1907

Gene Brooks died at his home in Concord, N. H., on April 2. He was not only the youngest member of 'O7 but, by common consent, perhaps the friendliest. He will be missed from our ranks. Crick Crocker knew Gene intimately before, during and after college days, and his memories and his appraisal of Gene's unique and endearing personal qualities are wholly fitting as '07's, memorial to Gene:

"My first thoughts about Gene go back to the days in Cambridge where we grew up together. He was the sixth in a family of six boys and three girls. The Brooks homes in Cambridge and at Point Shirley were regular rendezvous for their many friends. Gene was a great reader; often, when some game was about to get under way, he would have to be hauled away from a book, and we were always glad to have him on our side.

"Gene was naturally brilliant in his school work and a natural athlete, as well, playing on the football and hockey teams at Rindge Manual Training School. One of his close friends in school was Joe Harris, a negro and a fine all-round fellow. I mention this friendship as characteristic of Gene throughout his life,—he judged people for what they really were, regardless of social position.

"Gene was the youngest member of our class. We roomed together freshman year in Sanborn. He was a member of the famous delegation pledged by Tri Kap that fall, over which one Wallis Angus McCoy set himself up as 'King.' In junior year he was captain of Dartmouth's first hockey team, with the rink on the old baseball diamond. In senior year, after Johnny Glaze was injured, Gene's chance came to be first quarterback on the football team. He had the hard luck to get water on the knee, but in spite of this he played most of the last half of the Brown game at Springfield, where we took a beating. This injury forced Gene to resign as captain of the hockey team and he hobbled about on crutches that winter. He roomed with Grebie and me senior year in Proctor.

"After college, Gene went to the Colorado School of Mines for a couple of years and while there played quarterback on the football team. He engaged in mining for several years and then became chief engineer of the John T. Slack Corporation at Springfield, Vt. Later he entered the Mechanical department of the Boston & Maine R. R. and was successively superintendent of its car shops at Keene and Concord, N. H.

"Gene was very happily married and very proud of his family. He had a host of loyal friends. He was one of the best liked men in our class, and he will be greatly missed by us all."

The '07 men who attended Gene's funeral services were: Ahern, McLane, McCoy, Ted Richardson, Crocker, Pickett, Tarbell, Duke Sanborn, Woodworth, Knapp, and Jim Brown.

Secretary, 140 Federal St., Boston 10, Mass Treasurer, WILLARD H. CUMMINGS Box 415, Guilford, Me.