Closes Out 43 Years As Chemistry Aide

Dartmouth students over the past four decades will remember Irving Fountain as a master of chemistry, the congenial and conscientious technician who kept everything running smoothly in the Steele Hall laboratories. When "Buster" retired September 22 at the age of 65, even he was a little impressed by his 47-year record. "I had 22 years here before President Dickey came," he said, "and I thought for sure I'd be out before he was." As a matter of fact, Buster. Fountain's employment at the age of 18 by the College preceded both John Dickey's matriculation and John Kemeny's birth.

His first jobs at Dartmouth included mowing lawns, working on construction, and helping out in the dissection laboratory until he was made Chemical Technician in the spring of 1927. He overcame the limitations of his grammar school education by sheer determination and application. It took long hours and hard study, but the chemistry knowledge he acquired during those 43 years is vast.

Fountain was responsible for keeping on hand all the chemicals, glassware, and apparatus the students needed, and for setting up instructional experiments and lecture demonstrations. He brought to these duties what the department chairman, Prof. Thomas A. Spencer, called "absolute devotion," and earned the reputation of being always ready to do a favor for anybody at any time.

The text of a scroll presented to Fountain at an informal gathering of friends from all the decades of his career in the Chemistry Department, cited his "indispensable and unique contribution to the operation of the department," and concluded that "his unselfishness, his capacity for hard work, his good humor, and his boundless eagerness to help will be long remembered."

Mr. Fountain (I) receiving citation fromProf. John Amsden '20. Profs. T. A.Spencer and Fletcher Low '15 look on.