1953

Do you remember "For the room has a spirit in the embers,/'Tis a god and our fathers knew his name, /And they worshipped him in long forgot Decembers/And their hearts leaped high with the flame./Zum, zum, zum ..."?

Substitute aspen for the beechwood, and the "Hanover Winter Song" captures our feelings during a five-to-seven-day "weekend" at the Crested Butte mini-reunion with

Dartmouth's finest, 1953. The architects of this joyous time were Bill and Janie Gilges. Thank you both, forever. Their plan was unique, and the pace allowed for plenty of fellowship and private time. The wrap of another Dartmouth first was the mountainside banquet, preceded by our traditional memorial service halfway up the mountain at the base of the Paradise Lift, apropos. We left the village in a "Cat-drawn" sleigh (trading au natural for diesel fumes) and sang our way up the lower mountain onto a roadway arched with giant Colorado aspens, naked of their flittering yellow-green finery, of course, but elegant in the bronze-gold hue that reflected from our "horse's eyes." Beyond that glorious archway we entered into a chamber of this heavenly state's evergreens, of pines, and spruce and other species magnifique. As we left the woods, our destination was frivolity and culinary delights appeared a cabin with smoke "drifting, curling, reeling" from its chimney. A glance upward at an infinite number of stars brought us all, I think, to nod in awe of the Cathedral of the Colorado Sky. I had thought God lived on Maui; I now believe He or She has been in Colorado the entire time.

Father Eddie Boyle led us in a quiet memorial before we entered for dinner. With psalms from him and from Bob Malin, Ed then called for our remembrances. One by one, with a pause for reflection and prayer, we offered to God the names of our cherished friends who have gone on to the Greater Paradise, and concluded with the song that bonds the Dartmouth fellowship forever, Men of Dartmouth. There were no dry eyes.

Besides Bill and Janie, who were with us in spirit and in heart, having had to trade their big event for a temporary hospital visit, the 1953 entourage included Lore and JohnDodge from Harbour Ridge, Dick Fleming from Brookline, Chuck Reilly from Vermont and Southampton, Irene and ChrisChrisman from Sarasota, with a cast of '54s, '58s and other infidels, Ann and Ralph Heins from Tempe, Father Ed from Quincy, TomTrager from' Peoria and sons Bill and Tim from Wisconsin and California, Betty andHank Edler, Zeta and Don McMichael from the Denver area, Anne and HarlanFair from Chappaqua, Beverly and your humble scribe from Florida, and our heralded first lady and chief, Gail and Bob Malin, skipping between New Jersey and Harbour Ridge. Pictures, a video (compliments of the Tragers), and a portrait of dis first-ever Colorado mini-reunion are en route to Super Scribe Don Goss for incorporation into his award-winning newsletter.

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