April 2012 - Alumni News - Williams College

CLASS NOTES
will all remember and miss Doc.
We send our heartfelt condolences
to his wife Marty.”
McGurk also reported that
the construction of his weekly
crossword puzzle keeps his
“brain hard at work, active
and stimulated.” He invites any
interested classmate who is a
puzzle aficionado and an email
receiver to inquire about the
possibility of getting on his list
by emailing semper.eph@att.net.
Finally, McGurk performs yet
another duty: The Alumni Fund
report shows there are 44 class
members on the solicitation list
(down from 248 in September
1939), and as of this writing 50
percent had contributed, many of
them in memory of Doc. By the
time these notes are published
we’re hoping for a donation level
of 80 percent.
Al James, Doc’s good friend
and fellow Deke and a co-leading
light of our class, wrote: “1943
has lost one of its most illustrious
members in the passing of our
friend and leader Doc Phillips. He
came to Williams with a good
mind and left it with powerful
intellect, social graces and
a sense of community. Indeed,
in my view Williams shaped
Doc as much as any one influence.
Little wonder then that
he graduated owning the most
prestigious prize the college
can confer on a member of the
graduating class. Phinney Baxter,
Class of 1914, co-opted Fred
Nathan, Dave Brown and me to
serve as a board to select the
winner. In a matter of minutes
we unanimously picked Doc.
In him the college had one of
its most devoted alumni. We
may, as Macaulay wrote, have
‘bitter tears to shed,’ but they are
not so bitter when we can give
thanks for a life of the richness
of Doc’s.”
Al has sent off his latest Henry
James oeuvre to the University
of Virginia Press. Al is one of the
longest-term and most prolific
“literary lions” in our class,
which has an extraordinary
number of lions.
Our treasurer, Walter Stults,
commented on the magnificent
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job that Doc did as our class
agent and as a leader for almost
70 years of our class’s activities.
Jean and Walter are dividing
their time between Chapel Hill,
N.C., and Georgetown, Maine,
except for one or two trips a
year, mostly cruises “as befits our
years.” Last year they took a trip
up the Amazon, and by the time
this issue is printed, they will
have taken one up the coast of
South America.
Len Eaton, another literary lion,
recalls Doc as a “lively contributor
to the memorable senior
seminars in American history
and literature” (as does your
secretary).
Joan and Bill Wilson’s move to
California “caused a big shakeup”
in Bill’s life. He is glad that
they have retained their contact
with the East through their camp
at Old Forge, N.Y., where they
“will spend a good part of next
summer.”
Ivy and Nip Wilson report from
Fort Myers, Fla., that their own
news was scarce until he found
Sallie Soule (Gardner’s widow)
being interviewed on a local TV
station about her collection of
approximately 140 international
Santa Claus objects. “I may be
the only one here who calls her
‘Senator’ in recognition of her
service for Vermont.” Nip also
reports that he seems to have
battled his thyroid cancer to a
draw and plans to outlive it and
regain his normal speaking voice.
Ken Moore, who is bedridden,
was reading a book that Doc
sent him when he managed to
lose it (in his bed) before he
could finish it. “C’est la vie,”
writes Ken.
Brainerd “Nip” Mears Jr.’s wife
Anne reports that Nip supervised
the disinterment of a fossil mammoth
skull in Rawlins, Wyo.,
in 1961. It has been nicknamed
“Nip” and is on tour across the
country, including Chicago and
New York. On its return, “Nip”
(named after Mears, not Wilson)
will be ensconced in a place of
honor at the newly renovated
University of Wyoming Museum.
Brainerd’s “last hurrah” was to
rescue this part of the museum
from being “axed for budgetary
reasons.” He is now at the
Laramie Care Nursing Home,
P.O. Box 447, Laramie, Wyo.
82073.
Nick Fellner writes:
“Recognizing that 90 has come
and gone, we’ve put our house
on the market and have moved
to Edgehill” (122 Palmers Hill
Road, Stamford, Conn. 06902).
He quickly found two other
alums there. He is relieved that
his doctor has restricted him
from driving “for only one
week.”
Martha Tolles recalls a story
that her late husband Roy (a
founding partner of the law firm
that has represented Berkshire
Hathaway forever) told about
an event where Doc and Marty
were playing bridge with Marty’s
parents. Reaching under the table
to pat Marty’s knee, he patted
the wrong one. Doc handled his
mother-in-law’s surprised reaction
with his characteristic calm
diplomacy. Martha is happy that
she is still writing stories for The
Los Angeles Times, the last one
for the children’s page about the
Civil War.
Renee Hills, whose husband
Don passed away last Aug. 4,
writes, “Don talked about his
days at Williams College often. I
think it was the happiest time in
his life before he was drafted into
the Army.” Renee still belongs
to the Williams Club, although
“It’s not the way it was on 39th
Street—but then what is?”
Also a nice note from Phyllis
Blair, Tom’s widow, mourning
Doc’s death. And a nice
note (and a check to Williams
College) from Mary Stine, John’s
widow. Mary is also a sister
of Len Schlosser ’44 and has a
nephew and a grandson who
attended Williams. She writes,
“It is a privilege to keep up with
what’s going on at Williams”
through the Alumni Review and
Williams People.
As we have been previously
advised, all Williams deaths are
now recorded toward the end of
these publications and will not be
mentioned in this column unless
we have special information or
class comments.
Your secretary attended a preview
at the Century Association
on Jan. 10 of Crazy Horse,
the latest of 39 documentaries
by Fred Wiseman ’51 (Yale
Law ’54) and had an interesting
talk with Fred afterwards.
Wiseman is arguably the greatest
and certainly the most prolific
documentary film producer. One
of his earliest and best known
films, Titicut Follies (1967), so
vividly described a Dickensian
insane asylum in Massachusetts
that a wave of reform followed
its release. Crazy Horse deals
with a Parisian nightclub that
is the leading presenter of nude
ballets. This film opened the following
week (at “art theaters,”
not your local movie house) and