1933

While many of us are engaged in pricing wheelchairs or seeking out assisted living facilities, two of our '33 brethren are as busy as the proverbial bees in performing worthy deeds for the class, Dear Old Dartmouth and the commonweal. One is Franklin Fuller Ripley, who has been our devoted class agent for many years, and who, in 2001, brought '33 to unaccustomed prominence by leading us to top rank in the Alumni Fund among classes of our era. Achieving 62-percent participation and persuading more widows to contribute than classmates, Rip and his assistant agents Rockwell, Worthen and Riggs produced a 36-percent increase over 2000, delivering $62,412 to the fund. We are indeed indebted to him for assuming this responsibility. When we sought Rip out at Granite Lake to congratulate him, Betty told us that he was out playing golf, which he does as well as pound a tennis ball. When we talked to him, he said that he planned to go to Hanover for the class officers confab and he also expressed his pride at being a three-time great-grandfather. When we asked Betty the reason for his bursting health, she responded immediately, "New Hampshire."

Our other mover and shaker is Bob McDonald, who, with Mary Jo, yearly works for the fund and also labors doggedly to assemble a quorum for a Hanover fall get-together of classmates, wives and widows. He was already well along on this seasons reunion when we talked with him in August. Unlike Rip, Bob is not active on the links or on the courts but, having retired from business, he is devoting his time to civic affairs with special attention to urban planning and redevelopment. These are challenging and satisfying areas, he says. And constructive, one might add.

Two guys of whom '33 can be proud and to whom we should be grateful.

West Lane Keys NW, Washington, DC 20007-3057; jsmonagan@aol.com