This column features remembrances of many pleasant interludes involving Donald Z. Sokol. Coming to Dartmouth from New Britain, Connecticut, Don pledged Gamma Delt but was an integral part of my closest social group centered at Tau Epsilon Psi. On every big weekend someone would invariably utter the words, “Out the back window to the Gamma Doodle house,” and we would all head over to Don’s house for continuing revels. After Dartmouth came the U.S. Army and I was stationed at the Frankfort Arsenal in Philadelphia. Donnie, now married to the lovely Linda, was stationed at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. Marsha and I spent many enjoyable evenings with Don and Linda playing a board game called Portfolio, eating out and laughing our way through military service. These times cemented a lifelong relationship that still endures. Sometime during the 1970s Marsha and I visited the Sokols in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, where Don was an ear, nose and throat doctor for a large part of the surrounding countryside. We had the opportunity to see Don’s huge collection of aeronautical memorabilia and toured around in his 1936 Ford Convertible. Lots of laughs and good times.


I interrupt to honor three classmates who have passed on. The Dixieland Jazz Band this time is the Granite State Stompers that I recently heard performing at Eastman. Here comes the band now, marching up Main Street led by Samson Occom. Behind the band this time are Yong Suk Chae, William C. Lary Jr. and Arthur Zich. We bow our heads in silent tribute to these newly fallen classmates.


Now, back to Sokol remembrances. In 1984 Don sold his medical practice, his home in Pottstown and his aeronautical collection when he joined the U.S. Air Force. We subsequently visited with the Sokols in Wiesbaden, Germany, the Cotswold area of the United Kingdom, and Albuquerque, New Mexico. No more space.


“This poem an expression of love,


For friends that are true cuts above;


Two rare shining gems,


Two crème de la crèmes,


A couple that fits hand to glove.”


—Joel D. Ash, P.O. Box 1733, Grantham, NH 03753; (603) 863-3360; joel@poeticlimericks.com