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.]
Brooks, George F., 'Bl, Dec. 28. Dewey, Charles G., 'Bl, Apr. 19. Manson, John W., 'Bl, May 6. Cushman, William E., 'B3, Jan. 5. Folsom, Ralph P., '97, May 12. Spencer, Ray A., 'O7, Apr. 2. Frost, George W., 'l4, Mar. 20. Whitney, Laurence A., 'l5, Apr. 24 Hutchinson, Karl F., 'lB, Apr. 18. Dagostino, Alfred J., '24, May 7. Copeland, Stanley, '25, May 13. Klamroth, Wilfried, '3O, June 23.
Edgerton, James 1., med. '93, May 8. Hitchcock, Alfred M., '96 (advanced degree), Apr. 14.
Necrology
1885
OTIS ELLIS HOVEY died at the Doctors' Hospital in New York City on April 15, 1941 after a few weeks' illness.
He was born in East Hardwick, Vermont, on April 19, 1864 and was the son of Jabez Wadsworth Hovey and Hannah Catherine (Montgomery) Hovey.
His early education was received in the public schools and the academy of his native town and also from his father, who, besides being a farmer, taught school during the winters and made compass and odometer surveys during the summers.
His selection of Dartmouth for his college course was influenced by the fact that his great-uncle, Rev. Edmund Otis Hovey, D.D. was a graduate of that College in the class of 1828 and by the further fact that his father believed the engineering courses there offered, better suited his ambition for his son.
Mr. Hovey entered Dartmouth College in January 1882, joining the class of 1885, which also included in its membership a kinsman, Richard Hovey, both being descended from David Hovey, an English farmer who settled in Ipswich, Mass., in 1635.
He was a student of outstanding scholarship, engaged in such extra-curricular athletic and social activities as could be fitted into his busy schedule of study and labor for selfsupport, and was a member of the Vitruvian (now the Beta Theta Pi) Fraternity.
Upon graduation his immediate plan was to gain some practical experience in engineering and to earn the funds needed for his further education; he, therefore, spent the next two years in engineering work on railroad and mill construction in various parts of New England.
In the fall of 1887 he entered the Thayer School of Civil Engineering, where in addition to pursuing the prescribed course of study he was employed in outside engineering work and as an instructor in engineering at Washington University, St. Louis, Mo.
His regular class work was so creditable that Professor Fletcher, Director of the Thayer School, planned a correspondence course for him by which he took his examinations by mail and was thus enabled to graduate with his class in 1889 with the degree of C.E.
The year after his graduation he continued his teaching at Washington University and spent his vacations making surveys for water and sewer construction.
The following year he had the good fortune to obtain a position with the late George S. Morison, who was considered the leading bridge engineer of the United States, with headquarters in Chicago. His association with Mr. Morison continued for about six vears and during that period Mr. Hovey's work, included the charge of the office and the design of important bridge, railroad, track and station construction in the Middle West.
In 1896 Mr. Hovey entered the employ of the Union Bridge Cos., one of the largest engineering \construction concerns in the country, with business offices in New York City and workshops in Athens, Pa. This change in employment added an important feature to his previous engineering work, his former experience having been engineering operations in direct connection or cooperation with the owner, while in this new position, the engineering work was to be done in direct economic competition with other companies.
During his employment with the Union Bridge Cos. he made his first business trip to England in 1898. where he secured valuable contracts for a large amount of bridge work to be constructed in the Orange Free State, Africa.
In 1900 the Union Bridge Cos. was absorbed by the American Bridge Cos. which became the largest concern of its kind in the world and Mr. Hovey entered its employ as engineer ofdesign at the company's office at Pencoyd, Pa., and the following year he was transferred to the home office in New York City, where he had charge of the engineers and draftsmen, and the estimating of quantities and costs.
In 1904 he made his second business trip to London which was extended to Turkey in connection with an investigation of trade conditions in that section and the estimating of a project for a new bridge across the Golden Horn at Constantinople.
In 1907, when he had reached the age of 43 years, he was advanced to the position of Assistant Chief Engineer of the Company, with the increased duties and responsibilities in connection with its vast amount of engineering and construction operations; this position he continued to fill for the next twenty- four years, with headquarters in New York City.
During this period, in 1911, he made inspection trips to the Panama Canal Zone and secured the contract for the design, construction and erection of six emergency dams to control the oow of water through the great locks of the Canal and he had the entire charge of the execution of this work.
I'l 1931 he was made Consulting Engineer of the Company, which position he held for the following three years, when he reached 70 years, the established retirement age of the company. Dr. Hovey, however, knew no "retirement age," even after such a long, active and successful professional career and that same year, he opened his own office and established himself in private practice as a consulting engineer, which he actively continued up to the time of his death.
