CLASS OF 1879
Governor Draper of Massachusetts has appointed Levi L. Conant a member of the state board of education for the term ending May 1, 1911. Professor Conant since 1891 has filled the chair of mathematics in the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He is a member of the American Mathematical Society, fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and chairman of the school committee of the city of Worcester.
Another appointment by the same governor is that of Dr. Horace K. Foster of Peabody as medical examiner for Essex county.
Dr. John William Whidden, non-graduate, one of the leading homeopathic physicians of Maine, died of paralysis June 29, at Highland Lake in that state, after an illness of two weeks. Dr. Whidden was born in Lancaster, N. H., Feb. 4, 1856, being the son of Benjamin F. and Eliza T. (Spaulding) Whidden. His father was a graduate of Dartmouth in 1840. Dr. Whidden obtained his college preparation at Phillips Exeter Academy. He J eft College after two years and entered upon medical studies at the Hahnemann Medical College of Chicago, where he graduated in 1879. After practicing for a year in La Porte, Ind., he went to Wellington, Kan. Being driven thence by malaria, he returned to New England, and in 1880 settled in practice in Saco, Me. In April, 1885, he removed to Portland, and continued there, having a large and successful practice. His life was almost entirely devoted to his profession and his family, and he never sought or accepted public positions. He was married June 7, 1882, to Harriet Emerson Shaw of East Machias, Me., daughter of Rev. Frederick E. and Sarah Ellen (Benson) Shaw, who survives her husband, with their only son.
Dr. Alfred Swift Houghton, also a non-graduate member of this class, died of Bright's disease at St. Albans, Vt., July 29. He was the son of George Frederick and Catherine Sedgwick (Swift) Houghton, and was born in St. Albans, Jan. 21, 1855. He prepared for college at Barre Academy, under J. S. Spaulding '41, and left during sophomore year. He pursued the study of medicine at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York, and graduated there in 1880. He at once opened practice in Brooklyn, removing to the city of New York in 1889. For the past fifteen years he had been connected with the civil service commission of New York. About two years since he pur. chased a home in St. Albans, and spent there all the time his duties in New York permitted. Dr. Houghton was a student of brilliant attainments, a forceful writer, and the author of several well known works. He was married in 1882, and his wife survives him, with a daughter and two sons.
Harvie Marsh Rich of Morrisville, Vt., died October 13, in a hospital in Boston, where he had undergone a surgical operation five days before. He was born in Calais, Vt., March 21, 1856. In early life he removed with his family to Morrisville, where he prepared for college. He was a member of the Theta Delta Chi fraternity, and became a member of Phi Beta Kappa at graduation. He taught for a time at Peterboro, N. H., and was then connected with the Monadnock National Bank, at East Jaffrev, N. H. For seven years from 1884 he was secretary of the Northwestern Trust Company, at Fargo, N. D. In the spring of 1891 he returned to Vermont, and in 1892 organized the Union Savings Bank and Trust Company, at Morrisville, of which he had since been treasurer, acquiring high standing as a financier. He was married June 7, 1882, to Nettie B. George of Morrisville, who survives him, without children.
Secretary, C. C. Davis, Winchester, N. H.
