It was incumbent on me to make it to Harvard Stadium last October 28. As your class secretary, I was eager to deliver an on-the-scene report about the Big Green breaking the curse of 13 straight losses to the Crimson. Alas and alack, it wasn’t to be, and we lost a heartbreaker 25-22 despite being favored with a much better record. We’ve now been humiliated in 20 of the last 21 games with Harvard. Most younger alumni would not be aware or remember that we had a similar drought playing Yale from the very start in 1884, when we tried to contest with an intramural squad and lost to the Elis 113-0. The games were much closer after that, but it wasn’t until the 20th encounter that Dartmouth finally prevailed, 14-6, in 1935. It’s been almost even-steven since, with Dartmouth holding a 40-39 edge.

John H. “Jerry” Holdridge passed away in July 2001 and is overdue for well-earned recognition. He and I teamed up at 401 North Mass dorm for just the wartime speedup summer semester of 1942. He left after that term for West Point, graduating there in 1945. He then switched from the Army in 1948, spending two years at the Foreign Service Institute, Cornell and Harvard to become fluent in Mandarin Chinese. After foreign postings at several Far East embassies and advancing to director of Asian affairs at the U.S. State Department, he was brought to the national security staff by Henry Kissinger. Jerry then sat with President Nixon and Kissinger during the conference with Premier Zhou Enlai in the 1972 breakthrough trip. Jerry held ambassadorial positions in Singapore and Indonesia later on. When he passed on in July 2001, he left behind wife Martha, a daughter, two sons and six grandchildren.

—Bud Street, 99 Locust Lane, Barnstable, MA 02630; (508) 362-3780; mlnbud@comcast.net