1947
Usually when we write for May, it's during the March we love: maple sapping season, longer sunlight, damp and icy mud and piles of leaves, cool winds, and a promise of soon-bursting buds. This record snowfall year, we still have 20-plus inches on the flat, and it is still winter. It could snow again anytime. The most promise of spring is in our garden catalogs. But at least the cross-country skiing has been great. In Hanover, the snow made for a great Winter Carnival season.
What happened during the Winter months? Bob Bach writes that he is serving as continuing-education officer for the Dartmouth Club of Suburban New Jersey. It's a fine job for one who travels as often and far as Bob. In February he a seminar, "Don't Laugh (or Cry) If I Say This" with Dartmouth professors Peter Travis and Mary Childers. It was on language, gender, and communication, a program offering surprising insights and lots of humor. They attracted 208 attendees, Bob says, and I add, that's astounding!
Your writer can report that our Southwest New Hampshire (Keene) Club recently put on a well-liked program with local author and Dartmouth Professor Ernest Hebert (Dogsof March, and others). We did this in cooperation with Franklin Pierce College in near-by Rindge. FPC President Walter Peterson attended, representing both his college and our class.
We must have a good number of classmates doing club work of this sort, and I'd love to help promote it.
Mike Pender, president of the Sarasota Club, has put on many fine programs. I'm sure many of us belong to Dartmouth Environmental Network (DEN), or are helping in our local schools under the very successful Alumni in Schools program. Let me know of these activities, for some free promotion. They're all worthwhile.
Ham and Dottie Chase rented a 40-foot sailboat and sailed the British Virgin Island for ten days in January. We learned later that we landed in Virgin Gorda just minutes before Dick and Romie Hollerith had to depart on the return trip of a one-day cruise to there from their vacation spot on St. John. Dick would have recognized me, at least, since I was wearing our 45th Reunion hat. That hat attracted the attention of a '93 who was camping on the Jost Van Dyke Island during one of our Pina Colada hours. Also, at the scuba wonderland of the Baths, we met John Woods and Bob Fiertz, both '51 and Thayer '52. So, friends, always display your class colors.
The great L.A. earthquake occurred while we were away. An anxious note to Joe Eisaman drew an encouraging response. His only damage was to the chimney, which was deemed unsafe. He says the Beverly Hills firemen very skillfully pulled it down, with no further damage to house or shrubs. However, Joe did enclose a list of 20-25 hospitals or nursing homes that had to be evacuated, and some had to be demolished rather than rebuilt. To those involved, a real tragedy, and they deserve our help, through our government. In closing, please remember to pay your class dues; they pay for this magazine, the newsletter, and class projects.
63 Maple Avenue, Keene, NH 03431-0083
