USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Cambridge > Harvard class of 1925 : decennial report > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14
VE
R
TAS
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 07507 8987
GC 974.402 C14HCK
1
HARVARD COLLEGE CLASS OF 1925 Secretary's Fourth Report
S
HARVARD 1925
DECENNIAL REPORT
VIE
R
TAS
PRINTED FOR THE CLASS CAMBRIDGE 1935
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
NORWOOD PRESS LINOTYPE, INCORPORATED NORWOOD, MASSACHUSETTS
CONTENTS
CLASS OFFICERS · VII
FOREWORD . IX
TREASURER'S REPORT . XI THE HARVARD FUND . XV IN MEMORIAM . H
RECORDS OF THE CLASS . 29 LOST . 225 GEOGRAPHICAL INDEX . 227
CLASS OFFICERS
CLASS SECRETARY PHILIP HUNTER ROBB WOODSIDE DRIVE . HEWLETT . LONG ISLAND NEW YORK
CLASS TREASURER
GARDNER COWLES · JR REGISTER AND TRIBUNE . DES MOINES . IOWA
CLASS COMMITTEE
HENRY TRAUGOTT DUNKER BENJAMIN FRANKLIN RICE BASSETT SYLVESTER BAKER KELLEY GEORGE PIERCE BAKER · JR PHILIP HUNTINGTON THEOPOLD
FOREWORD
TO THE MEMBERS OF THE CLASS:
T "HE past four years, since our last report, have been most interest- ing to me as your secretary. Our active membership roll now stands at 796 and needless to say this period has witnessed numer- ous changes in the activities of many members of the class. As a body, I should say we have weathered the interval remarkably well.
In the last report I said we might splurge on this one, but again I have had to defer to economy. Once more we have had the help of David W. Bailey and the Alumni Directory staff in editing and manufacturing our book. This time the report has been simplified by the omission of data which had already appeared in previous reports and was consequently not necessary to repeat. In considera- tion of the importance of our tenth reunion, however, we have attempted to give the volume a more dignified appearance. I trust, therefore, that you will regard the book not only as useful for reference, but also as an addition to your library.
PHILIP H. ROBB,
Secretary.
ix
TREASURER'S REPORT
1
T HE following financial statements show a summary of the trans- actions of the Class treasury in connection with the Class's endowment insurance program, printing of the Class reports, and other miscellaneous activities.
The endowment policies which were taken out by the members of the Class to be a gift to Harvard College in 1950, yielded annual dividends beginning with the year 1929. These dividends were paid to the treasurer. The aggregate amount so received to date is $4,692,89. There were also paid to the treasurer death claims on the policies of 13 members amounting to $3,853.34.
These funds have been used principally to advance the premiums on policies of members who became delinquent in their payments to the Aetna Life Insurance Company. The cost of the Class report in 1931, which amounted to $1,086.31, was also paid out of these funds. In addition to the above, there were minor miscellaneous items of income and expense which are set out fully in the schedules shown below.
Collections were made wherever possible from members for the premiums advanced on their behalf, and where efforts to collect were not successful, the value of the policies of such members was converted to paid-up insurance. Harvard College was not given credit for the full amount of the paid-up insurance, but only for the net amount after deducting the uncollected premiums advanced by the treasurer. Of the $10,110.00 face value on December 31, 1934, of paid-up insurance acquired, $4,688.46 of the amount was credited to accounts receivable and the balance, $5,421.54, was credited to Harvard College.
As shown by the balance sheet dated December 31, 1934, there is now due Harvard, on account of death claims paid and paid-up
xi
HARVARD 1925 · FOURTH REPORT
insurance, a total of $9,274.88. There is also an obligation of $700.00 due the Iowa-Des Moines National Bank for borrowed money. These obligations are more than balanced by the claims totaling $10,110.00 which the Class will have in 1950 against the Aetna Life Company for paid-up insurance.
The Class, however, has a surplus of $3,167.92 which may be said to be represented by accounts totaling $2,992.15 due from members for insurance premiums advanced on their behalf, and a small bank balance. It is impossible at this time to determine what portion of these accounts may be collected. They have a substantial value, however, since the policies for which they were incurred may be converted into further paid-up insurance.
