History of the class of nineteen hundred thirty-six, Yale College, fifteen-year record, Part 29

Author: Yale College (1887- ). Class of 1936
Publication date: 1952
Publisher: [Place of publication not identified] : Published with the assistance of the Class Secretaries Bureau
Number of Pages: 370


USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > New Haven > History of the class of nineteen hundred thirty-six, Yale College, fifteen-year record > Part 29


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In July, 1944, we started for the Pacific, stopping for a short period on Maui in the Hawaiian Islands, where the outfit was broken up because the need for anti-aircraft artillery had diminished greatly. At this point the Marine Corps pulled my name out of a hat and sent me to the First Marine Division in the Russell Islands, just off Guadalcanal. There I joined the 11th Marines (Artillery), serving as a Battalion Executive Officer, later on the Regimental Staff, and finally as Commanding Officer of the 4th Battalion of that Regiment (155 mm Howitzers). Okinawa was the only landing operation in which I participated, and there as elsewhere from an artillery stand- point the Japanese were outclassed by superior equipment and greater fire power.


With one hundred and forty-three points, I managed to get back to Boston and out of uniform by December, 1945, and immediately went to work for the New England Trust Company, first as a security


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analyst, and later on as a Trust Officer and account manager. In the spring of 1948, the Boston and Maine Railroad hired me to be As- sistant to the Vice President-Finance, a title which covers a multi- tude of miscellaneous duties.


On September 4, 1949, came a big moment in our lives with the arrival of identical twin boys, Nathaniel and Jonathan, who have managed to be, and seem likely to remain, a source of considerable entertainment to the entire family.


Outside of the Yale Club of Boston, my only club affiliation is the Dedham Country and Polo Club, where golf is my chief interest. During the summer months we do considerable sailing at Kenne- bunk, Me., and in the winter a small amount of skiing. At present I am on the vestry of the local Episcopal Church and have enjoyed being on several committees of the town government.


P. H. SMITH; Grace Brothers Ltd., 143/9 Fenchurch Street, Lon- don, England.


After graduation, I joined W. R. Grace & Co., 7 Hanover Square, New York City, in September, 1936, and subsequent to an extensive training period I was sent to Columbia to learn something about the coffee trade. This was a most interesting experience and for all I know I might still be there had not the War assisted in changing my plans.


I resigned shortly after Pearl Harbor and returned to the States to get into the Army. The military science course was somewhat vague at that point and I did not know the difference between a Mil and a Howitzer. Nevertheless, officers seemed to require less qualifi- cations than G.I.s, and I was given a commission as Second Lieuten- ant and assigned to the 94th Infantry Division after several service schools. I went overseas with this Division and was in combat through France, Luxembourg, and Germany and ended the War in Czechoslovakia. This country was so dismal that I asked for a trans- fer and ended up in Munich. Since I had had experience with Grace & Co. in foreign trade I was made a Foreign Trade Officer and given the rather difficult job of stimulating German exports at a time when there were no goods available of any kind, much less for export.


This operation developed into a joint French, British and Ameri- can effort which financed German foreign trade and had the mission of building up exports to the point where Germany was independent of outside aid. This was a most interesting time. I resigned in October of 1950 and returned to W. R. Grace & Co. I am now the Manager of the Grace office in London.


I would like to give a standing invitation to buy a drink, dinner or what have you for any member of 1936 who finds himself in London.


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RALPH BRIGGS SNOW; 28 Ayer Lane, Harwich Port, Mass.


The past five years have been good to the Snows. 1951 finds us established in Harwich Port as permanent residents and content to be Cape Codders for the rest of our lives. Two years ago I opened my own law offices at 53 State Street, Boston, and in Harwich Port, and now divide my time between the two locations. This naturally takes quite a bit of doing, but there still seems to be time left over for the pursuit of happiness with Jane and the kids. The world situation seems no better and not much worse to me than it did at graduation, despite all the water and blood which have run under the bridge since then. There always seems to be a villain and a crisis confronting us, so that we may now consider a state of emergency normal. The Democrats, too, are apparently always with us, and since they are so fond of running the country, let them do the worry- ing. Me, I'm going fishing!


FRANK CHANNING SOULE; 622 Scoville Avenue, Syracuse 3, N.Y.


