1952

When the phone rang, DickWatt could barely reach it. He was perched on a ladder in the kitchen of his 235year-old home in Mendham, N.J., trying to repair a complex light fixture with which the house was disagreeing. His wife, Nancy, was ministering to the cat elsewhere. Could he call back?

Dick is our most prolific author. In the days when he was an English major, the common challenge in Sanborn was to graduate and "write a book." Dick wrote three: Dare Call ItTreason (1963), a pioneer study of the mutiny of the enlisted French troops in the trenches in WW I; The Kings Depart (1969), a very successful study of the revolution in post-war Germany of 1919; and Bitter Glory (1980), a fascinating treatment of independent Poland from 1918 to 1939.

It all began with a ferry ride in 1959 from Greenport to Shelter Island. He had a rough draft of a magazine article about the French mutiny which he showed to a friend. The friend introduced him to others in the publishing and writing business who recommended that it be made into a book. After 18 months he had half the book done. He mailed it around and received an invitation to lunch from Simon & Schuster. Two years later, the book was out. The next book took six years to complete, the third book took 11. Little time was left for other pursuits except his family. Dick describes himself as "just a worker." To read his books, however, is to know how much more there is.

Dick joined the navy for three good years, like so many of us, then joined his uncle's industrial flooring business in his native New Jersey. Dick is now executive vice president of 37 years standing, and his uncle is still in the saddle.

Dick has been married to Nancy for more than 20 years. He was a single parent of three children and she a widow with two. As many of us know, one way or another, if you are going to make a successful second marriage with children, you had "better be good at stepparenting," in Dick's words. "We were successful: extremely successful," he says proudly. The children have been successful too, scattered everywhere: a daughter and son with advertising companies in New York, a daughter with AT&T in Boston, a step-son also in advertising, and the inevitable and delightful maverick step-son in Boulder with a pizza operation called Nick & Willie's.

Dick is through with writing books, but not with writing about them. You will read his reviews in the book section of The New York Times. He receives a book by express mail with instructions to turn in exactly 1,150 words in exactly ten days. He reads the books twice and turns out reviews which are as good as he can make them. This is very satisfying work.

He has wonderful memories of Dartmouth and his service in die navy. He laughs readily when he talks about his experiences during our four years. They meant a lot.

10 Grove Street, Pittsford, NY 14534