being our Suzi's contribution in May, and the one previous to those was Freddie's girl, Ashley, on Christmas eve, 1985. Can you imagine our (grandparental) excitement this Christmas? I think it will last a very long time.

But I'm preparing this column in summer, because we're in a non-current event content. We're about a year from our 40th reunion, June 15-18, 1987. The class tent will be on Tuck Drive under the green Elms and Maples, with all that sunshine streaming through. We'll be golfing, boating, picnicking at the new boat house and grounds, our class banquet will be at the Hanover Inn Dining Room (Wednesday); we'll lunch at the Bema; barbeque at the DOC house on Occum Pond; we'll tour the new Hood Museum in small groups, each with a knowledgeable guide; we'll have discussions round tables with professors; and also in the intellectual category, we'll be continuing our fun-filled auction under Joe Hayes, always a hit. All these are not just promises, they are plans. And when we talk of '47 reunions, and go back in our history, we come up with none other than Dick Hollerith, the man who will greet you and take your money as reunion starts, just as he has done at four previous reunions. Dick is our profile for this month. But don't take my word for it. Sign up for reunions and see him for yourself.

We may know Dick as our four-time reunion treasurer and reunion logo designer, but he has other talents, that are not hidden. Dick is a fellow and past president of the Industrial Designers Society of America. His business is to take the ideas of his clients individuals or corporations and turn them into practical ideas drawn up on paper so that they can then be made up into prototype or working models. Dick has traveled extensively over the years as a designer, design reporter, and board member and VP of the International Council of the Societies of Industrial Design to Europe, including Ireland, Yugoslavia and East Germany, as well as Moscow and Tokyo. He has made a success of his business operating from an office a football field's distance from where he now lives. In recent years, Dick has been giving some portion of his time to social problems that have confronted him. Currently, he is focusing on a problem that confronts the United States through UNESCO. For example, in many countries, the problem is not only one of insufficient food bulk, but the growth of youngsters cannot be normal without sufficient nutrients, and the health people need to keep track of the kids' growth process. So Dick devised a simple weight scale, not read in kilograms, that provides a pointer which shows the relative change from the previous weighing the weight change, not the actual weight in kilograms, being the important issue. The pointer is pushed to make a hole in a child's chart, creating a graphic picture of growth over a period of time. The scale is rugged, simple, easy to operate, and consists of two plastic parts plus a spring.

Dick's design associates are also involved in other Third World problems: how to prevent the 30-40 percent spoilage rate of grain shipped to the Third World; how to design manually-operated water pumps that can be operated by people shorter than the average westerner, for whom the originial pumps were designed.

Dick's other involvements include the President's Committee on Employment of the Handicapped and the West Essex Rehabilitation Center.

During several trips to Germany, Dick cultivated his knowledge of local places and people and came away with the ultimate prize, a bride, Romy Wittel, whom he married and brought to America in 1983. Romy is an IBM executive and has many talents of her own, including playing the piano at class of '47 gatherings and singing whenever the chance permits. Two beautiful people, working together for a better world.