1949

68 Country Club Drive San Francisco, CA 94132

Most alumni to whom I spoke the past few months have been exulting in the news of a new spirit at Dartmouth. Not that the order is indicative, but the naming of a new football coach and the selection of James Freedman, a native of Manchester, N.H., and the holder of robust academic and university administrative credentials, as president, have unquestionably invigorated the Dartmouth family. One should not overlook either a plucky basketball team which promises to restore the gloss of Dartmouth basketball under Ossie Cowles and, subsequently, Doggy Julian. Moreover, in May the new Berry Sports Center opened, replete with Leede Arena. That's right a gym financed by Ed himself and appropriately named after the most proficient Dartmouth basketball player of our undergraduate years.

Meanwhile, class stalwarts of the Dartmouth academic process continue to shine. Edward "Nick" Nickerson has been professor of English at the University of Delaware in Wilmington since 1970. After a journalism career as a reporter and editor with the Rutland Herald and the Associated Press, Nick decided to become a teacher in his mid-thirties, and, while teaching at the Emma Willard School, in Troy, N.Y., obtained a doctorate from the State University of New York, at Albany, at the age of 45. At the University of Delaware, Nick has crafted a journalism program which he heads with understandable pride and enthusiasm. His wife, Bee, is executive director of the Geriatric Services of Delaware, a state agency. Bee, a social worker, also possesses a doctorate. Their two children are both at the University of Chicago: Louisa, who previously was employed as a computer analyst, enters the University of Chicago School of Law in September, and son Matthew, age 20, will be a senior in the fall.

A stellar and perspicacious follower of economic matters for his outstanding firm, Bob Treat has been gallantly employed by Stone & Webster, Inc., for almost 35 years. Bob and wife Norma live in Westford, Mass., from which Bob commutes to Boston. He manages internal forecasting for Stone & Webster and spends extracurricular time with a Bristol sailboat, sailing from Gloucester. Bob and Norma also have engaged in activity over the years with a plethora of church and town committees and are robust gardeners. They have three daughters, a son, and three grandchildren. All of Bob's daughters are married; the eldest, Lydia, who graduated from Boston University, is a teacher and lives in West Burke, Vt.; Sarah, a graduate of Wheaton College, resides in East Greenwich, R.I.; and Julia, a freelance computer technical writer who graduated from Framingham State College, is domiciled in Hopkinton, Mass. Son Charlie, who graduated from the University of Vermont in 1986 and who worked at a dairy farm during high school days, is employed in a nearby dairy in the cheese manufacturing plant.

Another holder of a doctorate and a whiz in chemistry is Bob Fitch, who presently resides in Racine, Wis. After Dartmouth, Bob obtained his Ph.D. in chemistry in 1954 at the University of Michigan. He was then employed as a research chemist by the DuPont Company, before turning to academia. He taught at North Dakota State for five years, and then at the University of Connecticut for 15 years as a full professor. Besides publishing several books in the field of chemistry, Bob was a consultant to numerous corporations, including the Johnson Wax Company. In 1983, Johnson made Bob an offer he couldn't refuse, to wit, to be its vice president for research. In Bob's word, it was "a stunning opportunity." By 1985, Bob had been made senior vice president for research and development on a world-wide basis. He is formally designated as Chief Scientific Officer for Johnson Wax, which has approximately 45 subsidiaries all over the world. Bob and wife Reta, who has been active in community work in Racine, a pleasant city on Lake Michigan, have three sons. The oldest, David is a member of the class of 1979 at Dartmouth, possesses a doctorate in molecular biology, and is presently in a postdoctoral student at Wayne State University in Detroit. Second son Douglas majored in art design at Harvard and is a free-lance architect in Cambridge, Mass., and Bob's youngest son is entering his senior year at Yale in September. A skier at Dartmouth, Bob continues to ski, both cross-country and downhill, collects antique scientific instruments and practices the art of bonsai, the growing of miniature trees. He's heartily awaiting the 40th reunion in Hanover.

Alan Smith is about ready to retire after over 22 years of service at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Brooklyn, where he is presently chief of orthopedic services. After graduating from medical school at the University of Minnesota and completing his residency in orthopedics, Alan practiced medicine for a period of years before arriving in Brooklyn with wife, Joyce, in 1965. Joyce, previously a teacher, now does part-time psychological testing for private schools in the New York area. They have two sons, both of whom graduated from Stanford. David, a product of Harvard Law School, practices law in Manhattan, and Peter is a resident in orthopedics at the University of Chicago. Alan still skis and plays tennis, and contemplates with gusto plans to build a summer home in the Berkshires after retirement.

Don't forget the mini-reunion at the end of October and don't forget to take a moment to give me the benefit of a status report on your own accomplishments and satisfactions. Let's have a renaissance in news of classmates, and I'm not fussy about form or style. Just send facts or fantasies to the above address, and enjoy a wonderful summer.