1944

Leonard Rieser retired at the end of June, putting a cap on 40 years of exceptional service and devotion to Dartmouth. After an army career at the Manhattan Project and Los Alamos, and a post-war Ph.D. at Stanford, he joined the Dartmouth physics department in 1952. He subsequently chaired that department, and served as deputy provost, dean of the faculty, or provost under three presidents before being named director of the John Sloan Dickey Endowment for International Understanding in 1984. He also served as Fairchild Professor in the Natural Sciences.

At a standing-room-only reception for Leonard at the College May 13 (attended by longtime colleagues and admirers Rod Morgan, Walter Burke, and Fritz Hier), Leonard summed it up nicely: "Dartmouth is a wonderful place to be a student for four years and an even better place to be a faculty member for 40."

Also in Hanover in May, class officers EzzHale, Dick Whiting, Stan Barr, Bill Orr,Jack Stephenson, Jim Elliott, and yours truly convened for the annual Class Officers Weekend. Anice combination of business and bonding and the class of '44 was singled out for a 1992 Special Distinction Award. The text should appear in an upcoming newsletter.

Then, the fifth annual senior art exhibit in Hanover once again featured the skills of RodMorgan and Clint Gardner's wife, Libbie. Finally, Dick Whiting's wife, Joanie, was the soprano co-star of the "Musical Highlights from Broadway" program in May for the benefit of the Friends of Hopkins Center.

Our class talents just flow and flow and spill out in all directions.

A whole horde of those talents, namely the Hanover/Upper Valley monthly luncheon group, forsook its usual Norwich, Vt., watering spa for lunch at the College's Ravine Lodge at Mt. Moosilauke. Some 25 of us, wives included, assembled for great food, magnificent countryside (how many other colleges own a 4,810 foot mountain?), our usual camaraderie, and even a bit of exercise.

Down there in Connecticut, PhilPenberthy says that he and wife Ad are among the "senior homeless." Seems they put up their Rowayton house for sale, moved out, renters moved in, no buyers, can't get renters out. So they're living with a daughter and her family up the road a piece for half of the year; the other half is spent in a new condo in Fearrington Village, near Chapel Hill, N.C. Phil says he and Ad put in a fair amount of time golfing, going to the theater, and reading. They have eight grandchildren, most within a scooter's drive, so they're not wanting for things to fill the day.

Oops, late reporting: way last December Bruce Thomson says he and his wife, Puss, had the enormous pleasure of a Lynchburg visit from Jack and Barbara Snobble, who were east from Carbondale, Colo., to visit a daughter and her husband who had just relocated in Virginia.

Nota bene: we've all received the 50th Reunion questionnaire from Dave Patterson. If you haven't done it yet, fill yours in today and mail it back to Dave. Take it from an old reunion book editor, Dave deserves your response in tomorrow's mail. Damn. Our death toll continues. Ed Bailey in February, George Cummings in March, and Dave Pierson in May. Our sympathies.

That's it. Blessings.

Fredrick L Hier, P.O. Box 24, Lovejoy Hill, Cornish Flat, NH 03746