I graduated on Tuesday and was married on Thursday, in June, '36, to Ruth Gesell, sister of classmate William H. Gesell. At first I was hired by Price, Waterhouse, in New York, and I used to grind nights at the N.Y.U. Graduate School of Business Administration, until I had earned an M.B.A. in Accounting, in June, 1939. I was certified as a Public Accountant in New York in 1940. From 1941 to 1946 I was Treasurer of R. Gesell, Inc., manufacturing chemists, in New York, and since 1947 I have been Treasurer of the Onondaga Radio Broadcasting Corp., operators of station WFBL, here in Syracuse. Since November, 1951, I've also been a member of the staff of Hurdman and Cranstoun, University Building, Syracuse 2, N.Y.


In spare time, I've been active, and have held various offices, in the Syracuse Chapter of the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants; in the Safety Division of the Syracuse Chamber of Commerce; in the Salem Hyde (public) School Community As- sociation; in the Nottingham High School P.T.A .; in the Central New York Yale Club; in the Society for the Advancement of Man- agement; in the Museum of Fine Arts, the Technology Club, and the University Club, all of Syracuse; in the Syracuse Red Cross and Community Chest; and in the St. Paul's Episcopal Church of Syra- cuse. In other words, what can a Yale man do to manage to keep busy in his community?


My hobbies are sailing small boats, mostly at Nantucket; build- ing small boats and an occasional piece of furniture in the basement;


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and gardening-needle and broadleaf evergreens and spring and fall flowers in the back yard.


W. HOWARD SPENCER; 593 Farmington Ave., Hartford, Conn.


The years between college and the war were spent mainly in New York and Chicago, where I worked for the American Tel. & Tel. Co. In New York the work was principally of a statistical nature, and in Chicago, engineering sales work. Among others that I shared bachelor existence with in New York was George Hogle. For a time there were six of us living in an apartment on East 35th St. that became quite well know for good parties. Life in Chicago in 1940 was equally gay and carefree.


When I was drafted in April, 1941, there was an abrupt change in my activities. Now I had such duties as picking up rocks at Camp Forrest, Tenn., where the Illinois National Guard Division had just been sent on active duty. That division was probably no worse than any other guard outfit, but at the time it seemed to me as though no other group could possibly have been so fouled up! When I hap- pened to see a notice that it was possible to be discharged from the Army if one were accepted in the Navy V-7 officer training program, I jumped at the chance.


It worked, and in January, 1942, I went to Annapolis, and in four months came out an ensign. Instead of now being off to the wars as I expected, I was held there to instruct Marine Engineering until the end of 1943.


During 1944 came duty with the brand new U.S.S. Alaska, which was commissioned in June and finally got to the Pacific in December. This was particularly interesting duty for an engineering officer, because the ship was of a new type, a large cruiser-almost as large as the battleships-and built for high speed action. This necessitated a tremendous engineering plant, which was extremely interesting to learn and to help operate.


We operated with Task Forces 38 and 58 (high speed carriers) in the Pacific in 1945, commencing with the Tokyo strikes just before Iwo Jima and continuing through the Okinawa campaign until the surrender. After that we went into Inchon, Korea, for a brief stay and then to Tsingtao, China, while the Marines took over from the Japs and held the Reds at bay until the Nationalists could get in. In December we were back in San Francisco, and I took off for New York and civilian clothes.


In 1946, I went back to the Telephone Co. in Chicago, but I soon decided that I wasn't satisfied with the job or the opportunities for advancement, and I began to look for a change. The opportunity came to return to my home town, Hartford, with the Cushman


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Chuck Co., and I made the move in February, 1947. With them I have been Supervisor of Cost Accounting and have found the work varied and interesting.


The big change in my life came a few years ago when I finally met the right girl, the former Mary Alice Andrews. We were married in May, 1949, at a ceremony in which I was ably assisted by Harry Sloan, even though he had just broken his arm the week before.


During the last few years I've become quite interested in golf, but as yet I haven't been able to get my game much below 90. Bridge has always been a favorite activity, both the social and the more serious duplicate games. For spectator sports I'll take the Brooklyn Dodgers every time (a rabid fan of 20 years standing), and, of course, there's nothing like getting back to the Bowl for a few games each fall!


ROBERT H. SPOCK; Brooks School, North Andover, Mass.


I am assistant headmaster and head of the lower school at Brooks. Still single. Skiing, carpentry, and mountaineering are my main inter- ests or hobbies.


