Class Note 1942
Issue
January-February 2023
We were all saddened to learn of the death of President James Wright and will send a condolence card from the great class of ’42. The College has informed us of our two new class scholars and I encourage you to reach out to them as follows: Chidera Duru ’25 from Lagos, Nigeria, may be reached at chidera.c.duru.25@dartmouth.edu; Matthew Timofeev ’25 from Chalfont, Pennsylvania, may be reached at matthew.i.timofeev.25@dartmouth.edu. They would enjoy hearing from you about your experiences at Dartmouth, especially since you are the WW II class. You could steer them toward Dartmouth at War to learn of this class and its unique experiences in that war.
I just spoke with Jon Mendes, who will turn 102 November 3. He says he is feeling great, walks every day, and gets his own meals. He even has invited me to lunch.
A year ago Irenee du Pont sent me some interesting stories relative to Hanover and Dartmouth—one, “My Favorite Used Car Salesman,” follows.
“On our way to the 65th reunion of ’42 my wife and I approached Hanover on Route 10. In West Lebanon, New Hampshire, we stopped at a familiar store with the sign Bailey’s Auto Parts. The old brick building was the same, but the enormous junkyard where I had bought my 1918 Cadillac had given way to a residential development. As I clicked my camera shutter, a woman’s worried face stared back from the store window.
“To prove that I was not an IRS agent, I entered the store, where a nice young man was standing beside the woman. I explained that 68 years ago I had bought an old Cadillac here from a man named Paul Bond and that the same old 1918 touring car was still running. They looked at each other and giggled.
“ ‘Would you like to talk with him?’ he asked. I hollered out the door for Barbie to come in and we followed the two to the back office, where a man was punching a computer. Eighty-nine-year-old Paul Bond looked up and said: ‘Hello, Mr. du Pont, I remember your Cadillac.’ Aside from loss of hair, he looked just the way I remembered him.”
—Joanna Caproni, 370 East 76 St., Apt. A 406, New York, NY 10021; caproni@aol.com
I just spoke with Jon Mendes, who will turn 102 November 3. He says he is feeling great, walks every day, and gets his own meals. He even has invited me to lunch.
A year ago Irenee du Pont sent me some interesting stories relative to Hanover and Dartmouth—one, “My Favorite Used Car Salesman,” follows.
“On our way to the 65th reunion of ’42 my wife and I approached Hanover on Route 10. In West Lebanon, New Hampshire, we stopped at a familiar store with the sign Bailey’s Auto Parts. The old brick building was the same, but the enormous junkyard where I had bought my 1918 Cadillac had given way to a residential development. As I clicked my camera shutter, a woman’s worried face stared back from the store window.
“To prove that I was not an IRS agent, I entered the store, where a nice young man was standing beside the woman. I explained that 68 years ago I had bought an old Cadillac here from a man named Paul Bond and that the same old 1918 touring car was still running. They looked at each other and giggled.
“ ‘Would you like to talk with him?’ he asked. I hollered out the door for Barbie to come in and we followed the two to the back office, where a man was punching a computer. Eighty-nine-year-old Paul Bond looked up and said: ‘Hello, Mr. du Pont, I remember your Cadillac.’ Aside from loss of hair, he looked just the way I remembered him.”
—Joanna Caproni, 370 East 76 St., Apt. A 406, New York, NY 10021; caproni@aol.com