1912
Here we go again for a ten-month chore of assembling class notes. It is really a labor of love, but would be a lot easier if more classmates would report to me items of interest to other classmates concerning themselves and their families.
Dwight L. Perry, whose phenomenal memory for an old tune gave almost unlimited range to his generous virtuosity at the piano, died June 17, in Memphis, Tenn. This sorrowful news reached The Billboard through Henry Van Dyne and Fletcher Clark. With a personal note on behalf of all the Class a 1912 Memorial Book citation was sent to Mrs. Perry at her home, 2121 Poplar Ave., Memphis, July 31, reporting that Dwight's classmates have dedicated to him a "rare and beautiful book as a living memorial" in the
Treasure Room of the Dartmouth Library. Unless my freshman memories of Dwight's tireless playing of the old grand piano in College Hall Commons mislead me, Dwight came to the campus as a member of 1911 but actually and officially graduated as a member of Dartmouth 1912. Dwight roomed with Connie Snow, Chip McElwain, Rene Lines and me in Craigie Hall, while we were all in Harvard Law School. Naturally we had a rented piano on which Dwight performed for the entertainment of all of us.
In advising that he could not attend our Informal Reunion last June, Harry Brown wrote from his Baltimore home: "The years pass by so rapidly that even when one says 'Next year I will attend,' the time has come and gone and, like Connie Mack and his A's, I am always looking forward to next year. I have many regrets which have accumulated over the years, one being that I have been so remiss in giving that personal thought and attention to the College and associations which were so generous to me."
From Hi O'Neill: "My reuning is all done through Lyme Armes' class Bulletin, the class communications, and the ALUMNI MAGAZINE. I have plans in the Midwest and elsewhere which prevent such jaunts. My daughter worked in New York two years and then spent four months on a European trip and came to tell us about it in the fall of 1952. We have managed to keep her here with us and we have a lot of fun. On May 5 we all drove back to Rochester, N. Y., to see my three sisters, and Jim and his wife came from Lakeville for a fine Irish reunion. It will be late fall before we can take another trip. We were in Hanover for a weekend in August 1949, coming home from Quebec, etc. There is no business like the oil business and I am in it every day. The two Dorothis send regards to you and yours and all of the boys and girls of 1912".
A belated report on our 40th Reunion from Elmer Chapman: "I have intended ever since the great 40th to write a letter expressing my appreciation of the wonderful arrangements that the committee had made for us and telling the boys how glad I was to be able to be there. It sure was great to see so many of them and words can hardly express the memory I still cherish. You know I have two brothers living at home in Manchester, N. H., and following the Hanover festivities I went down and spent a couple of weeks with them. Pike Childs and his charming wife arranged a party for us while we were there and invited some of my old classmates from the Manchester High School, class of 1908. Most of them I hadn't seen since we graduated forty-four years ago, and needless to say, it was the thrill of a lifetime for me. To Pike and his wife I owe much for one of the high spots in my life. On the road back to Chicagoland we headed south toward the Pennsylvania Turnpike and stopped for a bite to eat in Holyoke, Mass. In the process we got off of our route and we were sitting in the car trying to figure out how to get going in the right direction again. I happened to look up when a very familiar looking gentleman with a medical bag in his hand came out of a building close by and started to cross the street. I said to my wife 'I know that guy,' and gave him a yell, and lo and behold, it turned out to be Doc Kinney. He said he was going across the street to see a patient. He had a hard time trying to pound it into my head how to get back on the right road, but seeing that he wasn't getting anywhere said, 'You wait here and I'll go get my car out of the garage and lead you.' At which, of course, I balked, but nevertheless in the true Dartmouth 1912 spirit the busy Doc showed us the sky was the limit when it comes to helping a fellow traveler in distress. So we went merrily on remembering his directions and made it O.K. Thanks, Doc."
