Retiring as Plant Superintendent
AFTER 33 years as Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds, Willard M. Gooding '11 will retire from his work at the College on June 30. Succeeding him in this position is Richard W. Olmsted '32, who has been Assistant Superintendent since 1940.
Anyone acquainted with Mr. Gooding and there are few townspeople, undergraduates or alumni who are not must think of him as a man in motion. In order to achieve the results that he has been able to bring about, he has had to be not on one job but on many. Coming to Dartmouth in 1920, he has overseen its development in the period of its greatest growth, and his responsibilities, which have dealt with everything from landscaping to architecture to human nature, have been varied and demanding.
Graduating from Thayer School in 1912 with the C.E. degree, Mr. Gooding spent nearly a year with a consulting engineering firm in Boston and was for the next seven years superintendent of the Berlin (N.H.) Water Works. When he first came to Dartmouth he had about 100 men working for him as a maintenance crew. There are now over 250.
No small part of his work has been keeping the. inhabitants of dormitories and the 400-odd apartments owned by the College reasonably contented. Following the war Sachem Village and Wigwam Circle were added to the picture. Thanks to a natural ability and much experience, he has become noted as an expert purchaser. He has saved the College many dollars by his willingness to act quickly, without sparing his own energies. By making trips to Boston and New York and placing well-timed orders, he has always done his wholesale marketing keting to good advantage. This ability when applied to a plant valued at 11 million dollars, requiring to name one item 2,300,000 gallons of fuel oil a year, has proved of inestimable value.
Twenty-nine new buildings were added to the College plant between 1920 and 1930 and these as well as the remodeling of old buildings became a major responsibility. Mr. Gooding's duties for this decade of unprecedented growth included overseeing the construction of Baker Library, Sanborn House, Carpenter Hall, Dick's House, Clement Green House, the D.O.C. House, seven new dormitories and the Amos Tuck School, with its four buildings. The College heating plant was necessarily remodeled and expanded, a major undertaking.
In spite of his busy career, Mr. Gooding has maintained his skill as a fisherman. His other hobbies include his five grandchildren, who are definitely members of the Dartmouth family; his three daughters having all married alumni and his son, John Gooding, having graduated with the Class of 1945.
Richard W. Olmsted, who takes over the duties of Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds, received the C.E. degree from Thayer School in 1933. Before coming to Dartmouth in 1940 as Assistant Superintendent, he worked seven years for the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Cos. in the Operating Department. As first assistant under Mr. Gooding, he also has had a great variety of experience in the maintenance and operations of the College plant. Married in 1934 to the former Helen Laycock, daughter of the late Dean Craven Laycock, he is the father of a son and a daughter.
WILLARD M. GOODING 'll (right), Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds for 33 years, retires June 30, to be succeeded by Richard W. Olmsted '32, Assistant Superintendent, shown with him.