Meanwhile, in 1937, he was elected Director of the Engineering Foundation, a corporation established jointly by the Professional Societies of Civil, Mining and Metallurgical, Mechanical, and Electrical Engineers of the United States for "the furtherance of research in science and engineering and the good of mankind," and to aid in originating, organizing, financing and following through engineering technical and research projects.
Great as were the requirements of his professional work already referred to, nevertheless, his tireless industry and energy enabled him to also render large service and to accomplish much in outside fields, which included his active membership on the Board of Overseers of the Thayer School from his appointment in 1907 until his death; his years of extended lecture courses at Dartmouth, Yale, Princeton and Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute; his preparation of valuable papers and addresses for engineering gatherings and for publication; his authorship of valuable treatises on "Movable Bridges" and "Steel Dams" which are standard upon those subjects; his active membership of fifty years in the American Society and Civil Engineers, serving as its Treasurer since 1921; he also held membership in all the other leading Engineering Societies of the country.
His avocations were photography and fine music; he had been a player upon the flute since his college days and under the best instruction and continuous practice, he achieved almost professional ability upon that instrument.
In recognition of his professional achievement and eminence, he received in 1927 from Dartmouth College, his alma mater, the honorary degree of Doctor of Engineering and in 1933 he received the further honorary degree of Doctor of Science from Clarkson College of Technology. At the 150 th anniversarymeeting of Phi Beta Kappa at Dartmouth, in 1937, he was elected to honorary alumni membership in that society.
Deserved and worthy as these awards were, he received, in 1937, the highest tribute paid to eminence in the engineering profession when he was elected to honorary membership in the American Society of Civil Engineers; at the time there were only twenty-five civil engineers living to whom it had been awarded, one of whom is former President Herbert Hoover; at Dr. Hovey's formal induction into the honorary membership he was presented by Dr. John P. Brooks, President Emeritus of Clarkson College of Technology, a classmate at Dartmouth.
Dr. Hovey was married on September 15, 1891 to Martha Wilson Owen at Lafayette, Michigan; of this union there were two children, a son, Otis Wadsworth Hovey, Dartmouth 'l5, Thayer School 'l7, who resides in Pittsburgh, Pa., where he is engaged in the engineering profession, and a daughter, Ellen Catherine Hovey, a graduate of Vassar College, now the wife of Philip O. Davis, who with their two children live in Hartford, Vermont.
His funeral was held in the Central Presbyterian Church in New York City, of which he had long been a member and also an elder; the services were conducted by its pastor, the Rev. Theodore C. Speers, D.D. and among the large attendance were delegate groups from the various professional and social associations in which he had long been active.
His burial was in the Hartford (Vermont) Cemetery, near by his summer home and not far from Dartmouth College, which he had loved and served so devotedly since his college days.
The committal service was conducted by Rev. Chester B. Fisk, the pastor of the Dartmouth College Church and those in attendance included official representatives of the College, of the Thayer School, and the secretary of his college class.
Dr. Hovey is survived by the immediate members of his family above mentioned and by a sister, Miss Mary E. Hovey of East Hardwick, Vermont.
E. A. B.
1888
EDWIN JOHN BODWELL died at his home in Oakland, Calif., March 19, 1941. His death was caused by a heart weakness of which, we judge by his letters for the past year, he had been advised.
Born February 18, iB6O, on a Vermont farm in Glover, Vt., he graduated from Johnson State Normal School and entered Dartmouth in 1884, graduating with the class.
He taught at Graf, Neb., for two years following graduation, and then for three years at Elk City, Neb., and from 1893 to 1896 at Florence, Neb. From the last date until 1905 he was county superintendent of schools for Douglas county, with office and home in Omaha, and was for seven years a member of the State Board of Examiners and Inspectors and for four years its chairman. From 1905 to 1908 he was city superintendent for Norfolk, and then at Beatrice, Neb., and Ames, lowa, resigning in 1927 to become connected with the public schools of Oakland, Calif. In 1936 he retired because of poor health.
He was recognized, as one of the most respected and sturdy men in the Hanover of our day. He was a member of Phi Zeta Mu and Casque and Gauntlet, vice president of the class sophomore winter and president junior spring. In athletics the writer believed he held the college record for "throwing the hammer" for many years. All through his life he held to the faith of his forebears, a Congregationalist and a progressive Republican. He was a Mason and a Knight Templar.
