1941

Bob Koenig, Al Van Wie, Dick Whittier. The 1980s finished taking their toll of 1941s with these three good men and true. The year thus ended with clouds of mourning, but let us celebrate the lives of Bob and Al and Dick even as, in the bright light of March, we turn to talk about the living members of our class. Over the shoulder, before it's too late, may I recall the Brown game in mid-November when the footballers won the third of the four in a row that ended the season on an upbeat note as it had the year before. "Not pretty," said Bill Steel, "but a win." I was there with my handicapped son, David, with whom I had plannea a football weekend in 1988 that aborted. We finally made it, sitting right in front of George and Millie Thompson, and on the other side of David sat Vic Schneider for the first half and Ed Larner for the second. It wasn't planned but it worked out fine; David joined right in with Vic and Ed to call the plays and secondguess the coach. Rich Fisher was also somewhere in the stands as I learned later when he wrote to enclose some photos he'd taken at the mini in mid-October.

It was an unusual weekend. In addition to the football game, we saw part of the men's pre-season basketball game with BU. Then we hied over from Berry to Thompson for the third period of ice hockey against Concordia of Montreal. The Canadians prevailed 2-1 in a rousing game with lots of hard checking. The kicker is that we were watching the Dartmouth women's ice hockey team, which was a first for me, and without advance notice one might have been quite surprised at the end of the game when helmets were removed and hair fell down. We heard a concert by The Barbary Coast Jazz Ensemble, and this group proved to be one of the unchanging treasures of the Dartmouth scene. A tour of the Library bell tower was on the schedule, but the voice at the front desk announced a cancellation. "We're having a battle with Buildings & Grounds," she said. "They've strung barbed wire all around to get rid of the pigeons, and we can't run tours through the wire." Now there's a biggie the president probably had to resolve.

Picked up a brochure of "Dartmouth Men's Basketball 1989-90," and the name of Gus Broberg is writ large on pages 21-22: First Team All-Ivy three years running; one of six Dartmouth All-Americans; and, although records are of course made to be broken, highest percentage of free throws made in a season 9s percent, or 57 of 60, in 21 games in 1939-40. That means, let it be noted in this record, that Gus was setting his about 50 years ago to the day the eyes of a reader are scanning these notes.

Carl Krogh wrote from Deerfield, Mass., to let me know about Dick's death. From Bruce Friedlich some "recollections from Hanover" regarding Chuck Bolte and the late Jack Blister. As the recall dates back 50 years or so, Bruce's notes have been routed around for validation. Letter from Bob Harvey tells of receiving from Sue Hall "a generous gift to the (scholarship) fund in Frank's memory." And Sue had passed on family news including that "Frank Jr. is in his last year of law school." This is the lad who was once, and perhaps still is, to be distinguished as the "last" class baby. Christmas card from Dan Provost with pictures from the camera of his son, Mike, taken during October's reunion. Bill Hotaling says "it still looks good" for attendance at the 50th. From Art Hills: "Semper fi and keep the faith." My sentiments, too, and carpe diem.

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