1955
It is a source of constant satisfaction and not a little admiration when we find that talents of the class of '55 have brought forth yet another book that has actually been published - better yet when there are three new titles to be added to the class bookshelf.
Leon Martel has just published Mastering Change The Key to Business Success. As Leon says, "We live in a world of change, yet we plan and act on the basis of continuity." One reviewer has suggested that "Martel offers uncommonly sensible guidelines for anticipating as well as responding to change." There must be something in it, for even American Express in their newsletter for card members leads off with comments by Leon. This is all heady material from a road tripper who, in leaving Northampton, overshot the Hanover Plain and ended up at the Canadian border, became a captain in the U.S. Naval Reserve, received a Ph.D. from Columbia, and became executive vice president of the Hudson Institute. Or, as we suspect, there is nothing more predictable than change when you are living by your wits.
Lew Wolfson for his part has just seen Prager Publishers release his new book, The Untapped Power of the Press: ExplainingGovernment to the People. As Lew says, "The next great movement in American journalism should be to peel open government and educate people about it"; for "the American press has been less a watchdog of government than a passive participant in its policy failures." It is nice to have a classmate who is a veteran Washington correspondent and currently a professor of communications at American University and who has the likes of Tom Wicker of The New York Times and TV commentator John Chancellor say nice things about him. The Great Issues course obviously is bearing fruit, for Lew has cofounded and directed American University's master's degree program for teaching journalists about reporting on government.
Walt Van Dorn has just coauthored a book with his colleague, Andrew Bailey, titled Massachusetts Taxation, published by West Publishing Company. This is a multi-volume treatise for tax professionals which presumably will make the Boston contingent much more comfortable, knowing that their generous contribution to the tax system in the Bay State has encouraged such an effort. Walt is with Powers and Hall, a professional corporation in Boston.
You don't have to have a book to get press space. Dick Dußoff, professor of economics and chairman of the department at Bryn Mawr College, made it to the OpEd page of The Philadelphia Inquirer, commenting on the Gramm-Rudman showdown and predicting that the Democratic test will come with funding for Amtrak.
On the other side of the desk there is Bill Lenderking, who majored in English and after completing his navy duties spent two years with The New York Times and then headed to Washington. Bill is now department director for East Asia for the United States Information Agency.
The Lenderkings came to Hanover with Bill's two younger children coming and going on the Montrealer, a continual Amtrak gift to all sorts of Hanover-bound people who haven't lived unless they have seen White River Junction at 3:00 a.m. The whole experience has undoubtedly put Bill in Dick Dußoff's corner.
As Leon would agree, even the world of print is changing through electronics, and Jim Perkins is one to help lead that adjustment. He has just been named chief executive officer of a company so new
that it has not been named but which will conduct research and development in interactive electronic services. Because it is a joint partnership between Citicorp, Nynex Corporation, and RCA, one has some confidence that they will be able to come up with a catchy title, one good enough to let Jim lead the way into conducting market research and development with electronic services and the like for such as home banking, home shopping, and entertainment.
It's going to be a busy year for Hod andMabel Symes, for Hod has been elected as a district governor for Rotary International. The Symeses live in St. Joseph, Mo., where Hod is involved with the wholesale distribution of pharmaceuticals.
Of course, it doesn't have to happen in the United States, for if you're like EricBergstrom, you'd head to Grand Cayman Island in the British West Indies to live and work for the Cayman government. And, as logically, you would take your wife, Nancy, and tour Scotland and Wales for a holiday. As Eric points out, the focal point of the trip was their week in London at the International Golden Oldies Rugby Festival in which his Cayman Island team was one of 16 teams participating. Eric happily reports he not only survived playing in their three matches but also lived through the fine camaradarie and beer which followed.
And, as this is reunion month, it is not necessary to wait until the numbers add up evenly (or odd, if you're on the Dartmouth plan) to get together. Buck andJoanne Frisch in Baltimore, Md., have been getting together with various classmates, including the Dick Browns, WebWildes, and Hart Perrys, all as a result of our 25th. Their latest reunion was at Dickand Ann Brown's summer home in Westport, Mass., where they spent a week last summer as part of a six-year tradition. (A photograph accompanies this column.) Buck is personnel manager for the grocery products group for McCormack and Company, the spice people in Baltimore. He helped to start Baltimore Operation Sail and played a part in the celebration in 1982 of Baltimore's newly completed Harbour Place. He is further planning as part of the celebration of the reconstruction of the Statue of Liberty to bring some of the Tall Ships back into Baltimore Harbor.
Which is to suggest that summer's the time of year to visit - or to pick up a new book.
Four members of the class of '55 and their spouses have gathered each summer for the lastsix years at the summer home of Dick and Ann Brown in Westport, Mass. Left to rightare Dick Brown, Web Wilde, Hart Perry, and Buck Frisch.
Three generations of a Dartmouth family gathered in June 1985 to celebrate the birthdayof Wayne Andrus '57, left; his father, Oliver Andrus '28, who died later that year,center; and his son, Bruce Andrus '83, right.
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