July 9, 1896, he was married at Omaha to Miss Laura G. Craighead, who survives him with two children, Marjorie Bodwell Cochran of Oakland and Donald C. Bodwell of Los Angeles. There are two grandchildren.
Let me quote: "Bodwell's passing brings a sad note into Easter time.... Bod was a credit to the class May we all when we are called have as good a record as he." Pattee "I remember him in college as a fine character," Hardy.
1892
EDMUND CURLEY COOK died February 21( 1941, at the home of a niece, the wife of Philip R. Chase 'lB, in Upper Darby, Pa.
The son of George and Anne (Curley) Cook, he was born in Vershire, Vt., October 9, 1868, and prepared for college at Thetford Academy.
After graduation he did graduate work at Harvard, where he received the degree of A.B. in 1894. For many years until 1918 he taught mathematics at the College of the City of New York, and was then for a time at St. Stephen's College. He then removed to Hanover and made his home with a sister. After her death he became a member of the family of the niece above mentioned. He had never married.
1893
CHARLES AUGUSTUS FRENCH, public works commissioner and city engineer of Laconia, N. H., since 1907, died at the Laconia Hospital, April 7.
He was born in Springfield, Mass., November 7, 1871, son of Augustus W. and Helen (Young) French. He attended public schools and entered Dartmouth College, Chandler Scientific Department, in 1889 and graduated with the class of '93. He was a member of Beta Theta Pi.
Immediately upon graduation Colonel French engaged in civil engineering in the city of Boston, and later was state engineer at Marlboro, Mass., and afterwards division engineer of the New Hampshire State Highway Department at Keene, coming to Laconia as city engineer in 1907. While at Marlboro he was a member of the Metropolitan Water Commission.
During the World War he was commissioned a captain and served in important places with the Construction Division. When the New Hampshire state military forces were organized after the war, he was commissioned a Major of Coast Artillery. A few months later he was made Lt. Colonel of the 197 th Coast Artillery Anti-Aircraft, and served in this capacity until his retirement by age limitation in 1935.
Many civic and military honors came to Colonel French, and his work, not only for Laconia, but for the state of New Hampshire as construction engineer, has been highly commended. Testimonial banquets and much complimentary newspaper comment concerning his activities has frequently appeared and on his death the metropolitan as well as the state and local papers gave detailed accounts of his life.
Among his many fraternal and civic affiliations it should be recorded that he was past president and member of the New Hampshire Good Roads Association and of the American Society of Civil Engineers. His interest in Masonic affairs dated from his Marlboro days.
Colonel French had been ailing more or less for some time, but it was only during the last few weeks of his life that it was discovered that he was suffering from a stomach cancer, and it was this affliction which caused his death. He is survived by his widow, Mrs. Edith A. (Proctor) French, whom he married July 14, 1904, while in Marlboro, Mass., and two daughters, Helen, wife of Raymond Lacasce of Fryeburg, Maine, and Elizabeth H., who lives at home. Both are graduates of Middlebury College. There are two grandsons, Richard and James Lacasce.
Funeral services were held at the Laconia Congregational church April 9. Members of Laconia's official family and high-ranking officers of New Hampshire's National Guard joined with business and fraternal associates and relatives to pay their last tribute. The mayor and the city council and their families attended in a body, as did the members and employees of the various city departments. The body was taken to Salem, Mass. for cremation.
1907
RAY ALLISON SPENCER died on April 2 in the Blodgett Hospital, Grand Rapids, Mich. He had been ill only a short time before his death. Spencer had held the post of curator of the Grand Rapids Furniture Museum since its opening on January 1, 1938. He had lived in Grand Rapids since 1924, and had served as manager of the Foreign Department of the Old National Bank from 1024 until lqaq.
Born in Ayer, Mass., February 17, 1886, the son of William Gardner Russell and Sarah (Colbam) Spencer, he graduated from Dartmouth in 1907. Following graduation he taught for two years at the University of New Hampshire, for two years at Brooklyn Poly- technical School, then at Middlesex School in Concord, Mass., and later at Hotchkiss School in Connecticut. In 1916 he became a member of the editorial staff of the Kansas City Star.
WAR SERVICE
Enlisting in the navy in April 1917, he served until 1919, and after the war traveled extensively through Europe, studying historical and modern adaptations of style in France, England, and Germany. In 1932 he returned to France and married Mrs. Marie Casson Kinsey, a native of that country.
As curator of the museum Spencer lectured extensively on period furniture and on the history of design and style. He was also an active member of the Civic Players and had played prominent roles in several productions.
Spencer leaves his widow, and a brother, Harry Spencer, of West Palm Beach, Fla.
1914
GEORGE VVAITE FROST died March 20 at his home in Evansville, Ind., after more than a month's illness.
