Deaths
[A listing of deaths of which word has been received within the past month. Full notices may appearin this issue or may appear in a later number.]
Smith, Webster D. M., '78, Jan. 23. Nelson, Samuel 8., '88, Jan. 10. Coon, George 8., '92, Jan. 18. Spencer, Bertrand E., '06, Jan. 23. Landregan, Thomas A., '17, Jan. 18. Brotherhood, Percy M., '20, Jan. 15. Bingham, H. Kenneth, '21, Jan. 10. Hasbrook, John Van A., '21, Jan. 5. Manning, Albert L., '26, Feb. 10. Twiss, Benjamin R., '34, Feb. 6. Henry, John G., med. '81, Jan. 19. Wilson, Harold, med. '96, Nov. 5, 1940.
Necrology
1878
WEBSTER DRYDEN MARTELLE SMITH died 23 January, 1941, at Coalburg, W. Va., where his home had been for many years.
He was born 30 November, 1856, son of Hiram Smith, and liked to trace his ancestry to a cousin of George Washington. Biddeford, Me., was his home in college days, and that is given as his birthplace in the college records, but when it was so given in the class history for the half century, he said it should be Buxton, Me. He prepared for college at Biddeford High School and entered what was then the Chandler Scientific Department, registering as Dryden Martelle Smith, and was affectionately dubbed "Telly" for short. He was a member of Sigma Delta Pi (now Beta Theta Pi). At the graduating exercises of the department (held separately from the "Academical" Dept.) his assignment was a thesis on Savings and Savings Banks, suggestive of a leaning toward business.
The year after graduation he taught school at Biddeford. The following year he began his business career, first as bookkeeper and soon as assistant manager of a coal company at Coalburg, later as superintendent of a railway and mining company at Paint Creek, W. Va. In 1885 he formed a connection with a large powder concern, representing it for a time at Cincinnati, then at Baltimore, and traveling widely. In 1892 he was located in Chicago in the same line of business, but with a different company.
Up to that time he kept in touch with the class, reporting frequently, and meeting classmates and other college friends from time to time; but for the next twenty years nothing was heard from him or of him, until the Class Report for 1913 affirmed belief that he was dead. To that came a prompt denial and a cordial and humorous letter, calling for information which was promptly given. He was then in business at Charleston, W. Va. But again he lapsed into silence until about 1922, when he was located once more at Coalburg and again became one of us, manifesting a lively interest in class affairs, taking pains on several visits to New England to meet all accessible classmates, finally joining us in Hanover for our 60th, his first reunion, and staying after the rest of us had scattered, to participate in Hanover Holiday. His appearance was impressive, and his mind was stored with allusions and quotations, scriptural, historical, literary, ready for all occasions and subjects. One wishes he might have completed the memoirs he was at work upon.
He never explained his long silences, but sometimes related incidents from which the inference might be drawn that at some time he had been laid aside from all activity. He was married in 1882 to Miss Anne Scott Edwards, a lineal descendant of Jonathan Edwards, and the first of his descendants to become a Roman Catholic, which she did in 1910. She died in 1930. It was upon their wedding announcement cards that the name Webster was first brought to the attention of the class.
He leaves two daughters and eight grandchildren. One daughter is the wife of J. A. Willis, of Coalburg, who has looked after his affairs since the severe illness that followed his return from New England after the Hanover reunion. The second daughter is Mrs. Julius A. deGrayter Jr. of Charleston.
1888
SAMUEL BOODY NELSON died at his home in Barton, Vt., January 10. Mrs. Nelson thoughtfully writes the class secretary that he passed away after a slight shock, followed by heart failure. She revealed what we have felt for some time that his health had been failing for
the past year. Sam was born in Barton, August 7, 1866, and fitted for college in the local schools and at St. Johnsbury Academy.
After graduation he returned to Barton, and spent the rest of his life there as a farmer, except for a year spent in business in Minneapolis.
