Class Notes | 1940s

Camp Hale, the site of the training of the 10th Mountain Division, is now going to be renovated and I am part of the committee that is deciding what should happen to it. It is now a national monument and it was very important to the development of the entire ski industry in Colorado. Senator Michael Bennet ’87, a group of local historians, the forest service, and so forth, are going to meet in September about the particulars and specifics to make this site attractive and informative for the general public. As a member of the committee, I am one of the few remaining veterans who was at Camp Hale during World War II.

The 10th Mountain Division trained at Camp Hale for about two years before we went to Italy for our assignment, which was to drive the Germans out of the Apennines, across the Po River Valley, up to the Alps, and then to the other pass to prevent them from getting into Austria and joining the German troops. We did this in five months, until the war ended.

I will keep you informed over the next months about the progress and particulars of the efforts to renovate the old Camp Hale site. The best book on the subject of the 10th Mountain Division is Soldiers on Skis by Flint Whitlock and Bob Bishop. I recommend that you get a copy to learn about this unique and elite military history. I hope to have specifics by our next issue of the magazine.

Slán go fóill.

Bob Wylie shared: “A comment as to the age of graduates immediately following the war: As many were veterans, ages were in the mid-20s, which now reflects those in their late 90s. There are few of us left, indeed I know of only four. Fortunately, I have my memories of Wesleyan—the institution, the faculty, social life (even without girls), and my fellow students. They are all cherished.”

Since my last column, it has been very gratifying to me to receive the number of favorable comments from so many alumni. When you get to be probably the only member of the class, it’s better to receive information from outside its confines than to just sit and talk to yourself. I have no word from any individual from the class, the actual class of 1945, so I speak for all or none as you wish. As a result of the recent publicity I received in dealing with matters of the 10th Mountain Division and Camp Hale becoming a national monument, I can now tell you that the Denver NBC station is planning a documentary concerning the 10th Mountain’s influence on not just land and monuments but also the impact on the economy that the development of the ski industry in Colorado has bought. When the members of the 10th Mountain Division came back from Italy, numbers of them came back to Colorado and settled into building ski resorts. Such places as Vale, Copper, Arapaho, et al., were built by entrepreneurs who saw a need and filled it. Not only ski resorts but the entire ski industry—for instance, manufacturing new and better skis, improving boots, safety harnesses—all the gear associated with skiing came under their observation and development. As a consequence, Colorado has become famous for its ski offerings and famous in all areas of the ski industry from the planks people now ski on to the post-skiing fireside delights that the resorts offer.

I am proud of my association with the 10th Mountain Division, am happy in being part of all that it has offered and brought to Colorado, and am satisfied that out of all this will come some significant development of the old Camp Hale site. It was a pleasure for me to get to know two alumni senators, Michael Bennet ’87 and John Hickenlooper ’74.

As we used to say in parting, “Ski heil.”

Slán go fóill.

One note this time, from Bob Wylie: “After a career in the man-made fiber industry and 60 years residence in Greenwich, we moved to Meadow Ridge, a long-term care facility in Redding, Connecticut. Although we kept in touch with numerous classmates through the years, there are only two or three remaining. Fortunately, one of our children, a Wesleyan grad, makes sure we attend at least the Homecoming game.”

Your scribe, Bud Lovett, has been hard at work getting Colorado’s Camp Hale established as a national monument. Bud worked with the state’s senators, Michael Bennet ’87 and John Hickenlooper ’74, on this project. He said more details to come next issue.

I received a couple of responses to my request for news.

Bob Wylie kindly wrote in with this update: “I was a World War II veteran at Wesleyan but doubt that there are any left. After Wesleyan, I entered the corporate world and eventually became a vice president of marketing at Celanese and Hoescht. My wife Karen and I and our four children lived in Greenwich for 50 years, but we recently moved to Meadow Ridge, a senior living facility in Redding, Connecticut. Over time I attended the Advanced Management Program at Harvard, and as my interest has been in history, I obtained two master’s degrees at the New School and Western Connecticut State University. I ran for political office and was soundly defeated, but I successfully managed a number of successful candidates. I am 97, have given up driving, but not Scotch.”

