1949

I was delighted to receive a copy of a picture from a Woodstock, Vt., newspaper, The Vermont Standard, depicting the new president of the Woodstock Rotary Club, Dean Merrill. We know that Dean retired as a lieutenant colonel in the United States Marine Corps and resides on a farm near Woodstock with wife Florence. There are three children: Janet, who graduated from Vermont College in 1972, Laurel, a 1976 graduate of the University of Vermont, and Frederick.

Sonny Drury '4B forwarded some arresting news of Bob "Rocket" Reed. Bob is chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Pacific Resources, Inc., an oil operation headquartered in Honolulu. A subsidiary is Hawaiian Independent Refinery, Inc., an oil refinery on the island of Oahu. In November 1985, Rocket pulled a rocket-like coup: Japan, under international pressure from various sources, reluctantly decided to allow finished petroleum products to enter the country. Previously, Japanese refiners held a corner on the markets for gasoline, diesel fuel, and fuel oil in Japan. Rocket's company is the first foreign firm to accomplish the sale in Japan of motor gasoline from its Oahu subsidiary. Rocket was quoted as being pleased to be the first U.S. company to provide gasoline for the Japanese market "in line with new import regulations in Japan, as part of the U.S.Japan Trade Deficit Reduction Program."

Bill Gahagan, originally a member of the class of 1935, embraced the class of 1949 when he returned to the College after World War II military service. Bill became an instructor in "Great Issues" after graduation. A spirited varsity tennis player and brother of Beta Theta Pi, Bill is an admirerer and collector of the works of Robert Frost, class of 1892, and a visiting lecturer in the humanities during and after our college years. In March 1964, on the 90th anniversary of Frost's birthday, Bill established a small, nonprofit, "literary-educational" organization called "California Friends of Robert Frost," which now boasts a national following. There is a San Francisco connection in at least two ways: Robert Frost was born in San Francisco, and in 1970 the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, at the instigation of Bill Gahagan, adopted a resolution renaming a small park on Market Street the "Robert Frost Plaza." In 1975, the San Francisco Public Library, to which Bill had given his personal Frost collection in 1964, proclaimed Bill "honorary curator" of the Robert Frost Collection. California Friends of Robert Frost awards an annual Frost bronze medallion for creative writing and poetry to students throughout the United States and in foreign countries as well. Bill lives in Carmel, Calif., and has volunteered to be on the class's 50th reunion commmittee. We missed each other in Hanover the weekend of the Holy Cross game, but I look forward to seeing him, on March 26, 1986, at the annual Frost birthday celebration at Robert Frost Plaza, Market Street, San Francisco. Join us.

A telephone call from John Everatt in Maitland, Fla., informed me that son Randy, a champion swimmer, would be transferring from Southern Methodist University to Diablo Valley College which is in Concord, Calif., and is a significant part of the San Francisco Bay Area. John regularly meets and confers with Dr. Spud Parsons and Deke Jackson as well as Herb Gramstorff, who works for a "headhunter" firm in St. Petersburg. Thad Seymour, an honorary class member, is president of nearby Rollins College, also in the Everatt orbit.

Around the horn: Bull Moose Stearns has suggested that the class develop for the Hood Museum a bronze plaque to show museum hours. Sounds like a good idea from Bull Moose's fertile brain. SamSmith is Gold Pick Axe Chairman for 1986, assisted by Al Quirk and Al Wilson, the latter of whom lives in West Leb. Al Wagner was the 1985 award winner, and nominations for 1986 should be sent as swiftly as possible to Sam at Blunt Alumni Center, in Hanover.

President Tom Swartz reports that "Operation Reincarnation" was successful in 1985 in reinteresting some of our "lost" classmates. Eleven "lost" persons have been found, according to Tom. For the record, the College reports that our total class count is at 557, composed of 460 graduates and 97 nongraduates; of the 460 graduates, five are in the category of "lost" or "not interested"; of the 97 nongraduates, four are "lost" and 20 are "not interested." The so-called "net" class count is 528, of which 487 are AlumniMagazine subscribers. The Alumni Affairs Office lists widows and next of kin as numbering 30, 25 of whom are "widow magazine subscribers." The final category is called "dues omit" (whatever that means), which numbers 39.

DARTMOUTH COLLEGE a touch of class The 35th Reunion for the Class of 1950

68 Country Club Drive San Francisco, CA 94132