Charlie Abbe, my high school friend and freshman roommate, returned, as usual, to Concord, New Hampshire, from his Englewood, Florida, winter watering hole in April. Charlie is the fortunate owner of an island retreat on a remote lake in the State of Maine. This year “ice out” occurred on May 1 and he was there, rod and reel in hand, ready for the first trout of the season. The island and its cottage have been part of Charlie’s life since his boyhood.
Alex Hoffman and I seem to have at least two things in common: We are both members of the Dartmouth class of 1950 and we both yearn for news from classmates. Alex writes the ’51 column for the Tuck School alumni magazine, and during a recent very pleasant phone conversation he lamented the paucity of class news. Those of you who have written, e-mailed or called me know who you are. Thanks! Let’s hear from the rest of you. Alex and Twinks have recently moved from East Dorset, Vermont, to Manchester, Vermont.
I make it a practice not to call my classmate’s wives. But when two or three days passed with no response from Jack Harned after I had left word for him to call me, I called Jilly on her cell phone. I was concerned that Jack might be ill. Not so. I had reached her on what may have been the first tee of a golf course. Jilly whispered, “Nev, we have to whisper. Someone is about to tee off.” Following that event Jack got on the phone and told me that they are temporarily living with their daughter in Niantic, Connecticut, while waiting to get occupancy of their new Connecticut apartment. Their own tee time had arrived—end of conversation.
Joe Medlicott, who, being somewhere in his 80s, sounds about 30 on the phone. He has recently returned from a 12-day sojourn in England, where he enjoyed great weather and visited the hometowns of Thomas Hardy and other important writers. I neglected to ask if he had caught Stonehenge.
We see Clift and Joan Whiteman quite often since they are now year-round residents of Vero Beach. Florida. Clift and I share notes on the frustrations of dealing with Comcast, the world’s most thoughtless company. I’m sorry—that’s all, folks.
—Nev Chamberlain, 1835 N. Garden Grove Circle, Vero Beach, FL 32962; (772) 569-2893; ranevero03@aol.com
