1939

We are happy to go into this Christmas season without the necessity of recounting the passing of another classmate since our last. Huzzah! By our unofficial figures our numbers stand at 313 graduates extant, and 83 non-grads, making the total 396 '39ers.

This month in particular we share the affliction that apparently beset Eddie Wells, the scribe for the Dartmouth Medical School class of '40. In the last issue of Dartmouth Medicine his column consists entirely of the following: "I recently retired as an adjunct assistant professor from DMS. For eight hours a week for the past eight years, I have been a volunteer instructor for first-year residents in radiology at Mary Hitchcock. I have five children, 11 grandchildren and have had one wife for 51 years: Barbara, who graduated summa cum laude from Colby-Sawyer College in 1988."

We may have to follow Eddie's example and resort to autobiographical columns if we don't receive more news or information from classmates. In our case, I'm sure this is hardly the route that anyone would welcome.

We expect to catch up with Bill Bradford one of these days as he now lives at 128 Byrne Court, Farmington, CT 06032, and we are very inclined to attend a field hockey game at Miss Porter's School in Farmington, where we have a granddaughter who plays a stolid defense on the local team.

Bert MacMannis has asked that we remind all hands of the forward-thinking scheme for responding to the College's Will To Excel campaign that was approved unanimously at the September executive committee meeting.

To wit: classmates are urged to support the capital gifts campaign by making gifts and specifying that the funds be added to the Class of 1939 Scholarship Fund, although obviously gifts can be made for any purpose the donor wishes. It is pointed out that gifts can be made in the form of new wills, new codicils, appreciated securities, or life insurance policies. Advice in the form of suggested verbiage for codicils and other technical matters can be sought through a bevy of class lawyers who have volunteered their services. These include Fred Upton, George Hanna, LouHighmark, Bill Green, and Endy Smith.

The current book value of the 1939 Scholarship Program stands at $169,642. This does not include the sizable group who have recently committed themselves to the cause of the Scholarship Fund. The hope is that with '39ers targeting their gifts to the fund, the influence of the class of '39 will be felt by literally hundreds of deserving students for generations to come. Not a bad thought.

In closing, we wish all a very Merry Christmas. And we make a request that you add to your list a New Year's resolution to send along some news to your secretary or newsletter editor.

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