He was born in the Roxbury district of Boston, Mass., January 19, 189 A, the son of Walter Sprague and Salome Anthony (Waite) Frost, and prepared for college at the Boston Latin School.
For four years after graduation he was in the cost accounting department of Swift and Company, treasurer of the H. A. Austin Company from 1918 to 1928, then for a year with the Superior Metal Weatherstrip Company, and from 1929 until his death he was president and general manager of the Steel Scaffolding Company, in which business he had relations with Herman Davidson.
September 16, 1916, he was married to Dorothy Austin, who survives him with two children. Elizabeth graduated from Purdue University in 1940, and David is a member of the class of 1943 at Purdue and a distinguished student in chemical engineering.
Always of a quiet and sunny disposition, George's pleasing personality gave him the enjoyment of a wide circle of friends. He was one of the men who "wore well." He was deeply devoted to his family, and in business enjoyed a fine reputation among all those associated with him.
George was buried in Forest Hills Cemetery, Boston. Franny Pooler represented the class at the funeral, to which a 1914 wreath was forwarded.
To his family the class expresses its sense of great loss in the passing of George Frost.
1915
LAWRENCE ATWOOD WHITNEY, one of the most prominent athletes in intercollegiate circles of 25 years ago, died suddenly on April 24, 1941, in Boston.
He was born February 2, 1891, in Millbury, Mass., the son of Walter Lincoln and Martha Horton (Atwood) Whitney, and after graduating from Worcester Academy, entered Dartmouth with the class of 1915.
Subsequent to receiving the degree of B.S. with his class, he entered business for a brief period, but soon heard the call to war service, and joined the Harvard R. O. T. C. June 5, 1917. He went to the second officers' training camp on August 27, 1917, and was commissioned a captain of infantry on November 27. 1917-
Following his training period, he was attached to the Machine Gun Company of the 301 st Infantry, and later assigned to the General Staff in Washington, D. C. He was still later military inspector of ihe S. A. T. C. in the Northwest District, and held the same position in the New England District. He was discharged from the army on February 20, 1919.
A brief period of coaching at Penn State before the war was not followed up after his discharge from service, but he entered the business field. He has been retired in late years.
On January 26, 1924, he was married to Katherine Brewster Gray in Boston, and she survives him. One step-son, Converse Gray Fenn, was a member of the class of 1938.
From the day that "Bud" Whitney entered Dartmouth in the fall of 1911 until his graduation four years later his name was a headliner in all the athletic news of the College. He reported for freshman football, made the team and became its captain within a brief period, and from then on, he was an outstanding varsity star, playing a halfback position.
However, Bud was also a track star of the first water, and he took time from football that first fall to compete in the first fall meet, and at once broke two records,—in the two-handed shot-put and the discus. There- after, the headline in The Dartmouth, "Whitney Again Tops Record" became a commonplace. In his freshman year, he was chosen for the United States Olympic team, and toward the close of freshman year he was elected president of his class. .
During his three years of varsity competition, he topped track record after record, was an outstanding star in the backfield of the football team, found time likewise to win a "D" in basketball, and climaxed his senior year by leading both football and track teams—one of three men ever to captain two major athletic teams at Dartmouth.
By virtue of his captaincy of football, he became a member of Palaeopitus, and was elected president of that body, and in his senior year was elected marshal of the class, leading us to our Commencement ceremonies.
His final athletic appearance for Dartmouth late in the spring of 1915 was the occasion for again setting up a new record for the shotput in the New England Intercollegiates.
In the senior awards o£ the 1915 Commencement, he shared with "Bags" Wana- maker, then captain of the baseball team, the Kenneth Archibald Athletic Scholarship. He was a member o£ the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity and of the Sphinx senior society.
The funeral was held on Sunday, April 27, 1941, at the Forest Hills Cemetery, Boston, and the class of 1915 was represented by President Bill Huntress, Leon Tuck, Pete Winship, Dale Barker, and Chick Grant.
1918
KARL FREDERICK HUTCHINSON died April 18. He had not been feeling well for several months. A gall bladder operation was finally decided on. He seemed to be recovering for a few days, but a sudden relapse brought about the end.
"Hutch" was born in Milford, N. H., March 30, 1897, the son of Fred Nathaniel and Mary Susan (Heald) Hutchinson. He graduated from Milford High School in 1913, where he played baseball, basketball, and football and was a member of the Glee Club and active in dramatics. At Dartmouth "Hutch" was a jovial character about New Hamp Hall, where he lived freshman year. He won his numerals in baseball and basketball, and later won his "D" on the varsity. He was a member of Chi Phi. He was loyal to the class and the college, and was always a happy gathering spot at class reunions.
