1954

At last I am reporting upon the very festive gathering in support of John Cunningham's starring role in the hit play Six Degrees of Separation. President Jerry Goldstein planned the whole thing and it was a rousing success. On December 2 three dozen classmates and their wives and friends attended a Sunday matinee performance of this critically acclaimed play at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, New York City. After the "curtain" fell in this theater in the round ,John graciously returned to the stage to engage us with his observations about the play and his acting career: "This is the theater of an actor's dreams; every play should be like this. When I wake up in the morning, I'm where I want to be."

Afterward, the group, 76 in all, wended its way to Dick Page's corporate offices in the Paine Webber building on 51st Street for a cocktail reception and buffet supper. The surroundings were perfect and the buffet, planned and prepared by Jane Page, was superb. Our thanks to Jerry and Dick for a wonderful afternoon and evening. Others attending were: Bob Adnopoz, Jerry Barton, Bryce Bastian,Don Berlin, Bob Berry, Don Brief, DaveBriggs, Lonny Chaikin, Lo-Yi Chan, JayChandler, Bob Clements, Dick Davidoff,Dave Dyche, John Fenn, John Freund,John Gillespie, Lyon Greenberg, JohnHeston, John Heyn, Tom Kelsey, DavidLevine, Paul Martin, Dave Mandelbaum,Steve Mullins, Dick Pearl, Hugh Roberts,Harry Robinson, Tom Sayles, Neal Sibley,Sam Trock, Wayne Weil, Bill White, EdWinnick, and Frank Wright.

Regarding Dick Page, we were startled to hear that, effective December 31, he retired from his important and high-profile insurance brokerage position as vice chairman of Sedgwick Group PLC and chairman of Sedgwick James Ltd. Dick sent me a personal note to say, "after many years of endless days, nights, weekends, and even months away from home, I have decided to retire. My priorities: some time with Jane and our family; more time on Dartmouth matters, particularly the capital campaign; and somewhere down the road, a new venture or new career." There is no need to relate Dick's past contributions to Dartmouth. We know that his continuing support and active role as a trustee will serve the class of '54 proud.

Lon Chaikin was nominated to fill an executive committee vacancy occurring when David Lyon resigned at the end of the year. Dave has taken on a number of new responsibilities in the Florida Keys and, regrettably, finds himself unable to be active in class affairs. Lon was approved unanimously by a vote of the executive committee and looks forward to his closer ties to the class and the College.

At the turn of the year I managed to find gainful employment in my first love, the banking field. I am now a branch manager and business development officer with the First National Bank of Highland in Ossining, N.Y. The bank is a subsidiary of First Empire State Corporation, Buffalo, a very solid banking holding company which did not get carried away with the over-optimistic trend of the 1980s and is moving into the 1990s with a solid balance sheet and earnings growth.

Hugh L. Roberts Jr., 309 Martling Avenue, Tarrytown, NY 10591