December 22, 1891, he was married to Mary Henderson of Minneapolis, who died April 6, 1903. Two children were born of this union, Moulton Henderson, now of Brooksville, Fla., and Marjorie, now Mrs. Leon Kenerson of Albany, N. Y. April 7, 1904, he was married to Flora B. Wheeler, who survives him. To them six children were born: Forrest R. of Lawrence, Mass.; Floyd B. of West Hampton Beach, N. Y.; Robert M. of Torrington, Conn.; Florence, now Mrs. B. A. Burnham of Grand Isle; Charles of Barton; and Kathleen of West Hampton Beach, N. J. We believe there are now 19 grandchildren.
Sam was a member of Phi Delta Theta, a Republican, and a member of the Congregational church. He was class vice-president for a part of senior year in college.
1892
DR. GEORGE BAILEY COON died January 18, 1941, in the infirmary at New Jersey State Hospital, Greystone Park, N. J., where he was psychiatrist.
He was born at Hudson, Wis., February 8, 1868, the son of William Henry Harrison and Edna Lurinda (Bailey) Coon. As the family removed to St. Albans, Vt., he fitted for college at the academy there. Entering Dartmouth in 1888, he remained seven years, receiving his A.B. degree in 189s, later his A.M., and in 1895 his M.D. degree at the Medical College. He was a membej of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity, and indulged in athletics as a high jumper.
After graduation from the Medical College, he was associated with state hospitals in Vermont and Massachusetts until 1902, when he established a hospital for mental and nervous cases in East Walpole, Mass. In 1916 this was transferred to Tampa, Fla., but the coming of the World War led him to volunteer for service in the U. S. Medical Corps, in which he was commissioned as captain, November 6, 1917. He was assigned to duty in Washington and later at Fort Des Moines, lowa, where he was at the time of his discharge, in December, 1918.
The following year he became assistant director of the Rhode Island State Hospital, and in 1931 was transferred to the New Jersey State Hospital. He had an outstanding reputation both as an administrator and as a specialist in the treatment of mental cases.
April 13, 1901, Coon married Dr. Mary Cannell, who had had charge of a hospital in China and was closely associated with the work of the private hospitals in East Walpole and Tampa. She died November 29, 1936.
Coon was always quiet and reserved, but was a sincere friend and a loyal classmate. He was a 33d degree Mason, a member of the Shrine, a Knight Templar, and active in a number of medical societies.
1906
The sudden death of BERTRAND EDWIN SPENCER, recently elected mayor of Middletown, Conn., not only is a shock to his classmates but also a serious loss to the citizens of Middletown and the state of Connecticut.
Born in Meriden, Conn., April 15, the son of William Wilson and Elizabeth (Friebe) Spencer, Bert entered Dartmouth in the fall of 1902 as a member of the class of 1906. His main interest outside of his college work was in his music, and even at that early date he was a very talented organist.
Upon graduating from Dartmouth with Fhi Beta Kappa rank Bert entered the Law School of the University of Maine, from which he received his degree in 1910.
After his admittance to the bar in Massachusetts, Bert settled in Middletown and became the partner of Attorney Charles W. Cramer, and later opened his own office in his home city.
In 1915 he was named clerk of the Middletown City Court, and in 1919 was appointed prosecutor. At the same time he served as assistant state's attorney until 1930, when he was appointed state's attorney.
In 1924 Bert was commissioned to rewrite the charter of the City of Middletown, a revision which was adopted by the city several years later. At the time of his death he was engaged in revising this charter so as to provide for a board of finance.
Other offices held during his career were: chairman of the Town School District Board of Education, first president of the Middletown Community Chest, member of the Commission on the City Plan, President of the Middletown County Bar Association, president of the Connecticut Bar Association, Director of the Middletown Building and Loan Association, attorney for the Middletown National Bank and the Middletown Savings Bank, organist of the First Congregational Church, past chancellor of Apollo Lodge, K of P., member of St. Johns Lodge A.F. & A.M., charter member of the Middletown Rotary Club.
Bert was also famous as an after-dinner speaker.
June 14, 1916, he was married to Alice M. Bacon, who died January 22, 1940, just a year and a day before his own death, which occurred January 23, 1941.
Two daughters, Ruth 8., a teacher at Woodrow Wilson High School, and Eleanor F., a nurse at Hartford Hospital, survive, together with one son, Raymond, a junior at the Middletown High School.
1909
JAMES GLYNN DRISCOLL died January 11, 1941, at the Sacred Heart Hospital, Manchester, N. H. He underwent an operation three days before and appeared to be recovering, but had a heart attack and died suddenly.
