The End of a Dartmouth Era

THE campus flag was lowered to half-mast reverently and with a special sorrow on the morning of Thursday, day,August 13. Dead at his summer home in Manset, Maine, was Ernest Martin Hopkins 'Ol, President Emeritus of the College and the personification of Dartmouth for thousands of alumni who had been students here during his long and distinguished administration from 1916 to 1945.

In his 87th year, Mr. Hopkins died in his sleep in the early hours of that morning. He had suffered at least two coronary attacks in years past, and more recently he had been subject to spells of faintness brought on by an uneven heart rhythm and the narrowing of the heart arteries. The night before his death he had retired early, after such a spell, and seemed to be resting well when Mr. and Mrs. Deane Davis, his house guests, looked in for a final reassurance late that night. The next morning it was found that he had peacefully passed away.

Despite his heart condition and waning physical strength, which were a concern to his family and friends but which he insisted on minimizing, Mr. Hopkins had lost none of his mental vigor or lively spirit and enjoyment of life. At the time of his death he was still active as chairman of the board of the National Life Insurance Company of Montpelier, Vt.

The tributes to this towering figure in the history of Dartmouth College were many and widespread. Messages poured into Hanover from Dartmouth men and leaders in many fields. President Dickey, who succeeded Mr. Hopkins as head of the College, spoke for Dartmouth m'en everywhere when he said: "Ernest Martin Hopkins was agreat servant of his time but above all else he was an all-time leader of the Dartmouth he loved and so largely created. I've never known a man who enjoyed life more wholly or endured its troubles more gracefully. My debt to him is beyond knowing."

Many of the messages of sympathy were addressed to Mr. Hopkins' daughter Ann, now Mrs. John F. Spahr of Gladwyn, Pa. She survives her father together with her four children: John Rust Potter Jr., Martin Hopkins Potter, and the Misses Amy and Jessie Potter. There is also a great-grandson, John Rust Potter III, born in June. Mr. Hopkins' first wife, the former Celia Stone of Hanover, died in 1950. His second wife, the former Mrs. Grace Stone Tibbetts, died in 1954. Just two months before his death Mr. Hopkins had the double joy of becoming a greatgrandfather and of seeing his grandson "Hop" receive a Dartmouth degree with the Class of 1964.

Funeral services for Dartmouth's President Emeritus were held in Rollins Chapel on Saturday morning, August 15, and were attended by nearly a thousand persons. Those paying their final respects to a great and beloved man were headed by President Dickey and members of the Dartmouth Board of Trustees. Others there included former members of the Board, emeritus and active members of the faculty and administrative staff of the College, the president and members of the Dartmouth Alumni Council, many representatives of alumni classes and clubs, Hanover town officials and civic leaders, directors and associates from the National Life Insurance Company, officers of the Cardigan Mountain School, and hundreds of friends from the Hanover community and other localities.

Twenty ushers for the Rollins Chapel service represented the emeritus faculty, the College staff, and Hanover's board of selectmen. The bearers were Prof. Warner Bentley, Judge Amos N. Blandin '18, Dean Albert I. Dickerson '30, Secretary of the College Sidney C. Hayward '26, Dr. John Milne '37, and Charles E. Widmayer '30.

THE Reverend Fred Berthold Jr. '45, former Dean of the William Jewett Tucker Foundation, officiated at the chapel service and later at Hanover's Pine Knoll Cemetery, where Mr. Hopkins was placed at rest beside his first wife. The chapel service was simple, as Mr. Hopkins wished it to be, and consisted of organ music played by Prof. Milton Gill and readings and a prayer by Dr. Berthold. Just before the spoken service, Men of Dartmouth was played on Baker's bells, Dartmouth Undying was played by the organist, and the chapel bells were tolled for one minute. Gratitude for the life of service that Mr. Hopkins gave to Dartmouth and his fellow men was voiced by Dr. Berthold in his prayer:

"Eternal God, our Father,, by whose power we are made, by whose goodness sustained, and by whose love renewed, we come before thee in humble gratitude for thy manifold blessings. In every generation thou hast raised up witnesses to the truth, men who have not shrunk from questioning comfortable illusions, who have dared the enmity of some for the benefit of all. Especially today do we offer our most heartfelt thanks for the life of thy servant, Ernest Martin Hopkins. For his joy in hard work well done, which tempered and sharp- ened his natural talents; for his devotion to the cause of liberal learning, and his courage in assuming leadership in that cause in the face of strong opposition; for the faith by which he saw beyond troubled beginnings to noble achievements; for the unstinting gift of his energy and understanding to the larger community; for the rare combination of commitment to his own convictions with a humility which enabled him to honor those who differed; for the greatness of spirit which discerned a source and pattern of greatness beyond his own devising, yet welcomed his share of responsibility for its realization among his fellow men; for the wit and good humor which graced his perception of the human drama, including his own role in it; and not least for the constancy and warmth of the love he shared with family and friends - for all these things, O Lord, we give thee thanks. By thy grace may our gratitude not cease with words, but flourish in the renewal of our own dedication to the kingdom of Him who came that all thy children might live more abundantly. Amen."

One of the last photographs of President Emeritus Hopkins was this one taken in June, showing him at his Hanover home with his daughter Ann, who is Mrs. John F. Spahr; his grandson, Martin Hopkins Potter '64, who was graduating from Dartmouth that weekend; and his granddaughter, Jessie Potter. Mrs. Spahr's first husband was John Rust Potter '38.