1939

This column has been on our mind for more days than we care to admit. As you must know by this point in the magazine, the issue is devoted to Dartmouth alumni and faculty who have made "gifts to the world," and it was suggested by the editor that the class secretaries might wish to embrace the same theme with regard to their classmates.

We hastened to ask advice of some ten or 12 classmates, chosen geographically as well as by pursuits in life. Most men properly shared my concern for making judgments. There were suggestions that I might consider only the accomplishments of those who are no longer with us, as a means of insulation against the possible bruised feelings of those who are. Because it had been pointed out some months back in this column that our class had more folks in medicine than any other pursuit, it was proposed by one of our advisors that we speak only of internationally known surgeons, and leaders at distinguished medical locales in Minnesota, California, Texas, or New England. But what of the family docs who have won such warm plaudits from those to whom they've administered for lifetimes? Who is to judge the worth of each to society?

Reaching back into the past when our first contributions after leaving Hanover were to the military, we could list a number of men with extraordinary promise who gave their lives for the cause in which we all believed. For instance we recall an early WW II flying ace and subsequent general who gave his life at an untimely age.

Reaching even farther back, one might make a case for extraordinary athletes in our class who won national fame after performing in exemplary fashion on Hanover playing fields, though one might question such expertise as a "gift to the world."

We've had business leaders from all areas of the nation who in most cases have not only contributed their talents commercially, but socially through doing good works in their communities.

Lawyers make up the second-largest group of '39ers, and we know of at least one federal judge. Who is to say which of this group has made a profound contribution? Not us.

We could point out some classmates who are artists and writers of note, journalists, editors, and educators, and at least one college president. But we don't have a handle on the full extent of men in these callings, and we wouldn't want to mention only those with whom we are familiar.

One of our advisors put it well. "We have an abundance of talented classmates in a variety of areas.... Awareness of contributions to society comes only from historical maturation. Simply put the problem is we are not old enough to measure accurately the contributions of our classmates."

So be it.

777 West Street, Pittsfield. MA 01201-5726