1956

Nostalgia apparently is not our bag. Asked for their favorite reminiscences, our leaders were unanimously silent, leading me to conclude that '56 looks only to the future. Onward and upward, guys.

Attention Ranney, Whitney, and Sodokoff: another classmate has reappeared, this time from the frozen northland. Larry Morse says that he hasn't received a newsletter or a class dues notice in so long he assumes he must be dead. On the other hand, he is quite sure that he is, in fact, running a 168-acre farm in the Augusta, Maine, environs, having given up a 21-year teaching career in disgust. Larry built the house and barns himself and says that he finds farming "worth doing in a way that teaching never was." He and his wife, Susan, have a bed and breakfast room and bath which Larry offers gratis to any Alpha Theta classmates who have the temerity brave the so-called "temperate" climate. Former roommates "will even get free lessons in sheep shearing." Now there's a real deal.

As Cube Conroy has noted, 1990 was a particularly bad year for '56 politicians. Hard on the heels of John Van de Kamp's loss in California, Dave Stackpole was defeated for Probate Judge in Vermont. "I hope," Cube

says, ruefully, "this great nation can survive. A Christmas letter from the Burnie Martin family, forwarded by Charlie Morrissey, notes that Burnie is keeping busy "skiing selling real estate, and overseeing [the family's] Mountain Wine and Cheese Shop" in Vermont. The Martin's youngest son, Chuck, won the U.S. Freestyle Combined Ski Championship, repeating his 1985 feat, and, as this column was being written, was looking forward to the World Championships in Lake Placid in February.

Those interested in current campus lingo should check out Charlie Morrissey's article, "Semantic Instability: Word-Watching at Dartmouth," in the November 1990 issue of the College's Library Bulletin.

Paul Merriken '55 sent along a couple of articles from the business section of the Milwaukee Journal chronicling the remarkable salesmanship of stockbroker Robert R Slater. Bob is a first vice president with Robert W. Baird & Co. and was Baird's broker of the year last year when his theoretical portfolio had a gain of 78 percent. Even in the current doldrums, he is handily outperforming me market. Those interested in a good thing should ask Bob for his "Memo 10." Then they, too, might soon find themselves behind the wheel of a Mercedes.

Clem Malin reports that those who made it to the class meeting in October heard TomHarper's preliminary thoughts about our next reunion. Only a handful of the 23 classmates who were in town for tire game either cared or dared," as Clem put it, to attend and participate. We can only hope that the January meeting in New was better attended. That's it for now. Happy St. Patrick's Day to you all.

Norm Olsen, 51 Tradd Street, Charleston, SC 29401