1938

THE LONGEST DAY. Insomniacs are little to be pitied along the shore of Alaska's Prudo Bay or on the sunlit waters of the Beaufort Sea. Back in June Russ Dow toured the area, splashed his hands in said sea, and "looked the sun right in the eye at 2:15 AM."

Russ, who attended last year's mini-reunion, would have had to skip this year's event, had it been held, as a result of a prior commitment to attend the Grand Lodge Convention of Pioneers of Alaska. Shades of Robert W. Service.

BLOCK PARTY. That's what the current life of ex-adman Roy Block sounds like these days. Having long abandoneed the dog-eat-dog environment of teeming Madison Avenue, Roy found Shangri La on a couple of quiet acres in Eaton's Neck, just a few nautical miles across Long Island Sound from Shippan Point in Stamford, Conn., where he spent his early years.

Roy tried teaching at the New York Institute of Technology, then made what he describes as a late-life career change. Starting as an unsalaried apprentice to a money manager, he quickly saw the contradiction implicit in the situation. So, for the past ten years, he has been managing the investment portfolios of others, on his own. And getting paid for it. What an upbeat guy to talk to!

HAIL TO THE CHIEF. There may be those among us who have forgotten that Bob Harvey, in addition to having held the reverential title of Bishop (Episcopal), wears the also reverential mantle of Paramount Chief (Bandi Tribe of Liberia).

Currently Bob is a whirring dynamo of activity. Besides writing several books, he is engaged in a number of church activities like gathering, editing, and republishing a 7-year collection of his sermons, distributing them to smaller congregations that do not have the resources to afford their own padre. He is also rewriting a scholarly opus first published in 1973 as The Restless Heart, soon to be reissued as The Religion Factor. In all, Bob's writings hover at the half-million word mark.

Bob is living in an "inherited" house on twelve acres of once-cleared land that he is striving mightily to reclaim. He will. Reclaiming is his thing whether land or soul.

VIGNETTES. Mountains, 'tis said, labor and bring forth mice. Class secretaries, it seems, sweat, toil, and delve, but produce only "items." Herewith a few artifacts from the most recent dig: Ben Lane, a confirmed mini-reunion buff is "still in business" in Pleasantville, N.Y. "Let's do lunch." Lou Frick in Norcross, Ga., while not in pink form, displays the class and style of the fighter he is. Jim McGovern in Wilmington, Del., reveals that in his lifetime, in and out of the navy, he has made some 50 moves. Finally, in Meriden, N.H., Jim Chandler has unlocked the secret of the universe: he's sittin' and rockin' while Ginny lavishes TLC on the yard. Jim took in the Upper Valley Alumni Picnic, also attended by BudLynch and Gil Tanis.

Nothing earth shaking in all this, but it's a good feeling to know that '38 is still dotting the girdled globe with individual style.

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