He enlisted in the Navy April 7, 1917, and was discharged December 27, 1918 with the rank of ensign. He was then for a time with the Liberty Mutual Insurance Cos., and then with the Holtzer-Cabot Electric Cos. About 1926 he joined the staff of the Vacuum Oil Cos. (now Socony-Vacuum) in Philadelphia, and was assigned to their Paulsboro, N. J., plant as industrial engineer. July 18, 1928, he was married to Katherine Hancock of Valley Forge, Pa., and then established a home in Woodbury, N. J. She survives him, with their two children, Georgiana and Karl.
A close friend (Fred Balch 'l9) pays this tribute: "It is hard to tell just how much Hutch's never-failing smile and kind and cheery disposition endeared him to all who came to know him. Perhaps I can best say it by saying that many a man has lived a long lifetime without leaving the void that Hutch leaves after 12 or 13 years' residence here. While it is too soon to know to a surety, his wife's present plans call for her to continue in residence at their home at 528 W. Center St., Woodbury, and any of Hutch's friends who wish to communicate with her can reach her there."
1930
WILFRIED KLAMROTH JR. died in the Norwalk, Conn., Hospital, June 23, 1940, after a long illness, caused by a malignant intestinal growth.
Born in New York City on February 10, 1908, the son of Wilfried and Elizabeth Buford (Goodwin) Klamroth, Wilfried entered Dartmouth from Blair Academy, leaving college after freshman year.
He was married September 7, 1937, to Guadaloupe Perez in Quito, Ecuador,, where Bill was manager o£ the airfield of the Pan American Grace Airline. A daughter, Gail, was born November 13, 1938. In the course of his duties in Quito he was stricken with a usually fatal malady. Hoping to save his life, his company flew him from Quito to New York, and he was entered at the New York Hospital. After many months at the hospital and to the surprise of the staff he was discharged, apparently cured. He thereupon returned to his duties at the airport, but after perhaps six weeks of tryingwork, for which his strength had not sufficiently returned after his prolonged illness, the malady recurred and he was again flown back to New York. This time, due to his ■weakened condition, the illness took its natural course and in a very few days he passed on.
In addition to his wife and daughter, who reside in Quito, his parents survive him.
Medical School
1902
DR. CHARLES BENJAMIN ABBOTT died at his home in Hillsboro, N. H., March 24, 1941, of heart disease, after a short illness.
The son of Benjamin and Mary (Choate) Abbott, he was born in Bradford, N. H., March 17, 1872, and obtained his early education in his native town.
After graduation he practiced for a time in Bradford and Suncook, N. H., removing to Hillsboro in 1910. Quiet and unassuming, he devoted himself diligently to his lifework, and had few interests outside of his work and his home.
He married Luna Kingsbury, who survives him. They had no children of their own, but adopted several.
Advanced Degrees
1896
ALFRED MARSHALL HITCHCOCK died April 15 at an infirmary in Augusta. Ga. He was stricken at Swainsboro, Ga., while on his way North from Florida, four days before his death, and was taken to Augusta.
He was born in Troy, N. Y., May 7, 1868, the son of Rufus Clark and Louisa (St. John) Hitchcock, and graduated from Williams College in 1890. His master's degree was won at Dartmouth in 1896.
From 1897 to 1924 he was teacher of English in Hartford (Conn.) High School, and had since been in retirement at his home in West Hartford. He prepared many textbooks on English composition, and edited for school use editions of Irving's "Alhambra" and Scott's "Ivanhoe" and "Lady of the Lake " In 1935 he published an autobiographical volume, "A New England Boyhood."
July 17, 1900, he was married to Harriet May Thompson of Hartford, who survives him, with two daughters and two sons.
1905
THOMAS FRANCIS TAYLOR died February 22 in New Haven, Conn.
The son of John and Mary Josephine (Crain) Taylor, he was born in Bangor, Me.. July 22, 1880, and graduated as A.B. from the University of Maine in 1904. Since his year at Dartmouth he had studied at the University of Berlin, Columbia, and Yale.
He served as principal of high schools at Bangor, Norridgewock, and Orono, Me., and was on the faculty of the Horace Mann High School in New York City. Since 19x6 he had been head of the modern language department of New Haven High School. He was chairman of the American Association of Teachers of French, vice president of the Modern Languages Association, and a member of the College Entrance Examinations Board.
June 24, 1916, he was married to Madge Schofield Tasker of New York. She is not living, but two children, Thomas Newcomb and Elizabeth Crane, survive him.
