>Date: 26 Jan 2004 14:20:37 EST
>From: D.Kenneth.Dahl.68@Alum.Dartmouth.ORG (D. Kenneth Dahl 68)
>Subject: Captain Kangaroo
>To: Benjamin.J.Flickinger@Dartmouth.EDU, Alexander.D.Talcott@Dartmouth.EDU
>Cc: Emmett.M.Hogan.01@Alum.Dartmouth.ORG (Emmett M. Hogan 01), Samuel.A.Dahl.02@Alum.Dartmouth.ORG (Samuel A. Dahl 02), Joel.T.Dahl@Dartmouth.EDU
Date: 26 Jan 2004 13:54:44 EST
From: Nelson.Armstrong@Dartmouth.EDU (Nelson Armstrong)
Subject: Captain Kangaroo
To: D.Kenneth.Dahl.68@Alum.Dartmouth.ORG
…..and held an honorary degree from Dartmouth as well.
Nelson Armstrong
Director, Alumni Relations
6068 Blunt Alumni Center
Dartmouth College
From: D. Kenneth Dahl 68
Subject: Re: Captain Kangaroo
To: Nelson.Armstrong@Dartmouth.EDU (Nelson Armstrong)
Cc: Samuel A. Dahl 02, Joel.T.Dahl@Dartmouth.edu
— You wrote:
Mr. Dahl,
Thank you for your messages regarding Mr. Keeshan. Please know that while he when to school and graduated from Fordham, he was an adopted member of Dartmouth’s Class of 1942.
Nelson Armstrong
Director, Alumni Relations
6068 Blunt Alumni Center
Dartmouth College
— end of quote —
That would explain why and how I’d always heard back in the day that Captain Kangaroo was a Dartmouth alum, as well as that my son, Sam Dahl ’02 had heard the very same story independently from me.
That also explains his being listed on the DND and the alumni directory as a ’42, for which he was clearly rather too young.
Can you explain–does anyone still know?–why and how the Class of ’42 came to adopt him?
Well, then, why NOT mourn his passing on the Dartmouth website?
Ken Dahl ’68
Date: 23 Jan 2004 21:18:58 EST
From: D. Kenneth Dahl 68
Subject: Captain Kangaroo–SORRY
To: webmaster@dartmouth.edu, Alumni.Relations@Dartmouth.edu
I’m a victim of an urban legend, Big Green variety. When I was an undergrad, it was common knowledge that Captain Kangaroo was a Dartmouth grad. I just found Bob Keeshan’s bio through Google, and alas, alack, he was a Fordham alum. Sorry for the trouble.
Ken Dahl ’68
Date: 23 Jan 2004 18:52:25 EST
From: D. Kenneth Dahl 68
Subject: Captain Kangaroo
To: webmaster@dartmouth.edu, Alumni.Relations@Dartmouth.edu
a.k.a. Bob Keeshan, just died in nearby Quechee, VT.
If I recall correctly, he was a Dartmouth alum, just like Fred Rogers and Dr. Seuss.
Shouldn’t Dartmouth put some sort of a memorial up on its website, and soon?
Ken Dahl ’68
Friday, January 23, 2004
Re: Spooky
Are we sure Captain Kangaroo was a Dartmouth alum? Dartmouth’s Robert Keeshan was a class of ’42 according to the DND, which would mean the Robert Keeshan who was Captain Kangaroo, born in 1927, either attended as a teenager and was set to graduate by the time he was 15, or they are two different people entirely.
Update: A reader has informed me that he received an honorary degree from Dartmouth, but only attended Fordham after going into the armed forces near the tail-end of WWII.
Posted by Ben Flickinger at 2:24 PM
Spooky
A day after I posted the story about the Mr. Rogers requiem, another Dartmouth alum and children’s entertainer dies
RIP, Captain Kangaroo
Posted by alex talcott at 1:39 PM
Robert Keeshan (Captain Kangaroo, US TV) graduated Forest Hills High School, New York in 1945. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps Reserve at 18-years of age. He never deployed overseas, nor was in combat before the Japanese surrender. He attended university on the GI-Bill. … The rumor of decorated combat veteran is urban legend.