At the time this insurance program began, 506 members of the Class took out policies. Since that time 112 policies have been con- verted into paid-up insurance, and 13 contracts terminated on account of death, leaving 381 policies in force on which the premiums have been paid to date. The Aetna Life Insurance Company estimates there is $108,250.00 of insurance now in force.
xii
TREASURER'S REPORT Income and Expense Statements Aug. 1, 1928 to Year Ended Dec. 31, 1934 5
INSURANCE PROGRAM
Income
Annual Dividends
$4,692.89
Interest Received
90.65
Miscellaneous Income
2.05
Total Income
$4,785.59
Expense
Interest Paid
$ 332.03
Telegrams, Stamps, etc.
142.46
Miscellaneous Expense
5.28
Total Expense
$ 479.77
Net Income
$4,305.82
CLASS ACTIVITIES
Income
Sale of Albums
$ 28.00
Triennial Reunion Committee
65.10
Sexennial Reunion Committee
138.48
Total Income
$ 231.58
Expense
Class Report
$1,086.31
Harvard Directories
10.00
Commencement Day Exercises
200.00
Miscellaneous Expense
11.25
Total Expense
$1,307.56
Net loss
$1,075.98
Deficit prior to Aug. 1, 1928
61.92
Net Deficit
$1,137.90
xiii
HARVARD 1925 · FOURTH REPORT
Balance Sheet December 31, 1934
ASSETS
Iowa-Des Moines National Bank
$ 40.65
Accounts Receivable 2,992.15
Aetna Company-Paid-up Insurance
10,110.00
Total Assets
$13,142.80
LIABILITIES AND CAPITAL
Due Harvard College:
Death Claims Paid
$ 3,853.34
Paid-up Insurance
5,421.54
Total due Harvard College
$ 9,274.88
Notes Payable
700.00
Surplus:
Insurance Program
$4,305.82
Less: Deficit on
Class Activities
1,137.90
3,167.92
$13,142.80
Respectfully submitted,
GARDNER COWLES, JR., Treasurer.
January 29, 1935.
xiv
THE HARVARD FUND
1
S INCE the Harvard Fund was established in 1926, two hundred and thirty-three men of our Class have contributed. Our record is not a good one. Last year we were third from the bottom of the list among the classes arranged in order of contributors. Only 10.3% of our Class contributed.
It should be remembered, however, that a substantial number of men are participating in our class insurance fund. We therefore have to look primarily to those who are not sharing in this obliga- tion for gifts to the Harvard Fund, and we expect them to help us most. Such gifts, along with the class insurance fund, will be cred- ited to our Twenty-fifth Anniversary Gift.
As time goes on, we hope that an ever increasing number of the men who are participating in the class insurance fund will also be able to give to the Harvard Fund.
Meanwhile, you will continue to get my letters each year.
HENRY T. DUNKER, Class Agent.
XV
IN MEMORIAM
Herbert Spencer Abel
H ERBERT SPENCER ABEL was born August 1, 1903 at Bradford, Massachusetts, the son of Bernard and Anna (Kodney) Abel. His family moved to Providence, Rhode Island, when he was ten, and he was educated in the Providence public schools, graduating from Classical High School in 1920. After two years' study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology he transferred to Harvard. Here he was active in the Glee Club and the Menorah Society and was a member of Phi Sigma Delta fraternity. After receiving his A.B. at Commencement with our class, he took up his medical studies at Cornell, taking the M.D. in 1929. During his last year at Cornell he was consul of his chapter of Phi Delta Epsilon, med- ical fraternity.
On April 4, 1929 Abel married Miss Adel Rubenstein, Radcliffe '26. He served his interneship at the Beth Israel Hospital, Boston from July 1929 to April 1931, and thereafter served for one year as resident at the Skin and Cancer Hospital, New York City.
In April 1932 Abel returned to Providence where he established himself as a dermatologist and syphiologist. He was in active prac- tice until his death in Providence, December 3, 1934. He was a member of the staff of Rhode Island Hospital, the Miriam Hospital, the Charles V. Chapin Hospital, all of Providence, and of the Beth Israel Hospital in Boston. He was a member of the Rhode Island Medical Society and the Providence Medical Society, treasurer of the Jacobi Medical Society, and a posthumous member in the New England Dermatological Society.
Herbert Abel was a prime companion whether there was work to be done or amusement to be found. Both as friend and as physician
I
HARVARD 1925 · FOURTH REPORT
he was remarkable for his uncompromising adherence to the highest principles. His family, his friends, his patients, even his neighbors know that his like will be hard to find.
C. A. L.
John Henry Berry
J
OHN HENRY BERRY was a native of Cambridge. He was born February 24, 1904, the son of Henry Ward and Lizzie Medora (Odde) Berry. His early schooldays were passed at Watertown. Always a high-honor student, he was graduated from the Watertown High School in 1921, the leading scholar of his class.
