Class Note 1945. I was reminded once again of the unique Dartmouth experience of the class of 1945 when I recently saw the play Dear Jack, Dear Louise. It is a heartwarming play about the real-life courtship of the playwright’s parents. They “met” and shared their lives and dreams all through correspondence as the war kept them apart. They fell in love long before their first face-to-face meeting, as a shy military doctor slowly opened his heart to a lively aspiring actress who lived in Brooklyn.
The letters from Jack were sent from many of the same places from which my dad, Spence Johnson, sent letters to my mom. Belgium, France, and Germany were postmarks for both. When the war ended Jack managed to get back to New York to meet Louise in Times Square. I imagine there were hundreds of letters written home by classmates to their future wives and the reunion at the end of the war was as poignant and touching, if not far more so, than it was in the play.
News from Hanover is exciting, as construction on new dorms and restoration of the older dorms continues and the students wrap up winter term. The Skiway buses in front of Rauner have come and gone all winter, and the sledding hill at the end of Occom Pond has been remarkably busy.
I hope the new year has started off well for all, and that spring will soon be popping up in all your gardens.
—Martha Johnson Beattie ’76, 6 North Balch St., Hanover, NH 03755; (603) 667-7611; mbeattie76@gmail.com