1952

Never say "only".. .unless you want a plate of crow and lots of correcting correspondence. In May, this column said Ed Fitzgerald was the only classmate to make a career of the U.S. Marine Corps. The other, who merely expressed "shock and dismay" at the omission, is WinchellM. "Jock" Craig, who matriculated with us in 1948, then matriculated in June 1949 at the U.S. Naval Academy, from which he graduated in 1953. His one year was spent in Russell Sage with Charlie Curtis and Don Moore, who says he had the best shoe shine in the College. He went to the academy with our classmate, Ted Fellows, who retired several years ago as a vice admiral. The career parallel with Ed Fitzgerald is uncanny. Both retired as full marine colonels. Both have long-term marriages; in Jock's case, Ruth, with whom he celebrated their 43 rd anniversary. They have a son, Stuart '83. Like Ed, Jock served numerous places on the globe going in harm's way: Korea, Vietnam, Okinawa, Germany, Beirut, Lebanon, which produced a chest full of medals and a file drawer full of commendations. He attended the Marine Corps Command and Staff Colleges, the National War College and the Foreign Service Institute. He served as an embassy attache in Lebanon from which he retired. He then took a long leap to a fulltime position as military adviser to the Armed Forces of the Republic of China (Taiwan) and chief military adviser of the American Institute of that particular China. He also served as executive director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei until final retirement in 1993: a great experience. He and Ruth moved to Bend, Ore., where he is secretary of the Central Oregon Retired Officers Association and a director of a composite material company in Phoenix, Ariz.

Now that I have learned my lesson not to use "only"; the very last father in our class is Bennett M. Stein, M.D., whose wife and he had seven-year-old Charlie. Charlie is a hockey player like his dad. Ben attended the Medical School until 1953 and received his M.D. in 1955 from McGill. Ben's Medical School class produced seven out of 24 doctors at our Reunion. He was a professor and chairman of neurology at Tufts New England Medical Center in Boston and moved from there to New York City. He just retired as chair of neurosurgery at Columbia Presbyterian. Ben has two daughters, Susan and Marjorie, closing on their forties, who were the children of Ben's late first wife, Doreen. His only grandchild is a year older than Charlie: Uncle Charlie.

Hard as it is to believe, this is the last column of my five-year term as 1952 class secretary. I love the job. It has been fun but "profound fun," as they say about long distance sailboat racing. I have met and gotten to know many classmates whom I barely knew in College. I have deepened my friendship with other classmates as I have written these brief columns and obituaries. The lives of us all have been so varied and different and so interesting. Each could be a chapter in a large book instead of the few meager lines the size of the magazine allows. Our classmates are wonderful people with interesting, productive, and generous lives. We are the core of the College, contributing in our many ways to Dartmouth's greatness.

Jr., 698 South Main St., Pittsford, NY 14534; (716) 3851010; fax, (716) 385-8958