The son of Daniel and Mary (Glynn) Driscoll, he was born in Whitinsville, Mass., October 16, 1884. In college he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon and the Sphinx. He played on the varsity baseball team.
After graduation he went to New York, where he held a partnership in the firm of Ruth and Driscoll, tobacco brokers dealing in imported and domestic leaf, remaining there for eight years. After the death of Roger Sullivan in 1918, he went to Manchester, N. H., as co-manager of the 7-20-4 factory owned by the Sullivan estate. When the property was organized as R. G. Sullivan, Inc., in 1925, he became vice-president, a position he held to the day of his death.
He was a director of the Manchester Gas Company, a trustee of the Amoskeag Savings Bank, a director of the Manchester Country Club, a member of the Knights of Columbus, a prominant member of St. Joseph's parish, where he was active in the St. Vincent de Paul Society, and a member of the Manchester Rotary Club.
Mr. Driscoll's sincerity and friendliness endeared him to all who knew him. He was a benefactor to all who were in need of help, and his modesty resulted in having all of his benefactions anonymous. His loss to the state, the city, and his friends is inestimable.
He was married June 8, 1910, to Frances E. Sullivan of Manchester, who survives him with two daughters, Mary F. and Cordelia F., and a son, James G. Jr. There is also a brother, Daniel T. Driscoll of Waterbury, Conn.
The funeral service, held at St. Joseph's Cathedral, was very largely attended, among those present being a delegation of 55 members of the Manchester Alumni Association. Sidney C. Hazelton '09 and Dr. John P. Bowler '15 were among the honorary pallbearers.
1910
JOSEPH JAMES DAVIDSON was born in Bloomfield, Vt., January 16, 1889, the son of James L. and Katherxne (Tobin) Davidson. After attending the elementary schools of Bloomfield, he crossed the Connecticut river and spent four years at Stratford High School in North Stratford, N. H., graduating in 1906 to enter Dartmouth College that fall with the class of 1910.
Working his way through college, he graduated with his class to spend the next two years with Western Electric Co. at Hawthorne, Ill. Unhappy in industrial life, he entered the educational world, where he remained the rest of his active lifetime excepting for his army service. His natural aptitude and years of work as an undergraduate in the college library were major factors in this change.
Then followed one year as a private tutor; three years at South Bend High School; two years at Louisville Boys High School. He enlisted in the Army, 30th Infantry, Bth Battalion, at Camp Devens, June 27, 1918; was transferred to Camp Hancock, Ga.; made a corporal; was in machine gun division, Officers Training School, when he was discharged, Nov. 30, 1918.
Returning to teaching, he spent the following years at Springfield, Mass., High School; Boys' Preparatory School in Indianapolis; Choate School; Deerfield-Shields High School, Highland Park, 111., from 1926 to 1929, when his gradually failing health compelled him to resign and enter a veterans' hospital. For the rest of his lifetime he lived in government hospitals in various sections of the country. Let it be said to the everlasting credit of Lhe U. S. Government that it did everything within human power to improve Joe Davidson's ailing lungs. As the years passed, other complications combined to make recovery impossible, Joe passing away January 5 at the Veterans' Hospital in Worcester, Mass., leaving as relatives two sisters, Sister M. Xaveria and Sister M. Eunice, both in New Hampshire convents, and two brothers.
Joe attended summer schools at the University of Chicago, 1913; Harvard, 1919; Co lumbia, 1925, when he received his Master's degree; and Columbia again as late as 1938, when in the advanced stages of his ailment.
Joe Davidson had the moral nature for a great priest; the intellectual curiosity and perennial vitality of thought for a teacher of depth; the truth, honesty, and justice for a philosopher.
Possessed of vigorous intelligence, he was ever ready to debate with animation but never with passion. To the end with his search for knowledge undiminished by suffering, he never lost faith and confidence in himself, in the future.
Joe's body was laid at rest in a quiet little cemetery up in his native North Country, while his memories remain and his soul marches on.
1914
With sadness we record the passing of our classmate, CLARENCE KILMER BUTLER, who died at the Saratoga Hospital, January 4, after a week's illness.
