1894
Here is the last word which the Class Secretary had from Paul Jenks, a sketch of whom appears in the obituary section. It was written five days before he died.
"The Lord in his wisdom has seen fit to impose upon me a very severe attack of the intestinal influenza virus, very common locally now. Have never been quite so ill, and between that and the remnants of my blood-clot there is no telling how long recovery may take now. You'll hear no more from me for some time. I had some good intentions of certain Class Agent work before April 1, but I've discarded them completely."
It was a great thing for the Class and for the College that Paul was willing to devote so much of his time and limited energy during the last year of his life to the work of Class Agent. The writer of this column who heard from him almost once a week during this period can bear witness to the unfailing satisfaction that Paul had in coming into closer relations with the members of the '94 family.
When one is writing a column like this very frequently he wishes that his readers could be with him and see what he sees. For example, in a recent issue of the Shoreliner, a periodical published at Portsmouth, N. H., are two pictures which all of you ought to see. What are they pictures of? Let the Shoreliner tell:
"When visitors see the miniature village carved by Mr. G. Woodbury Parker, they find it diffiailt to believe that the principal tool of this painstaking craftsman was a jackknife. The intricate detail of the clapboarding, the Georgian fan over the front door, and the window shutters of the early Nineteenth Century colonial house, for instance, seem rather to have been reproduced with the most modern woodworking and modeling machinery. But so keen is Mr. Parker's eye that he has been able to re-create, over the past ten years, this amazingly life-like village with only the simple tool boys used to employ in the manufacture of willow whistles.
"It ail started a decade ago when Miss Hazel Woods, partner-manager of the Portsmouth Howard Johnson's on the Interstate Highway, wished aloud that she might have a model church or some other appropriate decoration for the interior of the restaurant during the Christmas holidays. Mr. Parker, her business partner, who happened to be within hearing at the time, began work on what was to be the first of a series of scale model buildings which now annually grace the Howard Johnson's mantelpiece.
"This was the old New England Church whose full-sized counter-parts enhance the beauty of so many shoreline towns. This particular model is not of any single building but is a composite of the general type, carved with the great columns at the front portal, and stained-glass Gothic windows whose colors are illuminated by a light inside the church. Mr. Parker even has tiny clocks, adapted from children's toy wrist watches set into the four faces of the steeple.
"Interested in banking, Mr. Parker's background, nevertheless, is compatible with this highly-skilled craftsmanship. He is a graduate of Dartmouth, where he majored in civil engineering, and during the years he practiced this profession he built a bridge that stands today in Hudson, Mass.
"In addition to his avocation of model building, Mr. Parker is an expert horticulturist. He has his own greenhouse at his home, and for several years he has supplied the seedlings with which Howard Johnson's is landscaped in the spring."
Not only did Woodie carve with his jackknife a church but also a dwelling house, a bank building, a store, what .seems to be a barn and another dwelling house. His carving will be on exhibition again two weeks before Christmas and will remain there until about New Year's. Couldn't you bring it, Woodie, to the Round-Up next fall at Dover?
There are now 20 members of the Class, all graduates, since, with the death of WalterGoss, the last non-graduate went. Of these, 5 are living in Massachusetts, 4 in New Hampshire. 3 in Vermont and one in Maine, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Florida, Mississippi, Nebraska and Colorado.
In College 5 belonged to Phi Zeta Mu, 4 were Phi Delts, 3 Dekes, 3 Psi U, 2 Tri Kap, 1 Alpha Delt, 1 Theta Delt, 1 non-fraternity.
Five have been in business (26), 4 teachers (17), 4 lawyers (16), 2 engineers (12), 2 newspaper work (4), 1 physician (7), 1 minister (4). The figures in parenthesis show the total number of the Class in a given occupation.
Taking the birthdays that occur in 1953 as the basis, 3 are or will be 86 years old; 1, 84; 4, 83; 1, 82; 8, 81; 1, 80; 2, 79.
All this may be considered in the line of a cross-word puzzle. Who of the Class can name the men in the several categories? Winners will be announced in the May issue.
The class officers have nominated and the Alumni Fund organization has appointed Kent Knowlton to succeed Paul Jenks as Class Agent. Kent was an active helper of Paul with his work. His address is 82 Hillside Ave., Nutley 10. N. J.
Secretary, 74 Kirkland St., Cambridge 38, Mass.
Class Agent, 82 Hillside Ave., Nutley 10, N. J.
