1944

There are lots of famous "lines" in history—the Mason-Dixon, the Maginot, lines of demarcation between the Koreas and the Vietnams—but there's probably never been another in college hockey to rival the class of 1944 line of Riley, Rondeau, and Harrison. Alas, that line was sorely rent in January by the death of Dick Rondeau, who died of a heart attack in his home in Dallas.

A full obituary will appear in the Magazine, but one can't help adding a few more lines about that Hall of Famer who over his four-year Dartmouth career scored 103 goals, with 73 assists, for an average of 4.4 points per game. Bob Callen writes:

"I was fortunate in having Dick as a close friend for the past 49 years. In hockey he was a prolific scorer, a superb playmaker, a magician with the stick, a fierce competitor, and a team leader. He was one of the two best college hockey players I have ever seen."

Bob, no slouch himself as an athlete (college and professional baseball), says he and wife Rita are leading a quiet, retirement life in Peabody, Mass. Lots of reading, some golf, and he stays in close touch with StanZarod and Fred Kennedy. "Al Barrett died last year, and now Dick Rondeau, two long-time correspondents who I'll really miss," he says.

Oscar Goedecke, Rondeau's freshman roommate and another lifelong friend, was a pallbearer at Dick's funeral.

Between ski weekends in Utah and road races in the Chicago area, it's not easy to catch up with banker Ralph "Lefty" Bogan. It's not easy, in fact, to catch Lefty either on the slopes or the running circuit. "I'm in the best shape of my life," he says, "and in early February I ran my 45th race, ranging from 5K to 20K, in the past eight years." His best time for a 10Kis 46.31, and that's cruisin' for a guy 67 years old! Ralph says that the Chicago Irregulars are meeting often these days, sometimes for lunch, sometimes in groups with wives. The gang includes Bogan, Dan Donahue, TomDouglas, Fred Mills, Homer Bogart, JackTope, and Bob Hirschfield.

Last month we promised you updates on widowers Bob Tompa and Joe Hatch. Bob, who is a professor and head of the department of business administration at Monmouth College in New Jersey, says he still enjoys teaching and hopes to continue for a few more years. He gets to Europe two or three times a year, part business, part pleasure, and a special treat includes visits to relatives in Hungary, whence came his grandparents. Bob speaks Hungarian: anyone else in the class want to become a Hungarian pen-pal?

Joe Hatch retired six years ago after a lifelong career with E. I. DuPont de Nemours in Wilmington, Del. He's an avid outdoorsman—hiking, canoeing, and projects with the Sierra Club—and in May he'll be attending a reunion with his World War II shipmates. And can you match this? Joe lives in the same house his parents owned when he came to Dartmouth as a freshman.

Indomitable Bill Fead writes that he's got a blink up on his eye cancer. "I am doing fun things around this area and trips to Winnetka, where Kelly '78 and our two grandsons live, and Burlington, Vt., where Sandy 'BO is corporate counsel for a construction company."

Yes, that was our own Eric Barradale who was part of the New England Monthly magazine story, "How I conquered Vermont," an epic tale of skiing the whole 280 twisting miles of the Catamount Trail, from the Massachusetts border to Quebec. He and wife Joan alternated days skiing the trail in 1988 and they did more of it in '89. Red wax or silver . . . ?

That's it. Blessings.

P.O. Box 24, Lovejoy Hill, Cornish Flat, NH 03746