Dick Steuart sent a note too. He said that he couldn’t recall which class he would have been in officially—1949 or 1950—but he attended Wesleyan for one year. He had some association with one of the fraternities, but not as an official member. He also competed on the swim team. Upon leaving Wesleyan, he joined the army and entered West Point, graduating in 1950 and, soon afterward, was in the Korean War. “During 27 years in the army, I served in numerous countries throughout the world, but still have fond memories of Wesleyan. One of my Wesleyan classmates was Chuck D. Stone. With regards, Dick Steuart.”

It would have been one of my 100th birthday wishes to gather with my friends.

Each of us six—Bill Cunningham ’47, Peter Hemmenway ’48, Frank Bowles ’44, Phil Dundas ’48, Tex Reynolds ’48, and I—would come together at Sal’s to play a round of liar’s dice and quaff a cheap beer. We were all teachers from 1947 through 1986, and we had seen great changes over those years. Each had taught secondary, three had gone on to college teaching, and we agreed that time back then had been given to subject matter that required thinking for oneself, not as you were told to think. We urged students to study facts, not opinions. We hoped that they would learn that in a world so little understood there should be room for two to be mistaken. Two on the same side or on opposing sides? Two people? Two causes? Two subject matters? Two truths? Party over, we broke up still clinging to our belief that subject matter is better for fact rather than opinion, which can lead to preaching morals or ethics, or racial outrage or sexual anguish. Some subject matter is better suited to the classrooms of religion or medicine, or even the home, we argued among ourselves. We lamented the passing of the time when students accepted that they had not lived long enough to know who was or was not qualified to teach what, nor should free speech be free only when it says what you want to hear. We had worried, too, about the current stage of political correctness. Why multiple valedictorians? Why euphemisms for words denoting sex or gender, or race? Have we become so fearful of being accused of being prejudiced that we make verbal pablum of robust words; and that is simply obsequious censorship. We last remnants of the class of 1945 urge the inclusion of factual history as subject matter, for we hear echoes of the suppressions of our past. Remember the fraternity landmarks? We 45ers remember what we fought for. Censorship was not among our ideals. Nor are foul discourse, rampage, or gun madness.

Slán go fóill.

Greetings, Class of 1949 (and earlier years too)!

I’ve conditionally agreed to be the new Class Secretary for our class, as long as you have some news to share. You can call me or write to me—two or three sentences about what you’re doing would be great.

A little about myself: After Wesleyan, I raised a family and spent 10 years as a professional Boy Scout executive and World Book Encyclopedia manager, and 23 years selling high school textbooks in Connecticut. In the latter half of my life, I was an advocate for LGBTQ+ issues, especially as it related to the Boy Scouts of America and to creating open and affirming church relationships within the United Church of Christ. There was an article recently written about me that talks about this:

https://www.zip06.com/profile/20220302/speaking-out-for-positive-change-david-knapp.

Any Wesleyan alumni from this era who would like to talk with me about anything (other than politics), feel free to contact me by phone or email (see below). I have lived a very interesting, fulfilling, and unusual life since retirement.

Thank you,

Dave

We were very sorry to hear of the passing of Edward J. Huth on November 2, 2021, at the age of 98. His wife Carol wrote to us to say, “Ed always spoke very highly of his years at Wesleyan. He was particularly influenced by Fred Millet who thought highly of Ed’s writing ability, using him to copy read a book he was publishing. Millet also included one of Ed’s papers in his Christmas greeting. Wilbur Snow was another teacher Ed remembered with gratitude.” Our most sincere condolences to Carol and their family.

My birth came in July 1922, so 2021 was my 100th Christmas and still no pony. That sobering thought set me thinking about “time’s wingèd chariot.” There was a time when the focus in the high school classroom was on teaching the fundamentals—reading, history, English composition—and setting an example of what it meant to be a good student and decent human being. During the early 1950s, Bill Cunningham ’47 and I were teaching at Chicago Latin and were eager to send good young men to Wesleyan. With the help of Don Eldredge ’31 and Jim Wood 1915, we first persuaded David Noble ’56, followed by Jack Dearinger ’57, Bill Wallace ’57, and Norm Wissing ’57, to attend Wesleyan. Over the past dozen years, Dave and I have corresponded occasionally, and currently Jack and I are in contact. Sad to say, Norm has died, and of Bill, I have known nothing since he entered Wesleyan. They were good students and good men. In 1986 the University of Chicago named me Outstanding Secondary School Teacher. You four taught me how to become that teacher. Thank you. I miss the classroom.

Slán go fóill.

FRANCIS W. LOVETT | lovettfrancis@gmail.com

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