1942

Roger Robison was good enough to send me a clipping from the BozemanDaily Chronicle which had an almost full-page feature headlined, "Alpine Roots: Local skiing pioneer John Montagne got his training with the 10th Mountain Division during WWII." The article includes a large picture of John at the base of a 12,460-foot peak in Austria shortly after wartime, and one of him with skis after his arrival in Bozeman in 1957. It reports that when the war ended and soldiers returned to the United States, some carried on the activities they learned in the European alpine. "One such soldier was Bozeman resident John Montagne. Fortunately, Montagne was never forced to use the skills he developed on Grosglockner during battle in Japan. They boarded a boat and sailed home, up the Hudson River to a rousing welcome. At 85 Montagne still makes it outside as often as he can, cross-country skiing on the groomed trails at Lindley Park," the article says.

A brief note from Jon Mendes. He reports that at 85 he was the oldest but not the last finisher in the 2005 New York Marathon.The retired Marine colonel must be in pretty good shape. Can anyone match this?

Picking up where we left off on John Sewalls report from the last issue, he says that he and Nellie took a cruise to Bermuda about 10 years ago, but except for annual visits to the outer banks of North Carolina, "we don't go anywhere" anymore due to his polio. He said that Nellie is struggling with rheumatoid arthritis but with strong medicine, daily walking and rest she is still able to drive locally and manages to walk the neighborhood. Meanwhile, John said, their three sons and daughter have made fine careers for themselves and fine homes for their families. "We now have eight grandchildren, ages 7 to 23."

Warren Kreter says making our $140,000 goal for the current Dartmouth College Fund is tough considering the number of classmates we've lost. Help to the extent you can.

Sad notes: received word of the death of one of the class' former presidents and former manager of the Hanover Inn, Dave Heald. (Obituary will be in the next issue). We have lost several other classmates recently: Horatio Reily, Donald Baldwin, Harrison Rollins and Peter Krist. Also, Nancy Hinman, first wife of Hazen Hinman, died last December. Our condolences to their families.

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