Berry came to Harvard as the holder of a Harvard Club of Boston Scholarship. He at once made a place for himself in undergraduate life, was a member of the Gore Hall tennis team, sang with the Freshman Glee Club, and, during the first part of his sophomore year, with the University Glee Club.
After a brief attack of acute pneumonia Berry died February 23, 1923 at his father's home in Watertown. His friends remember him as a boy of fine character and high aspirations, with a mind which gave promise of unusual brilliance.
H. W. BERRY.
Henry Morgan Bohlen
H ENRY MORGAN BOHLEN was the son of Charles Bohlen of the class of 1888 and Celestine (Eustis) Bohlen. He was born December 13, 1902 at Aiken, South Carolina. He prepared for Harvard at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire. Dur- ing his freshman year he was a member of the class football and hockey teams. As a sophomore he rowed on the class crew and as a junior was a member of the second University hockey team. He was a member of the Hasty Pudding Club-Institute of 1770, the S. K. Club, the Stylus Club, and the Porcellian Club.
2
IN MEMORIAM
Following his graduation Bohlen entered the real estate business in Boston, being associated with the office of R. DeB. Boardman and later with T. Dennie Boardman. He was married December 4, 1926 to Margaret Curtis, daughter of Edwin U. Curtis, late police commissioner of Boston. They had two children, a son and a daughter. This marriage was later dissolved. Bohlen died in Bos- ton on Christmas Day 1934.
"Few men can have been so much loved by their friends," writes H. W., "as Henry Bohlen. But it will be part of our abiding sorrow that it should be so difficult to convey the quality of an attraction none who knew it could resist. For the desire is not easily put by to share that one has held inestimably dear. What made in him the unique, extraordinary charm? Was it perhaps complete sim- plicity, an utter estrangement (in his nature hatred did not flourish) from all pretence, from everything that was 'but the guinea's stamp'? That he surely had; and with it a most warm affection for all he found kindly, loyal, and therefore lovable, like himself. Surely, too, there was a fragrance in smile and speech of that South from which he drew his blood. And it is this that for many will make a snatch of Dixie, or the Camptown Race Track a spell of evocation their whole lives long. It was all these, and much more and others. But words are very vain! And better than any the writer can com- mand are those of Francis Thompson which ring continually in his mind:
"Some may perchance with strange surprise Have blundered into Paradise. In vasty dusk of life abroad They fondly thought to err from God, Nor knew the circle that they trod; And wandering all the night about, Found them at morn where they set out.
Death dawned; Heaven lay in prospect wide :-
Lo! they were standing by His Side."
3
HARVARD 1925 · FOURTH REPORT Jack Portman Chesney
TACK PORTMAN CHESNEY, the son of Dr. Jesse P. Chesney and Narcissa (Kennedy) Chesney, was born at St. Joseph, Missouri, February 4, 1904. After education in the public schools of Kansas City, he attended the Westport High School, graduating in 1921. He was awarded the scholarship of the Harvard Club of Kansas City, but was able to remain in Cambridge only two years before he was forced by ill health to withdraw.
After regaining his health, Chesney entered business in Kansas City, becoming active in the field of real estate loans. On Febru- ary 18, 1928, he married Miss Marian Shryock. His death occurred on February 6, 1931, at St. Joseph's Hospital, Kansas City, as the result of an attack of spinal meningitis. He had been ill less than a day.
"Jack Chesney's brilliant intellectual qualities and his earnest endeavor," writes our classmate, Walter Keller, "made him a leading young business man in his community, with great promise for his future; his genial personality, kindliness, and sympathetic understand- ing endeared him to all who knew him; and for us who were close to him time has not tempered his sudden loss, nor will it."
James Lawrence Dunham
AMES LAWRENCE DUNHAM was, at the time of his sudden death,
J May 2, 1933, instructor in physics at Harvard. His loss was a peculiarly intimate one for the University, for he had spent the major part of his academic life as one of its active contributing mem- bers, and it was only equalled in his devotion by his family and by his science. He was born March 27, 1904, in New York City, the son of Lawrence Dunham and Athelais (Cranford) Dunham, and attended the Scarsdale public schools from 1910 to 1921. He then entered Harvard, where - with a gap of two years - he spent the remaining twelve years of his life, taking the A.B. degree with his class in 1925; the A.M. in 1927; and the Ph.D. in 1929. During this
4
IN MEMORIAM
period he held at different times Harvard College Fellowships and Whiting Fellowships.
