1935

6680 Williamson Drive NE Atlanta, GA 30328

Recommended reading: President Freedman's address to the faculty, excerpted in the February Magazine. It sounds promising for the College's national reputation, but leaves some lingering doubts about a possible future over-emphasis on brains vs. balance. Thinking of past interview experiences, I can recall some kids who would meet the suggested new standards, but whom we didn't rate "highly desirable" (and some whom we did, who might not have met a heavy intellectuality requirement). I'm sure at least a few of us in the great class of 1935 might not have ended up in Hanover if the proposed New Look had been in force 58 years ago. Maybe the College would have been better off but I naturally have to doubt it.

The thing that bothered me most, though, was the absence of any emphasis oh inspirational teaching ability in the criteria for new faculty selection. Would the "great teachers," as we knew them, have been on campus if the principal criterion in their selection had been scholarly achievement? It's an interesting question. It could well be argued that this is neither the place (nor I the person) to be discussing such matters, but if these comments generate some expressions of opinion by others in the class they will have served a useful purpose.

Moving on to less weighty matters, I can thank Al Brush for a clipping concerning Pat and Greg Karch (who happened to be vacationing near the Brushes on Kauai) and a project they are involved with.

Greg and Pat administer the Adolph Van Pelt Foundation, which provides scholarship funds to qualified American Indians. Van Pelt, a Dutch electrical engineer, had become friendly with the Karches during his business trips to the States, and they took him in to stay with them when he was afflicted with serious back problems that ultimately turned out to be cancer-related. They then invited his aging mother to stay with them and take care of Van Pelt. After he died, his mother returned to Holland and decided to set up the foundation with her son's insurance money. Pat says, "I think she saw a lot of Westerns and thought what could be more American than helping the American Indian?"

Gret and Pat were appointed to manage the foundation, and have administered the award of 225 scholarships since 1973. They get a real charge out of the rare occasions when they meet scholarship recipients who have gone on to graduate work with the aid of a boost from the foundation.

A quick note from Bert Jacobs advises that his grandson has just received early admission—a third generation at Dartmouth, and a granddaughter still to go. For Bert"a great thrill." And who would react otherwise? Cherry Ryder tells of lunch with Betty and Dave Williams on Florida's East Coast, followed by a planned rendezvous with the Sherwoods and the West Coast Gang. And Jack Thomas tells of contact with Fritz Meyer and (indirectly) Joe Ely, both Dartmouth '33, who escorted him on his trip to Hanover as a freshman in 1931.

The 500 words go fast! Peace and love to yall. All yall.