1961

We're at the cutting edge again. We were the first class to start up a class fellows program—and now other classes are considering it. Now, according to a recent issue of The Dartmouth, we're one of the first classes to sponsor a residential cluster.

You'll remember that the executive committee voted last spring to sponsor the Fayerweathers, which means we put up a chunk of class cash to support residential cluster events and programming. In return, the cluster provides us with a home base when the class is back on campus in an organized way. We had the chance at Dartmouth Night weekend to hold our luncheon barbecue at the cluster, with a number of Fayerweather Row students as our guests. The D article reports that the class of 1947 was first to adopt the plan, supporting the Top liff-New Hamp cluster. (That's amazing in itself that Topliff and New Hamp can do anything cooperatively.) This year, 1943 adopted the new East Wheelock dorms, and 1957 took Ripley-Woodward-Smith, and 1931 and 1939 are contributing in lesser ways. There are lots more clusters. Where are the rest of the classes?

Of course, our own involvement may grow. Some are talking fostering a continuing relationship between members of the cluster and us a relationship that might extend to friendships with students who live in our hometowns.

Perhaps, too, the nice cluster meeting room could be a regular place for our '61 fellows to interact informally with undergraduates.

News notes: John C. Penn has been elected president and chief executive officer of Benson Optical Co., which is headquartered in Minnetonka, Minn. He had been serving as chief operating officer. Benson Optical is an $80 million business with 252 stores and 1,225 employees in 26 states, and Jack is planning to restructure the organization to separately pursue both the professional and consumer markets. He also plans on cutting the time it takes Benson's manufacturing laboratories to process glasses. He said, "My opportunity at Benson Optical will be to combine the best of Benson's past 75 years of business with new strategies, ideas, and talent ... We plan to enhance the optical skills of our people with modern retailing techniques and manufacturing methods to better serve our consumers and professional customers."

A committee being chaired by vice president Mike Murphy is hard at work planning our 50th birthday party on the weekend of May 5-7, 1989, in Washington. Save the dates. We're looking first for a museum or club that can provide an unusual setting for our main event, a dinner dance on Saturday night.

Once that's settled the committee will build the rest of the schedule, possibly also including a daytime or Friday evening cruise on the Potomac.

A personal note: After two years in public relations a very different field from journalism, despite the apparent similarities I think I'm beginning to get the hang of it. One big difference is in planning events in exquisite detail. But the writing part continues. And over the past few weeks, I've started to gain some recognition in this new field picking up writing awards from the Carolinas Hospital Public Relations Society and the Carolinas chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators. , ,

Bowman Gray School of Medicine, 300 S. Hawthorne Road, Winston-Salem, NC 27103