Cornell Alumni News - eCommons@Cornell - Cornell University

Rink has paid off hugely in 10 years. It has
helped that our Λg College has had a potent
academic attraction for Canadian boys;
the three fabulous Ferguson brothers came
from as far away as Birsay, Saskatchewan,
for instance. Their father, a wheat grower,
came to Boston for the Easterns, then to
Ithaca to await the tournament, which was
held in the War Memorial in Syracuse and
sponsored by Colgate and Hamilton. I had
a lovely couple of hours piloting him
through Day Hall, Sage Chapel, and Olin
and Uris libraries, and seeing the delight at
the Ferguson name when I introduced him
to friends. Another name to conjure with
on campus right now is that of Ned Harkness,
the phenomenal coach, who last spring
also took on lacrosse and gave us that Ivy
crown.
We should soon be growing some of our
own hockey players, just as the Ithaca area
has long been a fruitful source for Cornell
wrestlers; the Peewee hockey program has
kept Lynah full of shouting kids and sleepy
fathers Saturday mornings from five until
noon all winter. So Ithaca hasn't completely
gone to the dogs, in spite of the antics of
a noisy bunch of activist-authoritarian students.
The Cornell Conservative Club sponsored
a talk by Senator Strom Thurmond,
entitled "Why Not Victory?" in Alice Statler
Auditorium which attracted about 700,
all quite well-behaved; there was some
pointed questioning but the straight-forward
answers were listened to and many were
applauded.
But I stray from chronicling '14 doings.
If this reaches you early enough in May,
remember the 1914 dinner at the Cornell
Club of New York Tuesday, May 16; probably
the clan will start gathering by five
or before. After Walter Addicks had made
all the arrangements, he and Sue took off
in mid-February, loafing down toward
Florida, with Clearwater Beach as the objective.
He deserved a rest, after a strenuous
summer and winter with continuous
visits to doctors, dentists, and hospital tests.
They expected to be back about April 1.
Feb. 20, Ike Carman sent me a photostat
copy of the signatures of all those present
at the 30th Reunion dinner that we held
in New York at the Club on Oct. 27, 1944,
in lieu of the Ithaca Reunion that was
washed out by a certain war. Seventy-six
men signed, plus C. L. (Bull) Durham '99.
I have my copy tucked away somewhere
and will give this one to the Collection of
Regional History eventually. It was fun
reading over the names, many of them still
among the faithful who attend our annual
New York dinners now, but not so pleasant
to see so many who have since passed on. I
also remember what a 1915 sparkplug Ike
Carmen was in those eventful years.
George Barnes keeps plugging away at
making a good showing for the class on the
Alumni Fund. He wrote on March 3 that
our total to that date was $13,975, from 83
givers, 31.2 per cent of possible donors. He
said we "compare very favorably" with
nearby classes; that doesn't satisfy George,
who plainly wants to echo our hockey fans'
chant: "We're No. 1." He complains of very
slow progress after his heart attack, though
has assurance that it really is progress. He
also reported that it snowed in Andalusia
for a few hours before turning to rain,
something very rare for South Alabama.
Talking of warmer climes, Bert and Marjory
Halsted sent us a postcard from San
Diego of the hotel and its pool in Coronado.
The p.c. reads: "The Turquoise Pool
is filled with warm, filtered salt water,
pumped from 300-foot wells." I don't quite
"dig it," but it must have been satisfactory,
because they were usually there from noon
to 2 p.m., and this was late February.
"Spike" Murray wrote me pleasantly from
Morrisville, Pa., saying: "I see Leon Slack
once in a while—he's going good and believe
it or not, he's six years older than I—
his father died only last year—they said he
was 99 but I think he was well over 100.
Also get a nice letter every Christmas from
Don Rice but never see him any more; he's
a good friend too." Spike subscribes to the
Cornell Sun, to get more detailed reports
on games than the N.Y., Philadelphia, and
Trenton papers carry. He was delighted to
see a two-page ad by the Cornell Alumni
Committee for Balanced Education. I was
one of the signers, along with Carl Ward
and "Doc" Peters. It and an accompanying
story will appear in this issue of the News,
I believe. Do not be too disturbed about the
Sun's editorial pronouncements, Spike. It is
a lively paper, but almost totally unrepresentative
of student sentiment.
Burt Brodt wrote Dick Ainsworth and me
a joint letter March 3, starting it with: I
would refer to both of you by your initials.
Being what is known as a scan reader, I am
being stopped dead by sudden reference to
a person or a government agency or some
other organization by two, three, or four
letters, and I have to go back and see if a
name is mentioned anywhere. For instance,
the AFL is devoted either to labor or football,
but football can be labor and labor
often plays football with issues. I am convinced
that the English language will shortly
be destroyed by initials. This reminds me of
the "new math." I read some lessons on it
in the newspaper and decided that I was too
old a dog for this trick." Burt will be glad
to know that we had a nice phone call from
Gilbertsville by Florence Ainsworth the
other night to report that Dick gets a kick
out of news of classmates in this column.