He was born at Saratoga Springs, November 3, 1891, the son of Walter Prentiss and Mary Ashman (Kilmer) Butler, and prepared for college at Saratoga High School. He was a member of Phi Sigma Kappa and Dragon.
He graduated from Albany Law School in 1917, and had since practiced law in his native city, having been a member since 1926 of the firm of Butler, Kilmer, Hoey, and Butler.
He was a member of all the local Masonic bodies, including the Knights Templar, of which he was commander in 1937. He was district deputy of the Saratoga-Warren Masonic district in 1935.
One of his absorbing interests was the Board of Education, of which he had been a member since May 1927, and of which he had served twice as president. He had been for two years on the Board of Managers of the Saratoga Hospital. In the closing days of the World War he served as a first lieutenant in the Home Guard.
His principal avocation these past years has been that of amateur theatricals, and he appeared in many productions in northern New York. He was associated with the Town Hall Players and with Omnibus, the Skidmore College dramatic society.
June 28, 1916, he was married to Marion Matthews of Saratoga Springs, who survives him, with a daughter, Mary Kilmer.
Funeral services were held at the Presbyterian church, of which he was a member, and a large group of honorary pallbearers represented the various organizations with which he was connected.
The class extends sincere sympathy to Mrs. Butler, and we record with sorrow another absentee from our list. No one was more interested in the class and Dartmouth affairs than Pidge Butler. He rarely missed a reunion and was keenly interested in all activities. He will be greatly missed.
1917
THOMAS ANDREW LANDREGAN, Lynn, Mass., attorney, died January 18 of a heart attack at his home, 9 Lynn Shore Drive. Funeral services were held on the 21st with a high requiem mass at St. John's Church, Swampscott, followed by interment at St. Mary's Cemetery.
Tom was born in Lynn, January 15, 1894, the son of Thomas A. and Helena (Lydon) Landregan. He prepared for college at Lynn Classical High School, where he starred on the baseball and football teams. He attended Dartmouth his freshman year, then continued his studies at the Boston University Law School where he received the LL.B. degree in 1918. During the interval of war service he enlisted in the U. S. Navy on December 11, 1917, with the rank of Seaman, 2d Class; was promoted to Machinist's Mate, Ist Class, and received his discharge in December, 1918. After graduation from law school he worked for Richardson & Hill, Boston brokerage house. He began the practice of, law at Lynn in 1925, going on to a brilliant career, and a community popularity evidenced by long eulogies in the editorial columns of the Lynn press at the time of his passing.
Tom Landregan was married to Gertrude Mildred McCarty at Lynn, February 11, 1918. He is also survived by their daughter Barbara Anne, born December 29, 1927.
He was a member of the Colonial Golf and Country Club, the Oxford Club, and the Lynn Bar Association.
1920
PERCY MARKLEY BROTHERHOOD died January 15 at the New Rochelle (N. Y.) Hospital after a brief illness.
He was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., June 6, 1895, the son of Percy Markley and Carrie (Oliver) Brotherhood. He was in college for the greater part of the course, but did not remain to graduate. He was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon.
After leaving college he was for a time in the machine tool business in Buffalo, and then with the Town and Country Oil Corporation at Mt. Vernon, and finally in the machine tool business again in New York City, making his home in Pelham Manor.
His wife, who was Adelaide M. Wenzel, survives him, with a daughter, Penelope. John O. Brotherhood '20 is a brother, and James S. Brotherhood '04 an uncle.
1921
JOHN VAN AMBURG HASBROOK, 2D, "Johnnie" to 'si, was driving to his offices at the Chicago Carton Co. on the morning of January 4, 1941, when a second car, proceeding at high speed through a "stop" sign at a rightangle intersection, collided with John's car. The accident proved fatal to both drivers, John dying on the following day.
Johnnie Hasbrook was born December 24, 1898, in Chicago, the son of Edward Francis and Natalie (Hanson) Hasbrook. In his early youth his family moved to the suburb of Hinsdale, from which place John attended Lyons Township High School at LaGrange before coming to Dartmouth in the footsteps of his brothers, Robert L. ('18) and Edward F. Hasbrook Jr. ('20). His uncle, Henry H. Hanson, was also a graduate of the College in the class of '86. John made his "D" in football freshman year, due to the World War exigency, and was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon. He was a hard-working and conscientious student, and elected to take the Tuck School course in lieu of senior year. In 1921 he received a B.S. degree and the following year the degree of M.C.S.
