Spoke to Louise, wife of John Harrison, who said he is very infirm and can’t really do anything so is very depressed. I am sorry he is not doing better, but Louise sounded great.


I had a long conversation with Renee, widow of Harold Silverman. She said that despite her aches and pains, she pushes herself to lead a very active life and thinks of Harold at least once a day. What could be better than the wonderful marriage they had.


Had a note from Bob McLellan saying I still had his name spelled wrong. He was our class treasurer for 10 years. Says we don’t have any major issues now, so are down to kids’ stuff. Nice to hear from him.


I asked a couple of surviving classmates about their image of Dartmouth in 1932. Marvin Rauch had a vivid recollection of racism with discrimination against Catholics, Jews and men of color. Dartmouth had quotas; fraternities and societies even more so. 


Ed Reich most vividly remembers Fayerweather Hall. His son Bob ’68 was visiting Ed and got on the phone and told me he remembers a beautiful fall in Hanover much like Siberia and like living in a monastery. Bob said he ended up in this wilderness because Ed said he would pay for any college of his choosing as long as it was Dartmouth.


I always loved living outdoors and Dartmouth was a paradise, but felt the same as Bob: It was a monastery. Having always attended coed schools, I felt that the absence of girls diminished Dartmouth.


Sad to report the deaths of Norris Nims, who was an active Dartmouth student. I’m also sad to report the death of John Todd, our very active class agent, among other things.


The great class of ’35 still lives on.


—Edward Gerson, 2400 Mariposa West 3A, Laguna Woods, CA 92653; (949) 829-8400; ejgerson @webtv.net