ARNOLD STEIN; 4778 E. 180th Street, Seattle 55, Wash.


Since 1948 I have been associate professor of English at the Uni- versity of Washington, my special fields being 17th Century and con- temporary literature. Hobbies are my poultry and fruit orchard, my hard cider and Kirschwasser. I have one adopted son, Jonathan Wil- liam Robert, who was born on April 29, 1950.


JAMES WILLIAMSON SQUIRES; 529 Sedgefield Road, Charlotte, N.C.


After spending two months trying to figure how anybody expects a man to write an autobiography and avoid the perpendicular pro- noun, I (pardon the expression) am forced by the last of a dozen penny post cards to do something. If I want to say I, I am going to say I, and no damned classbook editor is going to suppress my individuality in the manner of Hitler and Stalin. It is my intention to use the perpendicular pronoun as often as I desire and I will use it horizontally, vertically, and in any other position which I deem proper.


Many of my leisure hours are devoted to bragging about my under- graduate friendship with such 1936 Greats as Toni Wishbone, John Hersey, Grace, et al. Of course, I never knew these men at Yale.


My heart's desire was always to be a stock broker. That there was no Yale major preparing one for such a vocation was a tremendous


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disappointment. I am sorry not to have cultivated the friendship of Lou Walker. He looked so seedy, so much like a bum, that I never realized he was one of Wall Street's finest ??????


Rulane Gas Company and affiliates still exercise the poor judg- ment of keeping me on their payroll. Rube that I am-I still have the same wife. Three daughters grace our household. Politically I am a conservative and have such strong opinions against Harry Truman that my doctor has warned me not to voice them. If any of you fellows are ever in Charlotte, telephone me and ask me out to lunch. I promise you I will never try to borrow any money from anyone in the Class of 1936. I am fortunate enough to have some rich friends in the Class of '35 and '37.


JOSEPH GARDNER STANDART, JR .; 180 Ridge Road, Grosse Pointe 30, Mich.


Having completed five years with Uncle Sammy-a longer hitch than had been devoted to any previous activity, except that of grow- ing up-I returned to civilian life and encountered as many problems as any adolescent brat ever dreamed up. The transition of Standart, A.C., to Standart, Esq., took about eighteen months to accomplish and ten years off the life of those who had to struggle along with me.


During this time I had returned to my old method of gainful em- ployment-advertising, but was making little or no sense, being mainly involved in rediscovering the female sex. Being still unmar- ried, this was a more or less legal occupation, but one frought with all kinds of hazards-some extremely interesting.


Much to everyone's relief, this phase passed, and I finally became accustomed to passing brown-suited men in the street without shift- ing packages to the left hand. Concurrently, a grass widow with three female appendages hove into view, and after much soul searching and long meditation on the theme "Children in the Home-their Past, Present and Future-If Any," the plunge was finally taken. This sauce was not cooked up without a certain international flavor- ing, however, as the question was popped-or should I say pried out-in the forests of deepest Denmark, where the lady in question -and the aforementioned female appendages-were summering. The union has been blessed by a son, Joe III, and the male bird dog can now go back to more nasal pursuits, relieved of the responsibility of lending an attentive ear to my soliloquies on "The Problem of Man Faced by a World of Women."


A year ago, after thirteen years' association with one agency, I left to join another (name on request), where I am currently happily and gainfully employed helping to peddle automotive wares.


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JOHN H. STANGER; Waterloo & Newton Roads, Devon, Pa.


The past five years have treated me and mine as well as anyone could expect. I continue to struggle with the problems of a small finance company. These problems have been made worse by the reinstatement of Regulation W and the recent ups and downs in the automobile market. Once the Federal Reserve Board decides that installment credit is not the only factor involved which leads to inflation, maybe my problems will become somewhat easier.


I continue to try to keep my weight normal by indulging in a little tennis, squash and soccer now and then. Each year, I swear that it will be my last on the soccer field, but the following fall always finds me trying again. However, I find I'm satisfied to play less and less each year, so I guess this athletic endeavor is about over for me.


The past five years were finished up in a blaze of glory at our fifteenth reunion, and those that failed to make it missed the greatest party the class has ever given.


FREDERICK M. STARK; 538 Badgerow Building, Sioux City, Iowa.


