Downtown New Haven Good Time and Happy Fellows Club

TGP arrived in New Haven in the fall of 1955.  As a freshman on the Old Campus, he met Rocko and Bob because they were in his entryway.  Paul was in three of his classes because the pre-meds were together in alphabetic order.
There were eight of them sophomore year, but for junior and senior year, they were six strong.  They called themselves the Downtown New Haven Good Times and Happy Fellows Club.  Apparently, they frequently led off dinner in Calhoun College by blowing the curtain rod that they turned into a horn (and later engraved with DNHGTHFC).  Toot de de toot do toot. TGP stood behind the tall guys, Ted and Paul.  They are pictured below in all of their glory, with the brass horn across their laps.

Paul (Killer) Killenburg

Horace (Rocko) Montague

Clyde Jones

D Vertrees (Holly) Hollingsworth  (I refer to him as TGP)

Ted Calhoun

Bob Laird

Pha was, of course, the "exalted blower".
Clyde was the "Immortal water closet"
Rocko was the "Imperial Banger of the Board"
There were other names, but himself can't really recall them at this point.

There were ample other adventures.  Rocko and TGP were discussing just this past weekend  who first met Louie, the white lab rat.  Rocko thought that Killer put it on TGP's desk.  TGP is confident that it was Laird's desk, because Laird was a serious studier.  Killer had "borrowed" Louie from the chem lab.  Whoever met him first, Louie became a staple for the DNHGTHFC.  Louie lived in the player piano in the living room of the suite.  Louie liked it there because it was warm, but objected strenuously whenever anyone actually played the piano.  Louie also tended to participate in the poker games that were a regular staple of the suite.
The roomies have made a nice habit, especially over the last 30 or so years, of spending some time together.  Here they are in 1982, while the first of their progeny (?could that be me?) was in New Haven.  I shared Calhoun with Killer's boy, Chris, starting my junior year.  Note the bananas are now overripe.

Jones, Laird, Killenburg, Montague, Hollingworth

There is a VHS of the 35th reunion that I hope to get converted and posted.  TGP does a lot of the talking for the class of '59.  On an interesting side note, in Pinehurst, if a VHS tape goes bad, you have to go to the porno store to get it fixed.  But, we will post what we can from that VHS tape when we can.

Fast forward to 2011.  Killenburg died suddenly last year.  Laird and Rocko made it to Pinehurst on Thursday for a last visit with TGP.  The club now includes wives, since it is hard to get everyone together.

Lifelong friendships are a precious thing.


In recalling all of this, Pha says "We thought we were the cat's pajamas".  I suspect they really were.