As I write I am feeling nostalgia for my freshman year in 1939, with New England foliage, cooler nights, and brilliant days. Six of us from Middle Mass were having a late-night snack on Main Street. A waitress walked by and Nobu Mitsui blurts out, “That gal is built!” Bill Ahern and Bob Purdy are stunned. I am speechless. And then Howie Thomas taps Nobu on the shoulder and says, “Welcome to America!”

Nobu was quiet and reserved but not secretive. He said he had always had a tutor in English during his youth. He knew words from Webster’s Dictionary that I had never heard of. And he readily admitted that American slang and idioms confused him. Nobu was also highly intelligent—even majoring in physics!—and for much of his time at Dartmouth he surrounded himself with like-minded students.

Middle Mass—perfectly placed equidistant to Main Street, classrooms, and Baker Library—was also home then to 96 students. Other ’43s included Bill Whitmarsh, Henry Inge, Hud Wilson, Will Gray, Earl Harris, Martin Kane, Bill Glovsky, Stan Sandberg, Gardner Colson, Harold Fuller, Varnum Mead, Roy Collingswood, Herb Harrigan, George Burke, and John Hatheway.

Our class sends heartfelt condolences to the family of Chester Solez, M.D., who died on January 30 in Guilford, Connecticut. He was the youngest member of the class, born on May 6, 1923, in Brooklyn. Chet was an early selectee for Phi Beta Kappa.

—George Shimizu, 2642 Saklan Indian Drive, Apt. 2, Walnut Creek, CA 94595; (925) 937-2504; marymariko@comcast.net