After discharge from the Army in August, 1947, one and one-half years were spent in completing a fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. My first venture into the private practice of medicine began in March, 1949, in Sioux City, Iowa, in partnership with Dr. Philip Pugh. Our work has been limited to neurology and psychiatry (so far we haven't found it necessary to do general prac- tice on the side). Sioux City is quite remote from Yale influence (only two other Yale men here), yet doesn't seem to suffer too much from that fact. It is a distributing center for a large area that includes about 25% of the Grade A farm land in the U. S. For anyone who has something to sell, Sioux City should be kept in mind.


At present the Stark children are two in number: Barbara, five, and Carolyn, three. Our son, Richard, is scheduled to be born in March, 1952.


GEORGE ROSS STARR, JR .; Washington Street, Duxbury, Mass.


I moved up here to open country four years ago, and am having a wonderful time practicing general medicine in a small town. In 1941 I married Barbara Kelley of Winchester (Bennington '41), and we have three moppets: George, 3d, nine, Nancy, six, and Gary, four and a half. A tool shop in the cellar, stamps, golf, and a rough course in duck gunning each fall use up what spare time there is.


GEORGE S. STEARNS, JR .; 490 Lincoln Road, New Britain, Conn.


Fifteen years of post-graduate life has been spent fairly close to


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New Haven (thirty miles away), with the exception of the years in the Navy, and most of that in the Pacific as Gunnery Officer on a destroyer escort. Since my marks in Accounting at Yale were the direct result of Hank Allen's coaching, my certificate as a C.P.A. now graces the office walls of Baker, Goodyear & Company, 215 Church Street, New Haven, Conn., and I as a partner.


New Haven seems to be omnipresent since a Professor's (Carl F. Schreiber) daughter consented to try matrimony, and have now been married since 1938. We have one daughter, Dorothy, aged eleven, who has decided opinions about Yale, Yale football, and the Yankees (liking them all, with an occasional bitter comment about last year's Princeton game).


Figuring other people's taxes and auditing corporation books in recent years has given me a jaundiced view of our Administration; also, a deep admiration both for the American People's ability to take it and somehow survive, and for their continuing complacency in putting up with it. Needless to say it is interesting and at times harrowing, but never dull.


When it gets too thick we like to travel, and of late seem to have a preference for the South and Mexico. All of us are enthusiasts for the following, in order named (1) Travel, (2) Golf, (3) Fishing, (4) Skiing, and neither excel nor do badly in any of them. And be- tween times we all seem to get mixed up in the usual Civic adven- tures, such as charities, professional groups, etc. All I know is that we always seem to be busy and now wonder where in h - - - fifteen years have gone.


Reunion to me, last June, was an excellent affair, and thanks to M. D.'s Ferguson, Parker, et al., pulled through safely. To them I give my thanks and await their bill. Am looking forward to 1956 with anticipation, and hope it will be bigger and better if possible.


EDGAR Z. STEEVER; Old Stamford Road, New Canaan, Conn.


A sculptor's life is very rewarding and satisfying, though financially sketchy. Part-time work as shop supervisor in a small factory, teach- ing in art schools, and kiln firing for private potters bring in enough to keep the larder full between jobs and commissions in sculpture. Which means mostly portraits, plaques, animals, tablets and medals. The portraits are scattered about the country in twelve States, and include Allan P. Kirby of the Alleghany Corp .; the Dunning brothers at Columbia School of Dental and Oral Surgery; Dr. L. N. Gay, discoverer of dramamine; and Prof. Adolph Knopf of the Geology department at Yale. Recently executed the award of merit medal for the Silvermine Guild of Artists, whose activities and development I've been closely connected with for some time.


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My opinions on politics, business, the state, labor, and institutions are those of the average, but strongly tainted by the fact that I wouldn't give up time or trade places with anyone. As for the world situation, America still has a contribution to make by developing her creative culture.


Living out in the woods here gives much activity outdoors for our three boys, which we supplement with shore life and sailing in the summer, either on the Chesapeake or the Sound. Last winter we put together a dinghy in the living room, which amused the boys, ex- tended my wife's patience, and, since it was built upside down, gave refuge to the cat from the new dog. So, if you see a knockabout pretty well loaded down sailing somewhere between Norwalk and Stamford, likely it's us.


From many visits to New Haven and Yale, the College seems to have improved-maybe no more waitresses and such trimmings, but the courses and individual treatment are improved. As for the Art School, I'm not sure I can say the same; reorganization has left it lopsided, with two dimensional design and architecture doing fine at the expense of representational painting and sculpture.


