1955

First, my apologies for not appearing in this space in the June issue. In truth, I did fax a column to Hanover from Tibet, where recent and continuing travels had taken me, but it arrived late and unreadable! So, herewith plus a few slight emendations is what you should have seen in June:

Word has reached me that the class has lost two of its loveliest and most talented ladies: Sue Gulick, wife of Peter Gulick, passed away Jan. 24, 1999, after a 16-year battle with cancer; and Martha Oberlander, wife of David "Obie" Oberlander, deceased March 9, 1999, after a courageous and never-complaining 20-year struggle with multiple sclerosis. Pete and Obie were fortunate indeed to have such wonderful lifelong companions, and the class's condolences go out to them.

Word has also been received of the deaths of three classmates: Richard PersellReading on Jan. 31, 1999, at Olean General Hospital in Buffalo, N.Y.; Julian Roy Klein on Dec. 29, 1998; and George EdmondsBates on March 30, 1999, in Medford, Ore. Obituaries will appear in subsequent issues of this magazine.

A recent evening in New York City provided your secretary with two interesting and important Dartmouth-related events. First, there was the annual New York City reception at the Dartmouth Club on the occasion of the meeting of the board of stewards of the Dartmouth Rowing Club. As usual, the star and driving spirit of this event was "Mr. Rowing" himself, our own HartPerry. As executive director of the National Rowing Federation, and constant counselor and mentor to crews everywhere including the Coast Guard Academy near his Stonington, Conn., residence Hart remains ever active in his beloved sport of rowing. In the immediate future his rowing related schedule includes his annual trip to the Henley in England (this time with the surviving members of his illustrious 1955 lightweight crew), an International Rowing Federation meeting in Copenhagen, and a regatta in Plovdiv, Bulgaria!

The second event that evening was an Alumni Fund telethon held, as usual, at the Williams Club on 38th Street. This gave me a chance to catch up with a number of classmates, including:

• Ted Ely in central Massachusetts, still enjoying self-employment in machine tools sales, active in the out-of-doors, and ever interested in our class reunions.

• Norm Fine still happily ensconced in Virginia fox hunting country, which sport he not only continues to enjoy avidly, but has become a major chronicler as the author of several authoritative books on the subject and publisher of one of its major journals. Meantime, wife Joan is still practicing law and, of course, chasing the foxes with Norm.

• Frank Carlton, the deacon of Pikesville, Ky., just back from a January trip to Australia and New Zealand, where among the summer sights and events down under, he and wife Nancy took in a performance at Sydney's fabled Opera House.

• Mike Fletcher in sunny Florida, retired from Digital and into golf, especially for its "19th-hole" attractions; en route to Henley in June with Hart (he coxed that famous crew) and looking forward to reuniting with his old shellmates; recently saw SonnyPeters in Sarasota and Bob Garver in Hilton Head.

• Tom Fleming in Monterey, Calif., since 1975, where he retired from the Navy in 1978 after a rich and varied career that included flying P2Vs and serving on a flag staff; with a subsequent M.B.A. from Santa Clara, he is busily occupied selling some of the most beautiful (and most expensive!) real estate in the world.

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

Norm Fine is happilychasing foxes in Virginia.LEON MARTEL '55