Immediately upon leaving college John went with the Chicago Carton Co., manufacturers of fibre shipping containers, and remained with that organization throughout his life. Originally a salesman, he forged steadily ahead and at the time of his death was vicepresident of the company.
On June 16, 1926, John was married to Winifred Boles at Hinsdale. To them were born three children, Frederic, March 17, 1927; Natalie, December 8, 1929; and Annette, November 22, 1935.
Bill Embree, who was as close to John as anyone in the class, has written a fine tribute to John's memory, closing with this thought: "John will always be remembered by us of 1931 as a good fellow, affable, deep, and a real friend."
HOWARD KENNETH BINGHAM died January 10, 1941, at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, Pontiac, Mich., where he had been a patient for nine weeks. Ken had been in poor health for several years, and only six weeks prior to his death had undergone an operation at Ann Arbor for a condition described as hypertension. He had never married and is survived only by a younger brother, Carson C., who was associated with him in the insurance and real estate business
Ken Bingham was born in Birmingham, Mich., May 30, 1898, the son of Charles Alexander and Jennie Kathryn (Covert) Bingham. He prepared for college at Baldwin High School, Birmingham, and also attended a military school in Hampton, Va. Ken was with us only freshman year, during which time he became a member of Delta Tau Delta fraternity. Later he attended Michigan State College, where he was graduated with the degree of B.S. in 1923.
In 1925 he joined his father in the Birmingham insurance firm of Bingham, Sparks & Bingham. The organization became Bingham & Bingham in 1928, and after his father's death in 1932, Ken was in full charge. He was a life-long resident of Birmingham, having been born in the same house, 32205 Bingham Road, which was his home at the time of his death. He was a member of the Village Players, St. Dunstan's Guild, the Exchange Club, and Orchard Lake Country Club.
Ken was buried in the family plot at Franklin, Birmingham suburb, on January 13, following services at the S. O. Wylie Bell Funeral Home conducted by the Rev. Warner L. Forsyth, rector of St. James Episcopal Church.
1934
BENJAMIN R. TWISS was killed in an automobile accident February 6 near Geneva, N. Y., site of Hobart College. Ben was riding in the rear seat of a sedan when it struck a slight obstruction in the road on a sharp right turn and skidded into a farm truck. The collision, which sheared off the left rear of the car, resulted in injuries to Ben from which he died about three hours later in a nearby hospital. The cause of his death was given as a ruptured spleen and kidney.
It may be said that Ben died in line of duty on one of his great consuming interests, for the accident occured as he was returning from skiing. He and the others in his party had gone to the ski run to condition the run and jump for a Hobart College-All Geneva Ski Meet. Ben was sponsor of this meet, and it was postponed because of his death.
One of the class of 1934's real scholars in college, Ben Twiss went on to receive his Masters in 1936 and his Doctorate in 1938, both of them from Princeton and in Political Science. During much of this time he assisted in the Princeton Political Science department, and went to Hobart in 1938 after serving for a year as Assistant Director of Governmental Research for the New Jersey State Chamber of Commerce. At Hobart, in addition to his teaching, he acted as assistant to the director of the college citizenship program. He was a member of the American Political Science Association and of Phi Beta Kappa.
Ben will be remembered among many reasons for his very active participation in Dartmouth Outing Club activities, which included management of the winter sports teams. At Hobart he continued his enthusiasm for skiing, having been the moving spirit in the development of the Hobart and William Smith Outing Clubs and coach of the college ski team.
Ben will be sorely missed by his many Dartmouth friends. By his death the class of 1934 loses a most admired and respected member.
1940
BENJAMIN WEEDEN STEWART of Brattleboro, Vt., never made any headlines at Dartmouth, never wore a kind of clothes, or excelled in a sport, or broke too many regulations, or made Phi Beta Kappa, or a nuisance of himself so that his classmates could pin a handle on him, either of praise or of blame. When he died on January 12 in Mary Hitchcock Hospital from measles, most of them thought of him as the typical Dartmouth man.
