CLASS OF 1888

Rev. Walter Benjamin Flanders died suddenly of cerebral hemorrhage on the 9th of June, at Tilton, N. H. Mr. Flanders was born in Franklin, N. H., February 3, 1863, of farmer parentage. He was graduated from the Franklin High School in 1881 and from New Hampton Institute in 1884. He was obliged to leave college sophomore spring on account of his eyes. By work done largely in non-residence he was given the degrees of A.B. and A.M. by Antioch College in 1893 and 1894. He was also a student at the Union Theological Seminary, 1893-4.

Soon after leaving college, Flanders entered the ministry of the Christian denomination. He was pastor at York, Me., 1887-91; at Amesbury, Mass., 1891-93; at the Church of the Evangel, Brooklyn, N. Y., 1893-4; of the Spruce Street church, New Bedford, Mass., 1894-1905; and at Fall River, Mass., 1905-08. In this denomination Mr. Flanders became a leader. From 1900 to 1905 he was the editor of The Christian Messenger, an organ of that church, and from 1901-06 he was president of the Christian Conference of Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

Mr. Flanders slowly grew to the conviction that his proper intellectual home was in the Congregational body, and he made an amicable transfer to the latter connection. His first and only Congregational pastorate was at the Waldo church, Brockton, Mass., where he ministered from 1908 until the illness which presaged his death. While in Brockton, Mr. Flanders led in the building of a commodious meeting-house for his parish, and here he was, as everywhere, known for his energy and public spirit. He was always deeply interested in the public schools, and was both in York and in New Bedford a valued member of the school board.

Mr. Flanders was married August 18, 1887, to Cora B. Philbrick of Franklin, N. H., who died September 2, 1914. They had no children.

Flanders had an unusual devotion to Dartmouth. No other non-graduate in the class of 1888 was so loyal as he; it was always a keen regret that he did not have a Dartmouth degree, and it was a deep pleasure to him when the class at its twenty-fifth reunion sent a unanimous petition to the trustees that he be enrolled with his classmates. It is now interesting to turn to the letter that he wrote to the class immediately after this reunion, in which he said: "I have found life exceedingly interesting and worth while. The good will and fellowship of all the fellows will be an eternal gladness that will continue its fragrance with me until time shall be no longer."

Mr. Flanders always gave the impression of complete sincerity, unselfish devotion to the good, and rejoicing energy. No doubt he wore out his life in laborious but ungrudging service of others. He was one of those upon whom the brief touch of the Dartmouth influence left a lifelong spell, and who was the living incarnation of the best Dartmouth spirit.