Letters to the Editor

Tuckerman Recalled

I was on the ski team from 1944 to 1945 and skied Tuckerman Ravine a couple of times, but not from the top. I remember staying at Joe Dodge's cabin, climbing the Sherburne Trail in early spring (with much sweating). I remember the 30-degree slope, where we turned around and traversed most of the hill. I remember the awe I had for such skiers as Toni Sailor and Dick Durrance, who schussed the ravine top to bottom going what seemed to be more than 90 mph. By the way, Dick's mother was my house mother. We called her Ma Durrance, and she was a real mother to the whole dorm. I am 78 now and just stopped skiing two years ago due to knee replacements, but I have wonderful memories of 72 years of skiing at the major U.S. ski areas and some of the European resorts.

Hershel Pesner '49
Montreal, Canada

The Amazing Hendersons

Thank you for On Ben's Farm in the winter issue. I love being reminded that what went on yesterday made us what we are today. The picture of "Dad" Henderson leaving town with lots of his belongings tied to his flashy car was especially touching. Noted especially is the white frame crib in which his daughter Helen probably slept. Sadly, too, I noted her obit listing. All three Henderson daughters, Helen '36, Edna '26 and Henrietta '39, were a credit to UNH. Helen and Henrietta led our Northern California alumni chapter and each was a strong, bright woman who made a mark on this world. Edna stayed in Durham and married an architect: When I was an Alpha Xi, she always made sure our behavior was above reproach. Henrietta was in a hospital war unit that followed Patton through Europe. She later became head dietician at UCSF, no small feather in her cap. As a freshman I worked for Dad Henderson, typing his Revolutionary War histories!

Pat Gibson Baker '43
Carmichael, Calif.

Preposition Pedantry

At the risk of appearing to be a pettifogger, I would like to point out an error in Steve Leavenworth's direct quote attributed to Sir Winston Churchill in the last issue's Letters to the Editor. When criticized for his misuse of grammar, Sir Winston replied, "This is the sort of errant pedantry up with which I will not put." I would suggest that this quotation is quite apropos to the entire subject of the column on "To Dangle or Not to Dangle." Having said all that, let me add that this winter issue was extremely well done and reminds me of those wonder-filled days I spent on the campus of UNH more than 50 years ago.

Jean Smith Butler-McGee '49, '58G
Glendora, Calif.

Editor's note: In the winter issue's contest to be the first to find dangling prepositions, our staff grammarian, I.M. Shirley Wright, sent a UNH proofreader's pen to the following alert readers: Kathleen Berube '81G, first by e-mail; Linda Waterhouse Karewa '74, first by phone; Dr. Elaine Gallagher Rodriguez '64, first by online form; and Beverly Fay '60, most thorough.

Reflections of Obituaries

The late professor emeritus Alden Winn (Winter 2006) rendered two other important services to UNH. During the Vietnam war, four Kent State students were killed while protesting ROTC. When UNH students also wished to remove ROTC from campus, Alden demonstrated vision and common sense-along with others, he proposed retaining ROTC and setting up a University Board of Governors consisting not only of military personnel but regular faculty members as well. The board would revamp the ROTC course requirements to include courses that discussed alternatives to war. This, it was averred, would tend to humanize the officer corps that ROTC produced.

Alden also supported the Faculty Council recommendation that a significant number of students serve on the hitherto all-faculty University Senate. To answer the vociferous opposition which stated the students were here to study and not to assist in running the university, the council pointed out that this would defuse faculty-student hostility by providing a forum for rational discussion. Alden and the council also pointed out that once the Vietnam war was over, students would wish to revert back to having their own Student Senate. Indeed, once the war ended, the students left the Faculty Senate on a voluntary basis.

Frank L. Pilar
Professor Emeritus of Chemistry
Durham, N.H.

Corrections: In the Winter '06 issue, an item about the new wing in Kingsbury Hall should have noted that mathematics and statistics also moved back in. "The Lure of Tuckerman" stated Toni Matt flew over the headwall in the 1932 Inferno: It was actually the 1939 Inferno.