As an undergraduate, as well as later, Dunham showed a great and critical interest in the theater and in public affairs. He was a member of the Dramatic Club, and of the Liberal Club, being president of the latter in his sophomore-junior year. After gradu- ation, followed the period of his growing scientific activity. He did four years of research at Harvard, then two more at Chicago on a National Research Fellowship, whence he returned to his instruc- torship in 1931.
Dunham was primarily a theoretical physicist - though he began his period of research as an experimentalist, and was returning once more to active experimental-work during the last two years of his life. He made substantial contributions in the field of wave mechan- ics, devoting himself first to the calculations of absolute intensities of spectral bands in the infra-red, and later to developing the Wentzel-Brillouin-Kramers method of solving the wave equation, which enabled him to make more precise calculations of the energy levels of a rotating vibrator than had previously been made. This was developmental work of a definitely useful kind. Of the earlier work, one can do no better than quote a scientific contemporary, who has himself made use of some of Dunham's findings: "His cal- culation of the absolute intensities of spectral lines is characterized by its extreme thoroughness; it was a definite advance over previous attempts, and has not been improved on since." Dunham was able to exploit his great love of the outdoors and of new countries in his other great interest in physics: cosmic rays. Here he was pre- dominantly the experimentalist, and in the summer of 1932 had enjoyed himself to the full on a successful expedition to Alaska with Professor Bennett of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, studying latitude effects in cosmic ray intensities. And this was to be but the beginning, for he had already received a grant from the Carnegie Institute for an expedition of his own to Peru, which was to have taken place in the summer of 1933.
To three outstanding qualities of "Jim" Dunham I should like
5
HARVARD 1925 · FOURTH REPORT
to pay tribute: his thoroughness, his modesty, and his enthusiasm. The first of these has already been referred to, and it was character- istic not only of his scientific work, but of everything he did. Patience, reliability, willingness to go to any pains to get a thing really right, these were just an inherent part of him, and he was destined, because of them, to receive ever wider recognition and re- sponsibility. The greater the tragedy of his death (from embolism while recovering from appendicitis), that he was newly experiencing the feeling of control and assurance which the long practice of these qualities evokes.
His modesty must have struck all who met him. Even at home, he would never speak of his own contributions or of any praise they had received. I have never known a man freer from desire for self- gain. It was partly, I think, due to his gentleness of spirit, and his unwillingness to gain, however indirectly, at the expense of another. And, in part, his desire to keep his own share in the background must have been because of his appreciation of the fact that science is cumulative, and that you can never say at just what point one man's work has begun and another's has left off.
Finally, Dunham's transparent enthusiasm and optimistic, con- structive outlook, utterly untouched by any hint of cynicism or defeatism, made him one of the most lovable and refreshing of men. The intense zest with which he tackled each of his manifold in- terests, whether skating or music or politics or architecture or camp- ing or physics made him loved and respected everywhere. And with this enthusiasm went an active social conscience, a profound belief in the essence of democracy, and an underlying optimism in his whole social philosophy, which could never be shaken by temporary setbacks either in his own work or in the world at large. In his gentleness, his unselfishness, his complete lack of arrogance of any kind, his delightful humor, his love of hard work, and in his abounding optimism, he paid a high tribute to the University which meant so much to him. In these days the world can ill afford to lose men of his stamp.
G. A. MILLIKAN, '27.
6
IN MEMORIAM
Jefferson Fletcher
JEFFERSON FLETCHER was born at Cambridge on October 26, 1902, the son of Agnes Herrick and Jefferson B. Fletcher, '87. He died on July 19, 1929 at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Fletcher's early years were largely spent in New York City. There he at- tended Saint Michael's School during the year 1909-1910, and Saint Bernard's School from 1911 to 1916. He prepared for college at Saint Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, from which he graduated cum laude in 1921.
During his four years in college Fletcher concentrated in English literature and history. Despite the handicap of a severe illness in the spring of 1925, he received his bachelor's degree. He was a member of the Signet Society, the D. U., Speakers', and Varsity Clubs, and of the Hasty Pudding Club - Institute of 1770. He won both his freshman numerals and his varsity letter in track. His first year after graduation was spent at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University, where he studied English history. He broke the university record in the low hurdles and was the only American member of the Athenaeum Club. He was also elected to the Hawks and Achilles Clubs.
In September, 1926, Fletcher returned to Saint Paul's School as a member of the faculty. He remained there until his death. He taught English literature and history and was active as a coach in various sports.
