1958

Eighty-five of our classmates gathered on the Hanover Plain June 15-17 to celebrate our 35th Reunion. When one adds to that number the spouses and children who were also present, there were almost 170 of us in attendance. In addition to ordering three days of warm, sunny weather, Dick Jacob did a great job putting together a series of events, dinners, and just plain "lazy" time, all of which added up to a good time for all. As we walked about in our white reunion jackets and hats, it was clear that none of us was going to be mistaken for an undergraduate, yet we all still looked "pretty good." I was reminded, however, of a great quote from a book of the 1980s entitled Middle Aged Rage: "When you hit 39, the warranty on your body runs out, and the replacement parts get harder and harder to find."

Ron Snow, on behalf of the nominating committee, put forward a slate of officers to serve until our next reunion. Skip Louis will succeed John Graf as our class president. Yours truly, in a moment of craziness, accepted the committee's call to continue as class secretary. Bob Gilges will be sending you the reminders about class dues as he succeeds John Otis as treasurer. Bob Eleveld will be our new class representative to the Alumni Council. And in what perhaps was the most startling development, John Murphy will continue as our class newsletter editor. Our executive committee will rival the New Hampshire legislature in size. It will number 49! Skip will have his hands full conducting our meetings in the years ahead. In a final piece of business, outgoing President John Graf entertained a motion from Harry Dodds that the class elect Lee Pelton, Dean of Students, an honorary member of our class. After being elected by acclamation, Dean Pelton came by our Wednesday evening reception to greet us and accept our invitation. Welcome to the class of '58, Lee.

At our concluding class dinner Wednesday night, we presented to President Freedman a check in the amount of $605,800. While this fell short of our goal, it still represents the largest gift from our class outside of our 25th in 1983. Walt Vail and Don McCree are to be congratulated on a tough job well done.

That same evening our class honored several for their contributions to the worlds of community service, medicine, education and religion, state courts, federal government, and the military. Those honored were MelAlperin, Ted Harris, Carl McCall, DaveBrock, Reg Bartholomew, and Hal Bernsen.

Meanwhile, life continues for '58s far from the Hanover Plain. Dick Walker, the founder of Walker Industries Ltd., manufacturers of pre-cast concrete in Hawaii, was named Small Business Person of the Year by die Small Business Administration on Maui. On learning of his honor, Dick quipped, "On the whole, I'd rather be fishing."

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