DEATH OF HAP'S SON
The editors of the MAGAZINE were saddened to learn of the death of Hap Hinman's son Purman in Norfolk, Ya., on August 26. He had gone there, cruising with a number of friends, and was stricken with the dreaded infantile. Death ,quickly followed, soon after Mr. and Mrs. Hinman reached his bedside. Hap's dreams of reliving four years in Hanover have crashed, for Harold would have come to Dartmouth a year from this fall. And it would have been a better Dartmouth for the boy's having come to her and gone forth to join a host of men of his kind—strong and true, endowed with intellectual and physical vigor, rich in promise and distinguished in accomplishment. Could the class of 1910, and hundreds of other friends of the Hinmans, have known at the time of the tragedy and of the last mournful rites in Canaan a few days later, their thoughts would have been of Mrs. Hinman and Hap and of their sorrow and of Dartmouth's loss. Grief wells up and words are futile. We are sorry, Hap.
(From the Canaan Reporter, August 28,1931)
HAROLD P. HINMAN, JR.
The people of two communities were shocked and saddened to learn of the desperate illness of infantile paralysis with which Purman Hinman had been stricken while on his summer Scout cruise aboard the schooner Elsie in Chesapeake Bay. The fatal outcome of the attack Wednesday evening occasioned widespread and sincere mourning among the friends of the parents and those who knew and admired the boy.
Purman's illiiess began Sunday. He was removed to the Contagious Hospital at Norfolk, Va., as soon as possible and the grave nature of his condition was made
known to his parents, who rushed to his bedside by train and airplane in season to give him a comforting word while he was yet conscious. He recognized them; asked them not to feel bad, and said that it was all right. It was characteristic of a noble, unselfish youth that he should think first of his parents and their consolation.
Purman was sixteen years old. He was born in Barre, Vt., December 5, 1914, and was about to begin his senior year in the high school of that city. From his first-grade days his scholastic standing had been maintained at an unvarying mark of excellence. He was a member of the Congregational church and was devoted to Scout work. In this he had risen to the title of Eagle Scout, the highest possible ranking, one that demands proficiency in many arts and crafts not to be gained without hard and patient study. Through his years of camp life he had enjoyed the friendship of older men of the highest types, particularly the athletic heroes of Dartmouth, where he had been registered for admission since birth. An outstanding achievement was his collection of autographs of world notables, including Calvin Coolidge, David Lloyd George, and other American and European statesmen, baseball and tennis players, and boxers, many of them signed to cordial notes and letters. He was proud of his comradely greetings from Jim Corbett and Jack Dempsey and of a long and friendly letter from Helen Wills Moody. His stamp collection, numbering thousands of varieties, reflected the thoroughness and perseverance that he put into every undertaking.
He was an ardent follower of athletics in every branch and a capable participant in many. A deep lover of nature and the outdoors, he found fishing always a favorite pastime. He excelled in marksmanship and possessed several sharpshooter's medals. His taste in books was discriminating and though a tremendous reader only real literature could interest him.
Purman possessed qualities of manliness and character far beyond his years. He was kind, respectful, considerate. This summer he worked with us on the Reporter, and accepted cheerfully the drudgery of a printing office in preference to the days of idleness that many a boy might have considered well earned by a year of successful study. He started for his work early that he might have time to visit with every dog that lived along his way, and they soon learned to watch for his coming. His friendliness toward all was a natural, inherited attribute.
Life had been kind to Purman. He enjoyed its blessings to the full, but received them with a proper spirit and an unspoiled nature, as he would have accepted adversity had that ever been his lot. It is fitting and due to such a boy that those of us who now mourn his memory shall bear his loss with that same fineness.
