I am writing this basking in the “balmy” temperature of minus-13 in my small part of New England—quite different from what we are now enjoying.


During the extremely bitter cold winter, primarily through the month of February, my mind daily wandered to the hills of New Hampshire (as it so often does) and wondered about the happenings in Hanover—I know they have received even more snow than Massachusetts so “the crunch of feet on snow” is a wee bit crunchier.


My thoughts brought me to Winter Carnival and Green Key Weekend in 1938. So I went online and, lo and behold, there is actually a silent film of “Winter Carnival Class of 1938.” It was awesome. The film showed speed skating at Occom Pond, slalom at Moose Mountain (which was won by Dick Durrance ’39), the ski jump, the train station of Norwich-Hanover (where very pensive gentlemen were awaiting their guests) and skiing at Bear Mountain. If you have access to a computer, search Dartmouth College and “Winter Carnival 1938”—the film is awe-inspiring. I then searched for “Green Key Weekend” and, although there wasn’t anything for the class of ’38, an article in The Dartmouth on May 15, 2007, referenced the class: “It was the dark, snowy winter of 1899 which prompted the ‘sons of Dartmouth’ to create a spring house party weekend—featuring fraternity parties, female guests from other colleges, athletic events and a prom—to allow the Dartmouth men and nearby colleges’ women to “let their hair down” in celebration of spring. The class of 1900 had discovered yet another reason to import women onto campus.” An excerpt from a 1938 editorial in The Dartmouth says it all: “Hanover is God’s gift to women this weekend, as hundreds of the proverbial fair sex invade the New Hampshire plain from the world at large. By train, car, hook or crook, the belles will barge into this normally peaceful hamlet.”


Unfortunately, I wasn’t there. However, I feel as though I was, having listened to the memories relived over many years of togetherness and comraderies with the class of ’38. So, thank you for these wonderful memories I have!


So enjoy this wonderful time and remember you are always with me. Stay well!


—Jean M. Francis, 2205 Boston Road, O139, Wilbraham, MA 01095