1933

Looking back to the relative homogeneity of '33 as we trudged across the campus, one is struck by the variety of enterprises and vocations which have attracted the interest of our classmates in subsequent years.

Bernhard "Buddy" Blumenthal provides an example. When he graduated in 1933, Buddy joined the family candy business in Philadelphia. One of the products was "a halfounce of chocolate which would make the finickiest of taste buds do backflips," according to a columnist insensitive to confused metaphors. Buddy insisted that the number of units in a box be cut in half and an uncle named the penny bar a "Buddy Bar" after his nephew because he was sure it would be a flop. Instead, it was a great success. In 1969, the family company was sold to a major food merchandiser, but Buddy stayed as an adviser until 1982 when he was "put out to pasture." For Buddy, "pasture" doesn't mean inactivity. He now works as a volunteer tour guide at Independence National Historical Park where in bemedalled uniform he thrice weekly makes history vivid for visitors to the national shrines.

Lyme Wakefield's vocation has been banking, wherein he has risen to the post of chairman of Resource Bank & Trust of Minneapolis, luxuriating in what has been described as a "plush, jade-tone conference room" where he meets interviewers and reminisces. His avocation from prep-school days and the time of his winning intercollegiate championships has been figure skating. After graduation, he and other members of the St. Paul Four won the U.S. Figure Skating Championships twice and subsequently won the national figure skating pairs in two categories. He skated in Bismark, N.D., and Boston, Mass., when resident in

those towns. In 1945 he judged the World Figure Skating Championships in Stockholm. In 1958, he build the Ice Center which he later donated to a local school. This past winter, he was honorary chairman of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Minneapolis. He laid aside the blades ten years ago, but in his career he has seen the sport develop from a modest, all-outdoor activity to the magnificent, popular, indoor phenomenon which it is today. As a dedicated devotee, he has contributed greatly to this growth and popularity.

A note from Hilda Mehler brought news of Pete's death on April 24, but also served to describe another classmate of broad interests. An enclosed clipping detailed his honorary life membership as a DuPont research chemist in the American Chemical Society and his several inventions, as well as his prowess as a gunsmith and membership in the National Rifle Association. His role in the Augusta County Republican committee we mention without comment. Most remarkable was the added news that Pete and Hilda, a "Norwich girl" who went to school in Hanover, raised shorthorn cattle and Suffolk sheep on their farm in New Hope, Va., for 34 years.

Candy bars and history, banking and figure skating, chemistry and sheep raising. How's that for variety?

3043 West Lane Keys NW, Washington, DC 20007-3057

An uncle named the penny bar a "Buddy Bar" after his nephew because he was sure it would be a flop. -JOHN MONAGAN '33