1951

Featured in the Westchester (New York) Journal News last fall was our own Webmaster, Al Brout. The story was not at all about his cyber tendencies but instead went on at great length about his 36-year love affair with orchids. Al's classmates learned this in 1996 when the Brout Orchid Collection in the Murdough Greenhouse was established. The article describes Al's habit of bringing up his now small (65) orchid collection to the greenhouse every fall and then retrieving them in April. It's a great story that may get into '51 Fables.

Haviland Smith's experience as a CIA chief of counterterrorism served him well when asked to speak in Montpelier, Vermont, last fall. His topic was the relationship between intelligence gathering and political policy-making in a post-Cold War, post-September 11 world. Twenty-four years (1956 to 1980) in the cloak-and-dagger business found Hav posted in Eastern Europe, Berlin, Beirut, Tehran and Washington.

While chatting with Don O'Dowd to learn what his favorite place was (The Tower Room and the Nugget), I also found out how he paces himself in retirement. He reads and he volunteers for such diverse nonprofits as the United Way and Planned Parenthood. He was pleased to report that he and Jan were honored by their four children and five grandkids with a week-long celebration of their big five-oh in Morro Bay, California.

Milt Olander was asked about his favorite place in Hanover and answered that he really couldn't think of one. Very quickly, though, he spoke at length about a favorite place elsewhere in New Hampshire, a childhood summer camp. One fellow camper, he recalls, was Dick Bacon. Most class secretaries will tell you they are underwhelmed by incoming mail about classmates and their adventures. Yours is no exception, which gives me the excuse to cold call a long list of '51s who haven't been in the alumni notes for many years. My new theme will be a recollection of events described in columns starting in 1954 and an update by classmates 50 years later. Starting it off will be your scribe who in April 1954 took that fateful step forward for induction in the Army. Day No. 1 for me started at an Evanston, Illinois, American Legion post, where we were given a pep talk, cigarettes, candy and a $5 bill. Also showing up for induction that day was Chuck Hoban, my freshman roommate. We kissed our loved-ones goodbye and marched behind two Spanish-American War veterans who were our color bearers. I remember asking one of them how old he was when he enlisted and he proudly told me he turned 18 en route to Cuba. At my tender age of 24, he seemed quite elderly but as I write this, I chuckle to think he was around 74, the age of many of us now. Go online for more news of your classmates: www.alum.dartmouth.org/classes/51

www.alum.dartmouth.org/classes/51

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