1934

140 North Broadway #F-12 Irvington, NY 10533

Spring will come as it did when ErnestBarcella wrote this column 20 years ago and described the scene with this lyrical prose: "Happily the snows are melting, brooks are running full, robins are on the wing again, forsythia is spreading yellow gold across the winter-impoverished countryside." His opening comments, also springlike revealed that our Hanover stalwarts, Ed Brown and Bill Wilson, were in the midst of son and daughter weddings. Ernie's widow, Louise, keeps her residence in Washington.

Art Leonard, who was then as now heading our bequest program, has been enjoying some fine winter evenings by the fireside watching his favorite Giants end the season as Superbowl champions (in warm weather he's in the stands).

Then he and Jan took off for a short trip to Florida to visit one of their sons who conveniently moved there from Sun Valley, Idaho. We're glad he had some reward for his efforts on our behalf.

As you know, lots of '34s have a Florida residence now - maybe they will pass Massachusetts as Number One by the time of our 55th. Dick Campen is not new to the area but moved to Mt. Dora, one of the nice retirement towns near Orlando, and landed on a lawn bowling team with an old neighbor of mine. Dr. Win Watts is enjoying retirement in Vero Beach with gardening and lots of golf, but with slight frustration, finding "the ball doesn't go as far as it used to." Last summer he and Sylvia discovered a nice inn in Waynesville, N.C., and decided it was a good alternative to driving back to New England, so good they plan to repeat it this year.

Everyone didn't go to Florida this winter. Sam and Marianna McCray sent a card from Budapest, which they were enjoying in January, then went on to Vienna as part of circling the globe after spending Christmas week with their granddaughter, an exchange student in Nepal. That is family devotion. They will undoubtedly still get to ski at their favorite early spring hideaway in Vail.

As you know from the newsletter, Molly Heston has accepted the call to serve on our executive committee. We welcome her as she joins Helen Clark in giving the '34 widows a presence in the group we count on to keep our family to gether. Her address is now'300 Winchester Street, still in Warrenton, VA 22186, where she has one daughter close by, and another daughter and her son, Frank '65, plus a number of grandchildren between home base and Hanover.

Here's a trivia question that seems appropriate to the 200 th anniversary of our Constitution: What city did the states use as the capitol of our country for nine months prior to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia? For the answer,keep reading.

Looking backward, but not that far, Alan Hewitt's brother Bob '4O, with the help of Stan Silverman, has had a massive job of sorting and pulling together Alan's vast collection of books, articles, and relevant letters, which he will give to the Williams/Watson Theater Collection in Hanover. Imagine Bob's shock recently when turning on the TV one morning to see Alan on screen - handsome, debonair, in a rerun of My Favorite Martian. The College will ultimately be a major beneficiary of Alan's estate.

You may recall we promised to comment further on our favorite hobbies. Looking at the "making things" category, woodworking is clearly out front, attracting 20 percent of us. For some other specialized areas of "making things":. HerbAndresen does needlepoint, A1 Cotton and George Sayre do weaving, Bill Judd does fly-tying, Gene Orsenigo designs furniture (relates nicely to his career as furniture manufacturer), Charlie Armes likes wood carving, and Mac McAllister has the unusual hobby of marquetry (wood inlay art). Also under "making things" we of course should include the construction category, whether it relates to adding a porch, bolstering a sagging roof, or restoring a house to get it listed on the Historic Properties Register. In case you need help, our "construction guys" (past or present) include: ArthurWood, George Thomas, Joe Slechta, BillScherman, Bob Reschke (he wrote a book on How To Build Your Own House), BillRamsey, Ed Marceau, Randy Klinfelter,Laurie Herman, Dave Hawes, WardHarvey, Ted Germann, Jim Dunn,Phipps Cole, and Ralph Brabbee. Next time we'll investigate hobbies that involve living things.

The answer to the trivia question above: Annapolis. See what I learned by going to the Navy game and walking into the Capitol?