1952

1952

Between the College’s excellent skills and the efforts of class officers, it is amazing that we can keep track of classmates all through our lives—even more impressive as we get along in years. Some alumni wish to be taken off the contact list, the number is small, but we respect their wishes, and they probably don’t see this report. The vast majority maintain their interest in both the College and classmate friends, but some just get lost. Class secretaries are the gatekeepers and from timeto-time we try to find them. This is one of those stories. We noticed that John Ballard, a graduate with a degree in philosophy, is not on our address list and has never been reported in any other category, i.e., “not interested” or deceased. So we went looking. Through the aid of the internet and Ancestry, we learned that John led an interesting international life and passed away in 2014 in Canberra, Australia. After Dartmouth John graduated from Harvard Law School and entered the Ph.D. program in political science at The Fletcher School (Tufts). His thesis was on the development of political parties in French Equatorial Africa, which he researched with his wife, Brigid. He spent several years teaching in Nigeria, the United Kingdom, Papua New Guinea, and at the Australia National University (ANU) in Port Morseby and Canberra. This is all public information and there is more, altogether a successful career in academia and political science. He is survived by his four children and two grandchildren, according to what we learned. The extensive report was written by his son, Chris Ballard, and confirmed by ANU. Turning to current events, congratulations are in order for head agent Jim Churchill and his team of class agents for the current year’s support of the Dartmouth Fund—40-percent participation after 72 years. Impressive. We’re sorry to report the passing of two more classmates, Emanuel “Mendy” Balkin and John R. Mykrantz.

—William Montgomery, 11 Berrill Farms Lane, Hanover, NH 03755; (603) 643-0261; wmontgod52@aol.com