1943

RFD 7 Concord, NH 03301

The latest head count for our 45th Reunion in Hanover beginning June 13 is 236, including 125 class members. Reunion chairman George Graham reports he's still getting responses in the mail. George and his loyal associates even now are assembling a new class directory with the names, addresses, telephone numbers, and spouses' names for all current class members, in addition to lists of widows and deceased classmates.

The new directory will list class members both alphabetically and geographically. If it can be published in timely fashion, it will be sent to all classmates. If time becomes a problem, it will be distributed at the reunion.

Mike Thurston's dowel manufacturing plant in Rumford, Maine, was destroyed by fire on the morning of February 6. The cause has not been determined, though Mike reports some maintenance men were welding in the building at the time.

The blaze came just a week after Mike and Connie returned from a skiing trip in Switzerland, where Mike cracked three ribs in a fall.

Mike already has acquired another building to keep dowel production going and he says he plans to build a new plant.

Ben Edmonds reports from Westport Harbor, Mass., that he underwent a painful knee operation in Boston in December. Surgeons replaced the knee cartilage with metal and plastic. Ben is on the mend, walking with a cane but spry enough to chop wood. He and Janet left for three weeks in Naples, Fla., in mid-March.

It appears the class of 1943 is taking over the town government in Granthan, N.H. At the annual town meeting Fred Stockwell was elected to the town planning board and Don Taylor was elected to the school board.

Joaquin "Val" Vallarino's son sent a green card to newsletter editor Eddie O'-Brien with some good news out of Panama, for a change. Val was awarded Panama's "Municipal Order" as a meritorious citizen in January. Only three other persons have received the award since it was established in 1970.

Ben Edmonds has heard from Jes Holton in Westboro, Mass., who reports that he can't make the 45th Reunion because he has lung cancer. But Jess sends along a cheerful message: "Best to all. Enjoy, enjoy!"

Another classmate battling cancer is FredRichardson in Dover, N.H. It has affected his bone marrow. He's taking red blood cell transfusions and his energy is high enough to allow him and Freda to play golf a couple of times a week. They plan to attend the 45th in June.

Bud Wiggin reports that he and wife Gale have moved from their longtime residence in Wellesley Hills to Hollis, N.H.

Waldo "Doc" Fielding is still on the theater circuit. A friend sent a long a program that lists Doc in one of the lead roles in a performance of Gerald Moon's Corpse, a comedy thriller that played in Milton, Mass., in February. Doc is still doctoring in gynecology, making television appearances, and is finishing his fourth book, to be titled Feeling Pregnant, Feeling Good.

It's our sad chore to report the death on March 6 of Relly Raffman, a jazz composer and music professor at Clark University in Worcester. He succumbed to cancer of the pancreas at Massachusetts Medical Center. He leaves his wife, Rita, two daughters, his father, and a sister.

Back to the Green on June Thirteen! 1943's BIG 45th! June 13-15, 1988