The Landmark "Retires"

Back in 1991 this magazine noted that "an era has passed" when, after 16 years on the job, Nelson Ham stepped down from the College Grant's gate camp and the Oz-ian title of gatekeeper, though he was still to haunt the College's 27,000-acre wilderness as roving fix-it guy and caretaker. So what do we call it now that Nelson has, as of May 1, officially retired? "A tran- sition from nothing to nothing," he says. "I only worked one full day in my life—it was in a sawmill when I was 16. My father made me do it."

Not that Nelson is any less a part of the Grant landscape than moose and squirrels now. He continues to live in the house he built at the head of the Grant's access road,and there's no stopping him from tinkering. So just what does retirement mean when you are a compulsive putterer and your job is puttering around in Dartmouth's wild vacationland? "It's simply a matter of paperwork and a reduction in salary," he quips.

For one thing, retirement may mean travel. Nelson, whose wife, Jean, passed away a couple years ago, contemplates running a classified ad that will read something like this:

"69 yr old, just retired, agnostic, Dartmouth College Grant Caretaker is looking for female co-driver/ co-pilot to accompany him on open-ended tour of North America. Motor home and airplane will be furnished." Operators are standing by.

Aside from possible travels, Nelson's plans are business as usual and include "originating" jokes, "continuing to read enough so that I seem superior to everyone else," and writing more letters to Shirley McLaine and the Pope. "They never answer." As always, he will be collecting letters sent to him by students and alumni from around the world, addressed simply to "03579." And no, he is not retiring the pig jokes.

KeeperHam: notshy, butretiring.