50th Reunion

So it's 49 years since we left Amherst! And what have I been doing in all that time? I'll try to be brief.

Starting as a group life and health insurance under¬writer with Connecticut General Life Insurance Company in Hartford, CT, I've made group insurance my career and the foundation for 49 years of outside activities. The business has changed almost beyond recognition, but the goal of providing a much needed service is the same as in 1939. Many assignments over the years have prepared me for the latest - keeping CG's group insurance operation abreast of the legislative requirements of 50 states and hopefully in compliance with them.

David Hilbreth
WW-II-radar, thanks to my ham radio background. After that, in 1948, Evelyn Whiting and I were married in her home town of Haverhill, MA. We'll celebrate 40 years together this September. Daughter Ellen arrived in 1950- she's now a Vermonter, married and mother to two girls. Son Edward (Ned) arrived two years later- he lives nearby in Massachusetts with his wife and two boys. We're enjoying watching the grandchildren grow up!

Since 1950 we've lived in Granby, CT, small town where volunteers make things happen. I've worked on the Community Fund, Scholarship Fund, church vestry and, since 1970, with the Granby Drummer, a monthly paper devoted to local news and opinion, published by a volunteer staff under the aegis of Citizens for a Better Granby. This goes free to all townspeople, supported by local advertising. Active involvement with the Brotherhood of St. An­drew, an Episcopal men's organization, has been another long-term activity. With the family grown we're traveling more- here and abroad-and will do more. Around the edges I garden, mow the lawn, write a little, read a lot.

Amherst started me singing and I've never quit. Several years with the University Glee Club of Hartford, two with the Simsbury Light Opera (Gilben and Sullivan), and usually church choirs.
In 1970 I gave up occasional tennis, which wasn't keeping me fit, and started running. This was a landmark decision - I've been on the roads ever since. Out of this grew the Granby Annual6.4 mile Road Race in 1971- now one of the oldest races in Connecticut- which I'm still involved with. Out of this, too, came the chance, starting in 1984, to represent CIGNA, CO's holding company parent, in the U.S. Corporate Track Association's National Relays as an over-55 10K runner. Age has its advantages!

David Hilbreth
The other landmark decision I'll call "the Maine Connection". Since we found a bit of coastal property on the east side of Penobscot Bay in 1959, just down the road a piece from Kim McMullin (though I didn't know that until our 45th), it's affected our summers, and those of our children and their families, as we all use it. We can only be "summer folk "but we'll spend more and more time there on Cape Rosier as retirement draws nearer.
That's about it. We're healthy and contented; what more can you ask?