We all enjoyed the fifteenth reunion and are looking forward to seeing what happens to everyone after the next five years.


HERBERT MORTON STEIN; 34 Fairway Drive, West Orange, N.J.


When the Navy dispensed with my services in November, 1945, a pre-war associate invited me to join him in a marketing venture which we called Hollis Company. This prospered in a mediocre way for the next four years, but in November, 1949, I joined the adver- tising staff of Ronson Lighters, having succumbed to the lure of big business. In June, 1950, I was appointed Assistant Director of Ad- vertising for Ronson and supervised all TV and radio activities. Currently, we are putting together a new star-studded variety show, which I trust is part of your weekly 'must' entertainment by the time this appears in print.


Not realizing how well off a man is with two children, we took the big step and announced the birth of our third offspring, Herbert Morton Stein, Jr., on November 14, 1950. This necessitated, among other things, larger quarters, which accounts for my new address.


Golf continues to be my favorite outdoor recreation, and music, theater, and reading (mostly trade journals) occupies my time in- doors. However, finding leisure time becomes increasingly difficult -characteristic of the advertising profession.


Certainly enjoyed the reunion this June, and was amazed to find that only up to, and including, the Class of '31 had gotten older.


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RICHARD LEWIS STEINER; 5219 Putney Way, Baltimore 12, Md.


After Yale I spent two years at the M.I.T. graduate school, where I picked up a degree of Master in City Planning and a wife. Jane Seaton Rodman and I were married in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York on June 24, 1939; she was a graduate of the N.Y. Agricultural Institute, the Lowthorpe School of Landscape Architecture, and also had an M.C.P. from M.I.T. I had spent the summer of 1936 with the Mayor's Committee on City Planning in New York City; the next summer as the first traffic analyst for the Maryland State Road Commission; the summer after that as plan- ning consultant to the Lexington, Mass., town planning board. In the fall of 1938 I undertook a rural road inventory and traffic analysis for the Connecticut State Highway Department. From December, 1938, to February, 1941, I was a project planner with the U.S. Hous- ing Authority, Southeastern Region. During the war I served in the Civil Engineer Corps of the Navy, progressing in rank from Ensign to Lieutenant Commander. I worked in the Housing and Real Estate Office of the U.S. Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Fla., with a short time at the end in the Public Works Office of the 10th Naval District, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Since the war I have been Director of the Baltimore Redevelopment Commission, which is engaged in a $15,000,000 slum-clearance project. I'm still active in the Naval Reserve, and was first commanding officer of a postwar volunteer Seabee unit in Baltimore. We have four children: David Lewis, eight, Roland Christian, six and a half, Carol Seaton, five, and Stephen L., two.


My civic and other outside activities have included the First Pres- byterian Church of Baltimore, of which I was formerly deacon and am now an elder; the Maryland State School for the Deaf, and the Egonton Home for orphan girls, on whose board I serve; the Ameri- can Society of Civil Engineers; the American Society of Planning Officials; the National Association of Housing Officials; the Mary- land Association of Engineers; the Engineers' Club of Baltimore; the American Institute of Planners; the UN Association of Maryland; the United World Federalists; the Maryland Sheep Breeders' Asso- ciation; the Maryland Historical Society; the Yale Engineering Association; the Maryland Academy of Science; the Civic Associa- tion of Baltimore; and, formerly, the American Veterans Committee and the Baltimore Junior Chamber of Commerce. I'm listed in Who's Who in Engineering.


We spend our weekends and live during the summer on a farm about thirty miles from the city. We started with fifteen acres and now have a hundred and twenty-five; the main emphasis is on sheep, with some chickens and ducks. We had good corn and wheat crops


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this year, but are still operating in the red because of the necessity for investment in improvement, stock, and eqipment. The farm has a beautiful location overlooking a large city reservoir.


HENRY ROOT STERN, JR .; Old Courthouse Road, New Hyde Park, Long Island, N.Y.


From 1946 to 1952, I was Assistant District Attorney of Nassau County and engaged in private practice of law at 1501 Franklin Ave- nue, Mineola, N.Y., where I shall continue after resignation from District Attorney's Office becomes effective on January 1, 1952.


I'm married, have two children (Geoffrey, four and a half, Peter, two and a half), three dogs, ages and names not pertinent.




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