1939

It is always a pleasure to start off a column without having to note the death of a classmate. And so it is for this May issue. We have a nice upbeat note from Herb Mattlage indicating that Jinny has overcome the physical problems for which she has been visiting Mary Hitchcock. The Matdages were house-sitting in Vermont during the months of February and March, on the outskirts of Hanover. During a check-up for Jinny, Herb, the dutiful husband, was waiting in the lobby where he got into conversation with an attractive young woman who was waiting for her spouse. Turns out it was HerbHirschland's daughter, Betty Jean Munro, of Barnard, Vt. She reported that Hirschland has been having some medical problems (who isn't?) but has a favorable prognosis.

Last fall Ellen and John Page stopped off in Cashiers, N.C., to visit "Mr. and Mrs. Cashiers," Henry and Dot Conkle. The Pages were properly impressed with the good works of the Conkles which have been delineated in goodly number in this column over the years. Concluded John, "They were both so gracious to us."

We had a pre-Christmas note from PaulWinship in response to a birthday card. Paul is semi-retired, having handed over the reins to the Alumni Development Office of Westminister School seven years ago. He now manages the school's archives plus other projects such as chairing the school's Centennial Celebration Committee.

Bill Borsdorff, an old PT sailor passed along an article in the winter issue of the PT Boater newspaper detailing the fact that the biographies of only three men were missing for a "Killed In Action Memorial Plaque" to be placed in Newberry Hall at the Naval Museum in Fall River, Mass. One of the three missing was Lt. James M. Mathes, who lost his life on August 8, 1944, during a skirmish with a German E-Boat off the Channel Islands. Having the necessary facts on Jim, who was my college roommate and brother-in-law, I hastily provided the museum with the necessary information.

Clem Burnap, who authors a class newsletter for Thayer School gave us a jingle last fall to follow up on Dave Ward's death. Clem refuses to retire and serves four different companies. He sells for two underground mining firms whose services complement one another, one ventilation and barge dock company, and he is a technical expert for an insurance company. He says he works pretty much on his own time, which by the sound of things, must be extremely limited.

Kev and Lynn Fay are enjoying life in Louisville, Ky., a town which he suggests doesn't know whether it wants to be a small village or a big city. A year ago, Lynn went through an operation for breast cancer and a rotator cuff, but Kev reports things are healed and stable. Kev is fighting localized prostate cancer and has bounced back nicely from a stroke of last June. He is getting a great bang out of the Dartmouth Club activities along the Ohio.

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