1952

The word "wherry" rarely appears in boating literature and is usually lumped in with other small, century-old rowing boats without description. But David Larson has one which he describes as a "practice" single scull he rows on several central New Hampshire lakes for exercise. It is shorter and stubbier than the racing eight which David rowed for four undergraduate years. In his day the season usually started in Florida because the Connecticut River was choked with ice. In his first year at Winter Park, David met a girl from Illinois named Lois. He saw her again the next year, asked her out the third year and then asked her to marry him. She accepted. Following Dartmouth, David entered the Air Force as an enlisted man and was transferred to Officer Candidate School. Lois preceded him in OCS, receiving her lieutenant's bar when David was still a private, first class. After nearly 50 years of marriage and four accomplished children, Lois is still capable of pulling rank.

The couple spent four years in Wiesbaden, Germany, as neighbors of Al and Gay Reich. When discharged, they became neighbors again in Connecticut. David was hired by Tufts as an assistant professor to teach American foreign policy and international law and diplomacy. He moved across campus to the Fletcher School and received three degrees in eight years while carrying a teaching load. He served as assistant dean for three years until a position opened up at University of New Hampshire, where he taught until he was made emeritus in 1996. He is now active with the New Hampshire Council on World Affairs but wants to retire in June to complete two books: one describing U.S. policy toward die law of the sea and the other a completion of a history on the Yugoslav crisis between 1991 and 1996 leading to the breakup. David counts many of his students in the diplomatic service of several countries. David speaks Norwegian and SerboCroatian and he has traveled extensively. One of his students, Winston Lord, made headlines when he was appointed ambassador to China in the early 1990s. David is still active in the State Department. Two other classmates went to Fletcher before David: George Grosshans and FrankHeinemann. Lois and David have a yearround cottage in northern Maine called Yggdrasil, which is Norwegian for "tree of life that binds together heaven, earth and hell." The word appears in one of Frost's poems. There the family relaxes, cross-country skis and fishes in season. It has a gas furnace to take the chill off and a wood stove for heat in winter. David is a passionate fisherman. He is helped in the pursuit of landlocked salmon by his 13-year-old grandson on Lake Winnipesaukee.

Lois worked for years for the county hospital and was the "white-coat" supervising nurse on nights overseeing 240 patients and six staff members. A heavy responsibility. Retirement will give both of them more time to write, to visit their four children spread around the country and to fish, travel, ski and relax. Vox clamantis in academia.

P.O. Box 8; Scottsville, NY 14546; (716) 385-1010; (716) 385-8958; henry_williams@msn.com