One more step toward carrying out the 1947 Twelver program of dedicating a Memorial Book to all deceased members of the Class of 1912 in the Treasure Room of the Dartmouth Library was taken on August 3, when ten former classmates who passed away between 1920 and 1930 were memorialized. On that date was started the process of selecting a "rare and beautiful book" for each of the following classmates: Joseph E. Wadleigh,Henry W. (Buck) Smith, Carlton M. Hammond, Robert C. Stoughton, Arthur D. Newman, John D. More, Roy C. Laing, KennethG. Barstow, George E. Spencer, and CleartonHoward Reynolds. A special bookplate in each volume records its dedication "To our beloved Classmate,..................., by the Class of 1912." This dedication, by name, class and title, is also recorded in the Treasure Room's master Memorial Book a handsome, handbound tome designed, created and bound for this special purpose by undergraduate students of graphic arts courses in their own book bindery shop. In all cases these individual Memorial Books must fulfill the Treasure Room's standards of desirability as permanent possessions of a great and growing library rarity, beauty, importance and enduring usefulness. They are, in the main, books of abiding significance which, from the viewpoint of Library administration, might be termed "luxury" volumes since Memorial Book contributions from the classes that have joined 1912 in this program are unrestricted funds which make it possible for the Library to acquire books not within range of strict working requirements covered by normal Baker Library administration funds.
While 1912 was not the originator of these "living memorials," ours was one of the very first to adopt this satisfying substitute for more ephemeral tokens of esteem. Now a growing list of Dartmouth alumni classes are dedicating Memorial Books in tribute to classmates currently taken from their rolls. In the case of 1912, this plan, proposed by the editor of this occasional publication, was adopted at 1912's 35th reunion class meeting in June 1947, with the added proviso that, as funds became available in the Class treasury, all previously deceased members of the class would be honored in like manner. Now we are nearing the completion of this program. Only thirteen former classmates, who died between 1910 and 1918, remain to be added to the 1912 roster of Memorial Books in the Dartmouth Library. In the case of all the others, down to and including those memorialized this month, the treasurer of Dartmouth 1912 has contributed $10 to each to the Memorial Book Fund administered by the associate librarian of the Dartmouth College Library. This is a standard gift unit, which represents only an average cost of books, many of which cost the Library less to acquire and some of which cost several times more. Every time a 1912 Memorial Book has been authorized for dedication by our Treasurer, a personal, handwritten note of tribute and sympathy has been sent, together with a formal engraved citation of the memorial, to the widow or nearest surviving relative of the classmate concerned. Heretofore only six of these Memorial Book citations have been finally returned as undeliverable. As we reach back seeking survivors of more remote deaths, traceable relatives become more difficult to locate.
Irv Goss's son, Richie Goss '42, is a major in the Air Force, stationed at the Pentagon in Washington.
From my valued correspondent Emma Pettingell, comes a clipping from the BostonHerald telling that Cap Allen, who has been a member of the Massachusetts Board of Bar Examiners for several years, has been named secretary of the Board by appointment of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
Doc O'Connor is chairman of the executive committee of the Harry S. Truman Library Inc., which is sponsoring the erection of a Memorial Library at Grandview, Mo.
Dr. Roy J. DeFerrari, secretary general of the Catholic University of America in Washington, D. C., was the commencement speaker at the 50th commencement of St. Michaels College in Winooski Park, Vt.
Husky Farnum, vice-principal and head of the mathematics department at English High School, Lynn, Mass., retired last June after serving thirty years as a faculty member, assistant football coach and faculty manager of athletics at that school.
Harold Belcher, treasurer of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions since 1931, was a speaker before the Men's Club of the Phillips Congregational Church of Watertown, Mass. He has, as background for his services, six years of experience as a missionary in China. Last fall he attended the annual meeting of the Department of Interchurch Aid and Service to Refugees of the General Council of Churches in Geneva, Switzerland.... Ray Tobey received a Master of Arts degree in geography at the 63rd commencement of Clark University, Worcester, Mass., on June 7.
Changes of Address: Harry M. Brown, 1001 St. Paul St., Baltimore 2, Md.; Lehman W.Miller, Uniontown Road, Westminster, Md.; Elliott A. White, Magnolia St., Concord, Mass.; Bishop Brown, 4614 5th Ave., Fairfax Apartments, Pittsburgh 13, Pa.; Ralph E. Farnum, 12 Lake Ave., Lynn, Mass.; Dr. William R. Jepson, 1101 Green St., San Francisco 9, Calif.
KEEPING YOUNG IN HAWAII: Husky DeMerritt '12 and his wire stand in front of their home in Manoa Valley, Honolulu, Hawali.
Secretary, 120 Broadway, New York 5, N. Y. Treasurer,4 Bank Building, Middleboro, Mass. Bequest Chairman,
