1953

Your class officers meet twice a year, spring and fall. While both meetings are open, records are set in the fall, while the spring is sparsely attended. The difference, of course, is that the fall is a football weekend and a mini-reunion. Their acceptance and popularity is a tribute to our own indefatigable Don Smith. It has been through his vision and energy that minireunions have become a reality. Now, whenever 's3s gather, Don is übiquitous, arranging, coordinating, and clearly establishing the presence of the class of 1953.

There are a number of events planned this fall. For openers, lunch before the Pennsylvania game on September 20 can be found at the home of Don and LillianGoss at 65 E. Wheelock St.

An extravanganza is planned for the Navy game on October 4 at Annapolis. The center of activity is the Hyatt Regency on the inner harbor in Baltimore. A reception and dinner will be held there Friday evening. Transportation will be provided to and from Annapolis, including a boat trip replete with breakfast going and dinner returning.

Harvard is in Hanover on October 18. This is the Dartmouth Night Weekend. Friday is the parade and Dartmouth Night ceremony. The class meeting is Saturday morning at the Norwich Inn, with a banquet there that evening.

The Yale game on November 1 in New Haven will be followed by a reception and dinner at Dr. Rich and Jean Lena's home in Woodbridge, Conn.

Nancy and Bill Johnson are probably as much a part of mini-reunions as Don. They have been hosting classmates at their Hanover home for over 30 years and as such have been a part of the stimulus for the idea. This year, they host a reception after the Columbia game on November 8.

The fall wrap-up will be a reception after the Princeton game on November 22 at Debbie and Kester Pierson's, 185 Dodds Lane, Princeton.

Certainly there is a great deal going on this fall. The potential fortunes of the football team are at best uncertain. David, son of Nancy and Gene Gabianelli, is captain and quarterback so we have more than a distant interest in the team.

A number of news releases have reflected significant movement of classmates.

Paul Paganucci left his position as Dartmouth's vice president of finance. He returned to the W.R. Grace & Company, where he started his business career. He is executive vice president and a member of the board of directors. He and Marilyn are retaining their residence in Hanover so son Tom and daughter Elizabeth can finish high school.

Fred Fideli has been elected chairman of the Hanover Insurance Company. He remains the president and CEO of State Mutual Life Insurance, the principal owner of Hanover.

Dick Thomas, Old Greenwich, Conn., is now publisher of Time magazine. JackPatten has the same position at BusinessWeek.

On a more sobering note, news has been received of the death of Bedford Jacobs. He grew up in Bridgeport, Ala., and attended Swannee Military Academy. At the time of our 25th he was living in Stone Mountain, Ga., and more recently in Monteagle, Tenn. Divorced, he had three children. Daughter Kellie is at the Dartmouth Medical School.

Just over a year ago, Howie Clery, Bryn Mawr, Pa., was profiled in this column. He and Connie had built a successful business and raised an archetypal American family. Sons Howie and Dan graduated from Tulane. Howie and Connie headed parents' giving. Daughter Jeanne was then a senior in high school and a ranked tennis player. She entered Lehigh and there the tragedy occurred. One evening, she discovered a fellow student in her room with the apparent intent of robbery. That student, since apprehended, killed and brutalized Jeanne Clery. This tragedy has been chronicled in the class newsletter, including a moving description of the memorial mass celebrated by Father Ed Boyle. Every tragedy has some meaning, and possibly it can be best expressed by Howie's remarks at the memorial service:

"During the past 30 years, my wife and I have been actively associated with three universities. One of the underlying reasons for these associations is our belief that these institutions are repositories of the values and culture of American and Western society.

"During the past two we have seen the abandonment of values by far too many institutions of higher learning.

"One manifestation of this abandonment has to do with the selection of students. They are so proud of their ability to judge prospective students based on S.A.T. scores mixed with a dash of social engineering. How smugly prejudicial this process is!

"But, they are afraid to look at the whole person. They have forgotten to even attempt to screen out from the student body the Rapist and Degenerate, the Drug Addict, the Dormitory Thief and the Violent. How afraid they are to make these most basic value judgments.

"How afraid and angered we parents are becoming."

Most of us have shared at least some of Howie's lamentation about our colleges and universities. Dartmouth may be no exception. Unfortunately there is no consoling for such a tragedy. All we can do, as we have done, is to offer Connie and' Howie our sympathy and support.

Dr. Allen F. Davis '53, professor of history atTemple University in Philadelphia, was selectedfor the John Adams Chair in American Civili-zation at the University of Amsterdam for the1986—87 academic year. The third person evernamed to the Adams Chair, he was selected bythe Council for the International Exchange ofScholars, which administers Fulbright appoint-ments.

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