"A quiet, steady guy," they said. He liked to go off skiing alone. He did his assignments on time. He was married last November to Lydia Barber and through four years of Dartmouth he never went with any other girl.
"A good party guy" they called him, and remembered that he could have fun, that he liked to sit up half the night in bull sessions at the D.T.D. House, that few of his fraternity brothers ever knew what he thought, because he would wait until somebody took a side, and then take the other. And half the campus remembers the time he filled a room in Hitchcock full to the top with ribbons of newspaper, piled them in the desks and closets, past the windows, in every cubic foot high to the ceiling so tight that nobody could get in. It looked as though a snow drift had fallen through the ceiling and it must have taken him half a day to make sure his gag was a good one.
"A good guy if you knew him," they said. Ben Stewart's friends were few and close. He never worked on personality as an end in itself; he was not interested in being popular. If he liked a man he liked him, and there were those he didn't. But he had the same roommate through four years at Dartmouth, and Ben Stewart's friends were friends in all that the word connotes.
Nobody knows what Ben Stewart might have been. He was only twenty-two. But the chances are that there was not much of a break between college and the world for Ben. He wanted to work and have fun, and do them both pretty well, which is the reason we'll remember him as a "typical Dartmouth man."
To the foregoing tribute of the class secretary the Editor adds the following biographical notes. Stewart was born in Brattleboro June 3, 1918, the son of John Long and Cornelia (Weeden) Stewart, and prepared for college at Governor Dummer Academy. He was a member of Delta Tau Delta. He was working for the Jones and Lamson Co. of Springfield. Vt. His marriage date to Lydia E. Barber of Brattleboro was November ag, 1940.
Medical School
1881
DR. JOHN GOODRICH HENRY died at Millers River Hospital, Winchendon, Mass., January 18, 1941, of pneumonia, after a few days' illness.
He was born in Chesterfield, N. H., February 23, 1858, the son of Willard and Emily (Goodrich) Henry, and graduated from Powers Institute, Bernardston, Mass., and in 1877 from The New Hampshire College of Agriculture at Hanover, which has since become the University of New Hampshire at Durham. Returning to Hanover, he took his medical course at Dartmouth.
He began practice at West Fairlee, Vt., but in 1883 he removed to Winchendon, where his active work continued until his last brief illness. In 1907 with another local physician he opened the Millers River Hospital, of which he has for many years been the president and main support.
His other activities have been many. He was a member and chairman of the town board of health for 30 years, library trustee for 34 years, and school physician for 30 years. He was a member of the Church of the Unity and the local Masonic lodge, president of the Kiwanis Club, and director of the Winchendon Cooperative Bank. He was a member of various professional societies and had been president of the Fitchburg Medical Society. He excelled in tennis, which he played during his last summer.
In 1885 he was married to Lola, daughter of Moses Hix and Sally Sabrina (Porter) Manzer, who has been long associated with him in his hospital work and who survives him with their two daughters, Mrs. Walter Hubbard of Keene and Mrs. F. J. Bush of Brookline. There are also three grandchildren.
A highly appreciative notice in the local paper contains these words: "No man in Winchendon has given a greater amount of time, energy, and financial resources to the general benefit and welfare of the community than has Dr. Henry in his work connected with Millers River Hospital. To the cause of this public service he happily devoted his life.
A generous supporter of every good enterprise, Dr. Henry found time in his busy life to lend his assistance whenever opportunity presented itself. He was a pioneer in the cause of protecting children from the dreaded diphtheria disease, sponsoring and carrying through the Schick test and treatment which has practically eliminated the malady."
1908
DR. JOHN JOSEPH KENNEY died at Jane Brown Hospital. Providence, R. I., November 7, 1940, after a brief illness.
The son of Thomas and Ellen (Giblin) Kenney, he was born in Woonsocket, R. I., March 9, 1884. The family removed to Franklin, Mass., where he attended Dean Academy.
After graduation he was for a year an intern in St. Joseph's Hospital in Providence, where he was a consultant phvsician at the time of his death. He then opened an office in the city, devoting special attention to obstetrics.
January 11, 1911, Dr. Kenney was married to Margaret Elizabeth, daughter of Maurice and Mary (Donovan) Walsh of Whitinsville, Mass.; who survives him. They have had no children.
