1944

Lovejoy Hill Cornish Flat, NH 03746

"Ah, today is my birthday. I turned 65 years of age overnight."

Thus said Art Young, a cartoonist of the twenties, and thus sayeth most of us who were born 65 years ago this year, in 1922. So, "Happy Birthday and hello Social Security" to one and all.

David Harum's observation is also a favorite and apropos: "We're here today and gone tomorrow, and there ain't a pocket in a shroud. As I look back, it ain't the money I've spent for the good times that I've had that I regret, it's the good times that I might as well have had and didn't."

Hardwick Caldwell is a fellow who was hard at having a good time last March when he was one of a group of visitors to the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, cruising out of Jacksonville. A Navy Air Corps pilot in World War II, Hardy made his last carrier landing in a Wildcat in 1945. "What a thrill it was," he wrote, "to hit a carrier deck again, this time in a twin-engine Grumman, and then be catapulted off 24 hours later. Talk about old times...."

Then, Hardy writes to say that he has access to copies of the Battalion VI Navy Flight Prep group photo, taken at Williams College in 1943, and he'd be happy to send one along to anyone interested. Cost is $14. Write to Hardwick Caldwell Jr., 1700 American National Bank Building, Chattanooga, TN 37402. We spotted the following '44s in the photo: Dick Murchie, Tommy Douglas, Phil Penberthy, Bud Welch, Bob Myers, Rog Arnold, Lem Arnold, Bob Riebow, Buzz Beattie, Wemo Epply, and Swampy Marsh, along with Hardy and myself. Lots of '45s and '46s in the photo, too, and a couple of '43s.

The call for help in locating 19 of our "lost" brethren has been positive, and we have a positive address or a lead on 11 of them: Joaquin Aguirre in Bolivia; Doug Alton in Bluffton, S.C.; Roy Briggs in Lake Buena, Fla.; Don Campbell, Croton-on- Hudson, N.Y.; Ave Clark New York City; Bill Duffy, East Haven, Conn.; Bob Ecob, Mercer Island, Wash.; Jack Hempstead, Tucson, Ariz.; Bob Hyde, Augusta, Maine; Tom Kunau, Reno, Nev.; George Peak, Des Moines, Iowa; and Ken Perry, Denver. We'll fill in the holes as we hear from our moles.

In sending in a lead on Ave Clark, Tom Streeter said that he was alive, well, and hard at work as ex-VP of a small securities firm. "Our main job," he says, "is putting through orders from U.S.A. securities for foreign customers. No thoughts of retirement; if I don't work I don't eat. Plus, I love what I am doing."

The Harry Morses and Dave Pattersons can't get away from Dartmouth. Each of their undergraduate kids went to Dartmouth Med School and each is now going to intern at Mary Hitchcock: Dick Morse '78 in pediatrics and Julie Patterson '83 in internal medicine.

Bob and Ann McLaughry have opened a new office in West Lebanon. McLaughry Associates sells real estate out of Hanover, Norwich, Vt., and West Leb. Ann says they're thinking of slowing down, but so is the weather. The McLaughry firm has also associated with Better Homes and Gardens in the real estate business, thus giving it wider exposure. Bob and Ann have recently logged time in Greenbrier, Bermuda, and Scandinavia.

Dick and Carol Ranger write from their new digs in southern California: "We are adjusting happily to our retirement here. Carol is still involved in YMCA work, fitness programs, and lap-swimming, and I, in addition to gardening and pool-tending, have a new toy in the garage ... a Nordic trak, which allows me to 'ski' every day of the year. For the real McCoy, we buzz up to the San Bernardino Mountains, just 118 miles away."

Finally, and sadly, we have three deaths to report. Dick Smith, of cancer, January 15 in Saugerties, N.Y.; John Connor, intestinal ailment, in Phoenix Ariz., January 22; and Roy Alworth, cancer, March 4 in Duluth, Minn. Our sympathies all around.

That's it. We've got to be shogging along. Blessings.