The Inside Story of a Glass Baby

Do younger classes still make a big thing of "the class baby?" Maybe they neither know nor care that a class baby is the first offspring born to a married classmate, before or after graduation. Long ago, when class babies mattered, a publication called The Check-Up came out of Dartmouth (May 1934) reporting on the class of'32 since graduation. This forerunner of class newsletters featured a photo of chubby, six-monthold Stephen Shaler Swenson, "who was recently declared official 1932 class baby." He was "the son of John Swenson '32, granite quarrier, of Concord, N.H." now of Arizona.

What becomes of class babies, and

this one in particular? An inquisitive reporter tracked him down with no difficulty. Dr. Stephen Swenson '56 of North Conway, N.H., writes that he "is very much alive and well. I was '52 Exeter, '56 Dartmouth (geology), followed by '63 UNH (M.Ed., guidance and counseling) where I met my wife, Sally." In 1970 he also earned his Ed.D. in school psychology.

Steve calls himself an itinerant school psychologist, working out of Berlin, N.H., in schools from Tamworth to Bartlett. Sally teaches elementary school music. They live in an old farmhouse "very handy to cross-country and downhill skiing" and they do "considerable hiking, swimming, and cycling."

Steve and Sally have two sons Peter, a junior at Colorado College, and Carl, about to begin his freshman year in Hanover. A great-grandson of Amos Swenson '03, Carl is a fourthgeneration legacy. And this, in a nutshell, is what happens to class babies, or to one in particular.

But wait. "Stephen was born May 16, 1933," The Check-Up reports, then adds, "Miss Barbara Jean Jeffery is more than a month older, but she is disqualified on account of being a girl(Emphasis added in 1988.) Remember, all this happened long before the Age of Enlightenment. In 1933 only Dartmouth sons could be admitted to the college of their fathers, thus the "official" choice. As for Barbara Jean, she is now Babs Logan, a widow and grandmother living in Tucson. "I know in my heart that I am the first baby born to the class of 1932 even ifl am a GIRL! That's all I need to know. I always have been very proud about this distinction. Thanks to all of you who stood up for me."

The inquisitive reporter, quite unaware of any controversy half a century ago, has not yet found out who Babs's supporters were.