'15
Men: Arthur C. Peters
155 E. 50th St.
New York, N. Y. 10022
Le Clair Smith of Pittsburgh, 17 Cumberland
Ave., makes a splendid suggestion
for all classmates who are planning to visit
EXPO 67, Canada's Centennial World's
Fair at Montreal this summer. Accomodations
represent a major problem but he
points out that Plattsburgh, only 60 miles
south of Montreal, located on beautiful
Lake Champlain, has many facilities, including
two new motels, Howard Johnson
and Holiday Inn which would solve the
problem for those driving up or willing to
use Greyhound bus service. Greyhound will
run buses hourly from there to the Fair,
thus eliminating parking problems as well as
hotel crowding for those who reserve early.
He thinks this might be a good time and
place for an informal get-together about the
Friday June 9th weekend and generously
offers to arrange reservations for those interested,
who write at once, addressing him
at Kent-Delord House, Plattsburgh. This
cooperation merits some takers and many
thanks.
A note from Carl E. Battey, 2370 N.
Altadena Dr., Altadena, Calif., tells of
spending a week in Tucson, Ariz, after
visiting the Don Palmers, '16 there, for a
few days. He also had luncheon with Tim
Munn '13, whom he had not seen since the
old days on the Hill. The talks covered all
the old-timers from 1912 to 1917 as well as
Fred Ebling, '09, of his brother's class Tim
teaches at the U of Arizona part-time and
states that a number of Cornell men are
teachers there.
Albert S. Crawford's new address is 1960
Greenfield Rd. in his old home town of
Birmingham, to which he returned after his
wife's death. He is now neurological consultant
in research projects on strokes at
Rehabilitation Institute, Detroit, Mich.
Clark D. Abbott, who "misbehaved
healthwise in '66," but is coming back
strong, writes that "recent letters from John
H. Alsop, Luther Banta, and T. Burns
Brown indicate all are well and leading active
lives, although retired. He confirms a
detailed report from Sherman M. Grant,
whom he sees frequently, that Sherm's new
car was ruined when a 19-year-old boy
crashed into him, driving a car he had
owned but a few hours. Only a rugged
physique and what the medics described as
a "good thick skull" enabled him to weather
the shock of the impact, which loosened
three ribs, broke his bowling arm, injured
his knee, etc. But he is right back in the
driver's seat of a new Plymouth Belvedere.
Russell B. Bean also wrote to Clark of interesting
travels in Europe last summer. He
has been trying to retire for some time from
the fire protection business he built and has
operated for years in Salt Lake City.
Dr. Lloyd E. Moore, after a winter at
Vero Beach, Fla., expects to resume his
permanent residence at Star Rt., Hagaman.
Meyer Brechsler writes that living at 7207
Bay Dr., Miami Beach, Fla. "sure beats the
wintry north." He revels in daily swimming.
Frank Fielding has reminded us that we
are indebted to "a guy yclept Grant Schleicher,"
to Ί6's Secretary Birge Kinne, for
graciously providing us with extra copies of
the excellent brochure, commemorating
their Big 50th Reunion, which was prepared
for the class and donated by the late Larry
Gubb, who died before it was produced. As
Frank said, "It was a honey."
A different 50th anniversary was observed
by J. Arthur Buhr. It was not a
golden wedding but a business celebration,
marking his 50th year of association with
the F. H. Lawson Co., now in its 150th
year. He termed it "the oldest sheet metal
products manufacturer west of Pittsburgh."
By spending winters at Belleair Bluffs,
Fla., Howard Wright beats the heat shortage
in Oconomowoc, Wis., where his permanent
residence is 3844 Black Hawk Dr.
He reports that the Frank Cartwrights of
Canandaigua stopped for a visit and "a few
good golf games resulted." Son Robert married
Connie Hollister '42 and lives in nearby
Hartford, Wis. The Wrights have eight
grandchildren, two of them married. They
make a bid for 1915 class championship
with one great-granddaughter. Clifford Cro-»
nan of Shelburne Falls, Mass., writes,
"We're OK. Had a visit from Walter and
Marion Phillips last November. Our son,
Calvin has been made editor-in-chief of
McGraw-Hill's Chemical Engineering Magazine."
Gerald F. Heaϊy operates his real-estate
business from Flint, Mich., but gets down
to his branch at West Palm Beach, Fla.,
the Healy Realty Co., on some of the most
desirable occasions. Gerald gets around as
a real estate counselor and recently spent
some pleasant days at meetings in Freeport,
Grand Bahama, Miami, and New Orleans.
'16
"Dear Birge:
Men: Franklin Thomas
10 Chestnut St.
Garden City, N.Y. 11040
I have reserved the Sun Room at the
Statler Club for dinner for the 1916 group,
so far about 15 of us, for the evening of
June 16, 1967 (Friday of Reunion Weekend).
I did this in mid-March last through
Terry Geherin, who is the Alumni secretary
in charge of "Older" classes trying
to have informal Reunions. Well do I re-
May 1967 49