1947
Springtime in New Hampshire. This is one period where the time spread from writing to reading this column can seem minimal. You have only to be able to read the signs of spring. Consider, as we read this in mid-April, our mid-Atlantic states will be showing azalea and forsythia and lots of leaves on the trees. New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania will be into tulips, lawn grass, and the pale green of new leaves on trees. Here in New Hampshire crocus time will be receding, maples will be just budding, snow will be mostly gone except for those large piled drifts by driveways, and daffodils will be pushing skyward, soon to burst in yellow trumpets.
I especially like to welcome spring early. As I write, tomorrow is Valentine's Day and the sun rises over the peak of Mt. Monadnock and each day pushes its arc further northward. It's daylight at 6:00 a.m., and icicles hang longer, forming in the day's sun and freezing just after 5:00 p.m. We have friends exploring our birdhouses, and, best of all, we know the sun's rays are loosening the sap in the maples.
Today, it's 6 below zero but sunny, and a day or two of 30 degrees will bring on the first-run sap, always sweeter. This will continue till clean-up time in early April. This year we'll be standing on snow piles as we tap the trees.
Can you believe the vagaries of this winter? On January 25 we had 15 degrees F, and were expecting some snow flurries. As I was waxing my shovel, the phone rang, and Dottie announced someone named Dick Sears was on the line.
Indeed it was THE Dick Sears. Quickly spanning 37 years, we were reacquainted in under two minutes. The experiences we had, the people and times we shared all made things close rapidly, and it was like old friends talking about events of last week. Is this what the fellowship is all about? If it is, it's what makes class reunions such a pleasure.
Well, Dick wanted to know how to make contact with Tuck School, for a young prospect, a neighbor. Dick was in Montgomery, Ala., still actively a leading representative of Crump Insurance Company. I casually asked Dick how his weather was, since we had snow. "Oh yes," he said, "it's snowing here, too." That's the amazing part. Snowing in Alabama? The only stranger tale would have been if I had been able to brag about sunny 40-degree weather here.
As I write, this weekend coming up is the first annual Dartmouth Alumni Winter weekend. The George Binghams will be staying in Hanover one night, and George claims he wants to go cross-country skiing on the golf course in Hanover.
The Frank Webers will be staying with the Chases in Keene, and we'll be journeying to Hanover each day for hockey, plays, glee club concerts, etc.
John Trethaway hopes to be there, and Townes and Joan Harris will definitely be in town Saturday and Sunday.
We expect to see firsthand the remains of the week-old Carnival statue and of the much discussed shanties; RIP. I hope we'll be able to report on even more classmates, but that's newsletter material, as my deadline is here.
I hope many of you have responded to Jim Osborne's fine letter asking for personal contact people to help in our Alumni Fund drive. When you are wellversed in Ozzie's type of contact, then you become material for reunion planning and contact, and that's when I'll want to hear from you. 'Til later, write or phone with tidbits for me to share. Have a fine spring!
63 Maple Avenue Keene, NH 03431
