1938

In case you didn't get a chance to read my last letter, Dr. Robert Mussey of Urbana, Illinois, is our new head agent, replacing Gil Tanis. The loss of Gil Small (an obituary will appear in a later issue) reduced the number of always counted-on "Reunion Regulars."

As promised, more information on our "man" in the information booth on the Hanover Green in the fall, Ev Wood. These are from TheValley News: "He took the volunteer job at the information booth very seriously. He had a strict dress code...always wore a shirt and tie and displayes them with polite dignity." "To some, he was 'Ev,' but most people called him 'Woodie.' Complete strangers encountering him at the Hanover Dartmouth information booth invariably referred to him as 'Mr. Answer Manthey were flabbergasted by his astonishing range of information and lore about Hanover, the Upper Valley and Dartmouth." Before taking the job in the 1970s he actually took a map of Hanover and walked every street in town so that he would know the place intimately. He felt strongly that his goal was to make "a friend for the town and the College." David Bradley wrote: "Woodie was 12 years old when he heard his dad with the Yale Glee Club sing the 'Hanover Winter Song'—'It's either Dartmouth or the French Foreign Legion.'"

Last September Woodie suffered a stroke and started a slow and inevitable decline. A few days before his death Nancy Scott with John Scott, close friends of Woodie, prepared a special dinner for him. He really enjoyed it, Nancy said. "I remember him saying afterwards: Nancy has given me a good send off." After the dinner Woodie read a poignant excerpt of the Captain Lodie book: "I am in harmony with the flow of life. As I began, I end; with my thoughts alone as winter leans against the summer hill. I drain and blow out the candles."

29 Decorie Drive, Wilbraham,MA 01095