1955

First, there are two important dates to note for your calendars: one is the revised date for the upcoming San Francisco mini-reunion originally scheduled for May 6-9, 1999. John Ballard informs us that schedule conflicts have caused it to be advanced to April 29-May 2,1999. By the time you read this, complete information should have reached you, and I hope many of you are making plans to attend. The other important date is for our 45th Reunion in Hanover, now confirmed for Monday, June 12, through Thursday, June IS, 2000.

For that latter event, Pete Thompson (recent co-recipient of the Class of '55 Award) has "enthusiastically accepted" the post of reunion giving chairman. As of this writing (January 15, 1999), a goal has not been set; but, as Pete reminds us, the 45th is no longer "the poor relative in the reunion giving program." The classes of '52 and '53 both raised over $1 million for their 45th, and the class of '54 begins with a goal (for June '99) of $1,054,000. What we do know is that when the challenges are great, the class of '5 5 is equally great in meeting them.

Ken Lundstrom (whose new e-mail address is ) writes that during the Thanksgiving week he had nice visit with Erin Lamb (Walt's widow). He reports that she is doing very well, is currently on a leave of absence from her teaching position, and appreciates very much any contacts from the class. Her email address is .

Ralph Sautter, class treasurer, kindly sends a very nice letter from Dave Flitner, who writes that the Flitner Ranch is currently Graybull (Wyo.) "headquarters" of the Dartmouth earth science undergraduate college "on the road" program and that he has become well acquainted with Dartmouth professor Gary Johnson, and shepherds the students while they are studying the geology of the Big Horn Basin. He also reports that his college visitors have made a significant discovery of dinosaur tracks nearby, extending the known timeframe in North America and certain dinosaurs 10 to 20 million years and, more importantly, changing the concept of geology in the middle Jurassic period in the area.

From Dick Hogarty in Boston comes word that he has officially retired from the faculty at UMass. Boston and been named professor emeritus by Chancellor Sherry Penney. The accompanying press release, quoting the director of the McCormack Institute, says it all: "Professor Hogarty has brought a singular integrity, good will, exemplary citizenship, and commitment to the mission of UMass. Boston for 30 years. I doubt that any among us could envision a person more deserving of the special honor of professor emeritus than Dick Hogarty."

And from here in New York, yours truly would like to report that he, too, has "officially" retired, in this case from the Conference Board, where I have been named a senior fellow effective January 1, 1999, to continue under contract to start my next book and undertake other projects for the Board. Since this will entail setting up my own office and "going on-line" on my own (an awesome prospect for this computer nerd!), in the interim I will be available only by "snail mail" at the usual address below. Finally, it is my sad duty to report to you the death of Richard LeRoyWilson on October 14, 1998, in Savannah, Ga., following a 3 1/2-year battle against cancer. An obituary will appear in an upcoming issue of this magazine.

600 West 111th St., New York, NY 10025

Dartmouth students have discovereddinosaur tracksnear Dave Flitner'sWyoming ranch. LEON MARTEL '55