1944

My nice wife won't be enchanted with the phone bill when it arrives, but recent calls to Florida, Virginia, Arizona, and California were well worth the tab.

In Naples, Fla., we had a good chaw with Dave Pierson, who retired from Minnesota to Florida in 1979, which is to say he spends nine months a year in the south and three in his old hometown of Wayzata. A former food broker, Dave now has his hand in a small retail company, Keys, Etc., which specializes in engraving and small gift items. But life is mostly golf and local Republican politics. Dave's first wife died of cancer four years ago, and he remarried in 1985.

In McLean, Va., we broke up a brisk game of whist between Dick Pleasants and wife Joan. Dick is a retired manufacturer's agent, enjoying life to the hilt. The Pleasants take in local events and move around seeing friends and sights as the spirit moves them. A Christmas highlight was ten days of skiing with their three kids near Canada's Lake Louise.

In Scottsdale, Ariz., we caught Bill Warner just taxiing in from private plane flight around the neighborhood. A former air force pilot, Bill flies regularly and is active in the 2,000 member China-Burma-India Association, whose members flew the Hump during World War II. Bill and wife Dorothy retired to Arizona three years ago after Bill's 47 years in the insurance business in Fargo, N.D., and he says that despite some health hurdles, "Life is wonderful . . . golf, hiking, building our own house . . . there's just not enough time for everything."

In Berkeley, Calif., we made contact with Vernon "Tom" Genn, who transferred to the University of Michigan after the war for a mechanical engineering degree. After years in large construction machinery, Tom went into the insulation business, and he says he's been snugly out straight ever since. He is active in the local World Affairs Council, and he and wife Nancy travel the art circuit around the world; she is a wellknown artist.

Then, you'd better believe there was no taking the wind out of the sails of Bill andBarbara McElnea early this year. Barbara's son John was on the crew of the Stars andStripes, and B and B were right there in Freemantle, Australia, to watch the boat and crew bring the America's Cup back to America. On the way home, the McElneas stopped off for a few restful days in the Fiji Islands, but they were back on home soil to witness the crews' Fifth Avenue parade and reception at the White House.

Lem and Ellie Arnold have also been on the go. A card from the Pacific islands mentioned Christmas in Singapore with son Barry '76, who is in banking there, and sojourns in Bali, Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Honolulu.

Don and Maryann Pfeifle, Contoocook, N.H., opted for snow over sand: their postcard sang of fabulous skiing in Davos, Switzerland, where, by chance, they found themselves schussing alongside Bob andCecile Wiley from nearby Laconia, N.H. Incidentally, the Wiley's daughter, Suzanne Wiley Young '77, is advertising manager of this very magazine. Also in Switzerland for a month on the slopes were Bob and Anita Cummins, Wellesley Hills, Mass., retirees.

John Hughes, in the graphic arts business in the Baltimore area, says he is busy-busy and working harder than ever. Among his kids, John Jr. '70 is in public relations in Kansas City.

Barrister Dick Whiting and Joan are 99 percent ensconced in Eastman, just down the road a piece from Hanover. Dick has retired from his Washington, D.C., law firm, but is keeping sharp by teaching a course at the Vermont Law School two days a week. The Whitings are frequent participants in Dartmouth and area goings-ons.

A note from Bob "Twitch" Miller: "I'll retire this year and will start doing some of the important things in life . . . like getting together with you guys again." The Millers live in Cincinnati, where Twitch has been VP of a baking equipment company, and Sheila has been active in real estate. Both are outstanding athletes: golf, paddle-tennis, mah-jongg, you name it.

The New York Times of March 10 had a front-page story on the discovery in a New Jersey warehouse of a trove of unpublished songs by America's leading composers, and of course the story quoted one of America's leading experts on American composers, namely, H. Wiley Hitchcock, a professor, editor, and director at Brooklyn College. That's it. Blessings.

Lovejoy Hill Cornish Flat, NH 03746