Charles G. Johnson '71 Is Senior Alumnus
CHARLES G. JOHNSON '71 of Pasadena, Calif., Dartmouth's oldest living alumnus, was 98 years old last Fourth of July. Like Dr. Zeeb Gilman, who had the distinction of being Dartmouth's oldest graduate until his death, at 105, last June, Mr. Johnson is a native New Englander who followed Horace Greeley's advice and went West to seek his fortune.
Born in Northfield, Mass., Mr. Johnson, after his graduation from Dartmouth, was a railroad engineer in lowa and then engaged in the lumber business, banking, agriculture, and livestock-raising in the Middle West. After the death of his wife in St. Paul in 1902, Mr. Johnson moved to Pasadena. There he was engaged in business connected with agriculture and the handling of livestock in the Imperial Valley and in Arizona. In 1923. when he was 75, he entered the employ of one of the large banks of Los Angeles and retired at 90 years of age. He was married for the second time, in 1923. to Mrs. Edith Alden Daniels. A brother, Roger Johnson '74, died in 1939.
Enjoying the sunshine and quiet of his life in Pasadena, Mr. Johnson in a letter to an old friend writes, "I am at present in excellent health, but more blind and less able to walk about. However, I enjoy life. The radio and the 'book-talking machine' are great helps, but the most enjoyable of all are my friends." And again he writes, giving a good account of old age, "The present time is one of the most interesting of all my life."
Mr. Johnson remembers well living through the events of the Civil War. At Dartmouth he was present at the Centennial celebration of the College in 1869, at which were present General Sherman, the Secretary of the United States Treasury— "a short thick-set man"—and many other dignitaries. As a waiter at one of the tables in the big tent, Johnson remembers vividly a gust of wind which blew down a portion of the tent, sending the dignitaries rushing under the platform for shelter.
Although he has led a busy life, and kept busier longer than most men, Johnson has enjoyed the pleasures of being a hunter and fisherman, and is grateful that his work and recreation have acquainted him with the productivity and beauty of this country—lowa, Minnesota, the Dakotas, timber lands of Wisconsin, Michigan, Washington, Oregon and California.
In his life he has successfully applied the advice given the ten scientific graduates of 1871 by Professor John S. Woodman, advice which Johnson recalled often and vividly throughout his years after graduation:
"May all that you have added to your education make you more efficient in your pursuits and be a source of life's richest enjoyment."
CHARLES G. JOHNSON '71
