1937
37 Three days of perfect June weather and 164 classmates, wives, widows, and friends were the ingredients for the absolutely super Fantastic 55th Reunion.
From far and wide they arrived on the Hanover plain: Lou Valier from Hawaii; SamDillon and Jim Luttrell from the Virgin Islands; from California, Park and Jackie Johnson, Lynn Prescott, Eric and Elise Rafter, and Frank and Twi Danzig; and from Sunrise, Ore., Don and Phyl Bauer.
Reunion Chairman Russ Stearns and his committee planned a relaxed reunion with activities on a take-it-or-leave-it basis and plenty of time to converse and renew friendships. A wonderful factor of a Dartmouth reunion is that you meet and get to know classmates unknown to you in college. When I leave a reunion, I always regret I didn't know more of these people during the four years in Hanover.
On Monday morning Reunion Treasurer Bill Heroy was busy registering classmates, and student assistants Missy Blackman '94 Jan Matuska '93, and Rob Koreman '92 outfitted everyone with caps and badges. In the afternoon many took advantage of bus tours of the campus and the new Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. Most impressive was the reaction to the medical complex designed and built from the ground up to incorporate the newest concepts in hospital design and construction. All passages are carpeted, making for a quiet atmosphere for patients and visitors. No public address announcements calling physicians were heard.
Classmates attended a 1937 Alumni Dinner at Thayer Hall which was followed by a Glee Club concert. A highlight of the evening was a visit to our tent by members of the Glee Club singing the Dartmouth songs we love and cherish.
Tuesday morning President Freedman addressed the Annual Meeting of Association Alumni. He spoke of the changes which occurred during the last 25 years and what he foresaw for the next 25. In response to a question by Bill Cash, he said the size of Dartmouth's student body would remain at 4,200 to 4,300 students in the next quarter century.
At our class meeting the following officers were elected for the next five years: President S. Russell Stearns; Vice Presidents Lem W.Bowen and Charles A. Collis; Secretary CarlL.N. Erdman; and Treasurer Thomas D.Nast. Russ Stearns thanked Fran Fenn for his excellent leadership as president and presented him with a Dartmouth-green blazer.
The class dinner in Alumni Hall was the highpoint of the reunion. Charlie Collis and Lem Bowen presented to President Freedman reunion gift for the Alumni Fund, amounting $286,000. Another symbolic check of $6,537,000 was presented representing gifts from classmates to the Will to Excel capital campaign.
Chick Koop, who was recently named to head the C. Everett Koop Institute at the Dartmouth Medical School, was the dinner speaker. He described his status as a "folkhero" and how he is recognized by hundreds of people who thank him for doing his job.
He has now embarked on his fourth career. He believes that he and a few others can prepare medical graduates of the 21st century in such a way that their patients are more satisfied and trusting of physicians and the medical profession in general, and such that doctors, in particular, are more satisfied with their profession.
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