1951

The San Francisco mini-reunion brought together 27 classmates and nearly as many guests to enjoy wine-country tours, museum trips, meals with a view and no view, musical entertainment and finally, a meal on the water. This was carefully planned for late April when it never rains (ho, ho). Nearly a year in the planning, Pete Bogardus and your scribe put together the events, selected the venues and consulted with class president Henry Nachman all the way. With a nod to the class of 1955, which did this a few years ago, a colorful brochure was mailed out six months before and drew the necessary 50-plus live ones. After consulting with Dave Batchelder, we agreed that duplicate accounts of the mini-reunion would be redundant. Look for '51 Fables that will fully describe with pictures and text our three days and three nights in San Francisco.

Seeing an opportunity to interview classmates and learn their favorite places, I buttonholed Bill Bobbs. His choice was unusual in that it was a setting for the moment of truth: Professor Adams, Bill's freshman history teacher, told him that nothing but As from then on was required of him to avoid flunking the course.

To show that not all Dekes were that serious, Pete Bogardus' favorite place was Tanzi's, followed closely by Tanzi's truck. Charles Richardson and Joe Holton joined the many by naming the Tower Room but Joe also mentioned the Ravine Camp as a highlight for him. Rowing on the Connecticut River was fondly recalled by Jim Danaher, as well as walking on new snow across campus on the way to breakfast.

Don Clark's favorite places were restaurants off campus that required a car. The rides and meals produced not only camaraderie and fellowship but also "bull sessions" which President Dickey used to tell us were almost as valuable to our education as the classroom. Marr Mullen's favorite place was the Crew House and in the winter he liked skiing on Oak Hill. George Bikle was cerebral and athletic in his choice by selecting Sanborn House Library and hockey on Occom Pond.

Jim Wylie felt the College Green was his top choice and, to round out the reunion group, Dave King selected the Baker stacks. In earlier conversations with classmates I heard from Bill Merkle, who has been keeping the medical profession afloat. He's recuperating from six weeks of radiation for prostate cancer and is undergoing the implanted seeds procedure. His favorite place was the Charter Train to Chicago at Christmas time, when he and others would be fortified by jugs of sea breeze. Regreting by letter his inability to attend the mini-reunion, Dick Eitel reported being in good enough shape for a back-country ski adventure with a photo to prove it. He's still in the shipyard business but says his son, Nick, does most of the work.

Go online to our Web site www.alum. dartmouth.org/classes/51.

www.alum.dartmouth.org/classes/51

P.O. Box 848, Orinda, CA 94563;peirce.mckee@rbcdain.com