1939

This being an issue that is devoted to the freshman year set me to thinking not only of that day of September 17, 1935, when we matriculated, each receiving a warm, personal welcome from President Hopkins, but also to wondering about what we've all been doing with our life since that time.

Remember those first days in Hanover, getting a beanie at Campion's or the Co-op, and the pride of wearing it with the numerals 1939 emblazoned above the tiny bill? I found it fun to lug furniture around at the beck and call of upperclassmen. I missed the freshman trip because I was waiting for hours to pick football gear, while chatting with Colby Howe, who was the next guy in line at the gym. I remember being greeted by Bobby Alpert, who advised me that he was running for class president. He was elected treasurer. And I remember, too, the feeling of belonging when I first heard the cry of "Thirty-nine Out!"

I have been keeping my own "grim-reaper" file based on some loose figures that I have developed over my seemingly endless term as vour secretary, but now I have the real facts from Hanover's records. We are 389 strong; 303 grads, 83 non-grads, and three adopted. There were 655 men who matriculated. One of them is Listed in the Green Book with an address at the Hanover Inn. His name was Bob Marsh, and he had come with me to Dartmouth from one year at the Hun School in New Jersey. Princeton was his first choice, but he failed what we then called College Boards. Undaunted, he went on to summer school and passed the boards in the late summer on his second try. He had been admitted to Dartmouth, and only got the word of his acceptance to Princeton while "covering his rear" in Hanover. Bob was one of the unfortunate ones to lose his life in the service during WW II, along with 13 of our classmates, according to my count. Names such as Paul Dewitt,Joe Egan, Henry Flannery, Herb Illfelder,Teddy johnson, Jim Mathes, Lloyd Nash,John Newman, Charlie Palmer, SandySloane, Herb Vander Vate, Bobby Yuell, and Bob Whidden were lost during those war years.

What are we up to now, you ask? Well, 176 are retired. We have 12 guys who remain at work as presidents of their companies; 13 working attorneys; four working writers/authors; 14 active physicians and two surgeons; two working ministers; and five are self-employed. One is a farmer, one a performer, and one a professor.

You may be interested in what we did in our active years. Our most popular calling was medical, which claimed 13 percent, followed closely by lawyers, representing ten percent. Eight percent were in education 75 percent of this number at the college or university level and 25 percent in secondary. Six percent were in manufacturing; five percent in insurance, publishing, and real estate; three and a half percent were in food processing and distribution, and banking. Three percent made a career of the military, and the same number in petroleum.

Until our next, keep well.

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