1948

A goodly 69 '48s attended our fun-filled 45th in Hanover in June, but AbeAbrahamson, BobReynolds, Dick Ruggles, and Bill Warnock were forced to cancel out at die last minute. A haunting story involved the 48 who returned his copy of Lloyd Krumm's May letter to Lloyd with an unsigned note: "I'd like to come, but I don't think anyone would remember me (married and lived in Sachem Village)." It was postmarked Worcester. Lloyd and committee made many calls to find our man, but to no avail. As Gil Shattuck wrote afterward, "We were all sorry, as he sounded like he wanted to come, but we just couldn't find him!" He missed a good show with classmates who would have made him feel good about being back.

The foregoing prods me to point out that our 50th is only four years from now, in 1998! (Can you believe it?) John Hatheway, our new president who has done so much over the years for our College on the Hill, made a beautiful plea at the class dinner that every single member of our grand old class attend our 50th. Methinks this matter deserves your serious thought. Can all '48s yet relive our days together in Hanover one more time?

PLACE, in capital letters, remains a major reason why Eleazar's sons like to get back to the Plain. And one of the reasons alumni runners enter each reunion's 2.6-mile minimarathon is that the course—from the head of Tuck Drive down East Wheelock through refurbished Skunk Hollow, thence over the face of Balch Hill, followed by the descent through the woods to the open fields (still largely open even now), over to Lyme Road, and then across the gorgeous green links and the old Vale of Tempe bridge to the golf club house, and on to the finish line—provides magnificent panoramas of the surrounding countryside so important to our Place. The view was one reason our harriers Warren Daniell and Fran Hummel entered this year, in spite of gratuitous expressions about teeth. Our men did well, Warren home an amazing fourth despite the many '54s in the challenge. Is it Boston for Warren again next April?

In checking the 45 th attendance list we noted that Californians Bob Herrick and Marty Ullman came the farthest, the latter with a good story about the silent ones. Memory. Ed Leede on the piano in the fourth-floor Wheeler room of Pete Headley and Joe Holzka during that '44 summer term—"It wasn't often used for recitals."

At the class meeting Pat McAllister provided an amazing anecdote from a '48 widow. This summer a clamraker named Kenny Strohl pulled up a gold 1948 Dartmouth class ring from the mud flats off Huntington, L.I. On it was engraved the late Eric Swanson's name. The good Mr. Strohl checked with Dartmouth and learned that Eric had died in 1990, but that Alice still lives in Huntington. He delivered the ring to Alice, who gratefully received it, recalling that Eric had lost it 35 years ago when the couple first moved into the area. The meeting voiced deep appreciation of Mr. Strohl's action and expressed fond greetings to Alice.

Similar applause was extended to Marv Axelrod and Jim McLaughlin for their selfless work in collecting $108,000 from our class for the reunion gift to the Alumni Fund. A tough job well done.

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