When a successful career full of promise for the future is cut so tragically short as was Fletcher's, the man's formative years are necessarily thrown into high relief, and the close coincidence between his life and his education gives one an opportunity to see the effect of that education and to weigh its value. If an aim of schools and colleges is to send into the world clean living, clear thinking men, then in this case that aim was realized to the full. Those of us who had the privilege of knowing Fletcher at school remember a warm-hearted, exuberant boy brought up in a sympa- thetic and observing home. He had the qualities of mind and
7
HARVARD 1925 · FOURTH REPORT
body which make a boy popular with his contemporaries and his elders alike. In college and afterward, we saw these qualities mature. Exuberance gave place to cheerful vitality. A furious intellectual curiosity, for which the day was far too short, developed into a keen intelligence always capable of effective concentration upon the problem at hand. Above all we saw grow to maturity that fineness of character which lay at the root of his personal popu- larity and which gave all his activities a rare value.
Fletcher's death deprived his family of a devoted son and brother, his friends of a loyal and charming companion, and the community of an educated gentleman.
C. F. D.
Ernest Laurence Hill
E' RNEST LAURENCE HILL was born January 26, 1904, at New York City, the son of Ernest Laurence and Annette (Shaw) Hill. He prepared for Harvard at the Newton Country Day School. During his freshman year he served on the editorial board of the Red Book. As an upperclassman, his interest in the sciences was reflected in his membership in the Boylston Chemical Club. Only a few days following our graduation at Commencement, 1925, he was suddenly stricken by fever and died July 9, at Wellesley, Mas- sachusetts.
"Ernest's energy and devotion to whatever interested him," writes his mother in a letter to the secretary, "was a special characteristic. When he was a small boy I wanted to celebrate his birthday by taking him to a matinée; instead we passed the afternoon visiting the junkshops on Atlantic Avenue. At one time he brought a forty-three-foot boat from Campobello, New Brunswick, to Cohas- set Harbor in four days with only a red-headed country boy to crank the twenty-two-year-old engine, as Ernest said he did not have the vocabulary that would do the trick. He didn't hug the coast, but put straight out to sea. Just before graduating he re- ceived two first prizes from the Rudder magazine for articles sent in.
8
IN MEMORIAM
He was amused to be taken for a teacher at Harvard by corre- spondents concerning the articles.
"He was always so busy experimenting, fixing up the old boat, making radios, and so forth, that, while he liked his friends, it seemed to me that he did not know how to entertain them except by showing them what he had done, to which they were, naturally, sometimes indifferent. Just before his graduation he wrote a twenty- five-page typewritten paper called 'Reflections at Commencement - The Young Dog Answers,' in answer to an article that appeared in the Saturday Evening Post. It shows a very keen observation of doings at Harvard."
"To those who knew his early years," writes a friend of his school- boy days, William T. Reid, 3d., '26, "in the rare serenity of his home, among his friends at Country Day, and in his outside in- terests - ever broadening because of the joy he took in earth and sky and water - his going was an irreparable tragedy.
"His interest in mechanics and his love of the sea found expres- sion in his first writing and also in his academic work when he entered Harvard. An integration was taking place there which would have made him an outstanding leader in his chosen field of law. For he was strong, yet in his strength imbued with sym- pathy; he was thoughtful and independent, yet beloved by his inti- mate companions; and there was in him a feeling of the wonder of the universe.
"Thus naturally 'endowed to wrestle either with the problems of nature or the complexities of his profession, it is strange that he was taken from us. The promise of his character is his imperish- able monument."
George Henry Kotok
G J EORGE HENRY KOTOK was born in Franklin Township, Gloucester County, New Jersey, on January 26, 1901. He was the seventh son of David and Anna (Shultz) Kotok who had mi- grated to the United States from Russia in 1887. As a child of
9
HARVARD 1925 · FOURTH REPORT
seven or eight years, George already showed signs of being a keen debater and took great interest even at that early age in discussions pertaining to public affairs. When he was fourteen, he left school, and the World War then being in progress, obtained employment first in the DuPont Ammunition Factory, at Pennsgrove, New Jer- sey, and later at the Remington Arms Works, at Essington, Penn- sylvania. From Essington he went to Boston, Massachusetts, for the purpose of enlisting in the United States Army. Being unable to enlist in Boston he went to Belmar, Texas, where at fifteen he enlisted in the United States Cavalry under the assumed name of George H. Karvel. His whereabouts during this time was unknown to the members of his family as no information was received from him.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.