Harvard College class of ninety-seven : forty-fifth anniversary report, 1897, Part 3

Author: Harvard College (1780- ). Class of 1897
Publication date: 1942
Publisher: Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University
Number of Pages: 114


USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Cambridge > Harvard College class of ninety-seven : forty-fifth anniversary report, 1897 > Part 3


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He studied medicine at Johns Hopkins University, graduating with honor in 1901. It was quite in line with his temperament that the science of medicine interested him far more than the art and he threw himself with enthusiasm into the study of pathology and its relatively new derivative, bacteriology, which was then attracting able research scholars on account of its spectacular discoveries. He received the first Fellowship awarded by the recently founded Rockefeller Institute and joined the Staff of the University of Penn- sylvania as assistant demonstrator in pathology. Studies with Jules Bordet, the Nobel Laureate, in Brussels, confirmed his special interest in immunology, and on his return to this country he served


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successively as bacteriologist to the Danvers Insane Hospital in Massachusetts and as instructor at the Harvard Medical School. He was called in 1910 to the University of California as professor of pathology where he remained for 13 years except for a brief period of service as Major in the Medical Corps, U.S.A. during the World War. He convinced his colleagues that bacteriology should con- stitute a discipline separate from pathology and in 1921 he was ap- pointed to the new professorship of bacteriology and made director of the Department. He was attracted back to the Atlantic seaboard, however, by an offer from Columbia University to head the Depart- ment of Bacteriology, a position which he held until his death.


His written contributions to scientific medical literature are very numerous and may be mentioned only in general terms as dealing with the problems of serum reactions, anaphylaxis, vaccine therapy, and other problems in immunization and virus infections. His opus major appeared in 1935, Agents of Disease and Host Resistance, an American system of bacteriology and immunology, planned and edited and largely contributed by him. He wrote largely on medical education and the historical developments of bacteriology. His last book published in 1937, which he called The Open Mind, was a tribute to his intimate friend and scientific colleague, our classmate Dr. E. E. Southard. It embodies a remarkable appreciation of an- other eminent man.


Gay was inevitably a member of most of the scientific societies in the field of biology in America and was president of many of them. His more important offices included membership in the National Research Council, as chairman in the medical section during the World War; an exchange professorship from Columbia to Belgium Universities (1926, 1927); chairmanship of the Advisory Committee on Research of the Leonard Wood Memorial; membership in the National Academy of Sciences in Washington. By Belgium he was made a Commander of the Order of the Crown, and from George Washington University he received an honorary Sc.D.


The colleagues and friends of Gay's later years, besides paying tribute to his scientific contributions, speak of him as an inspiring


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teacher whose words were imbued with a scholarly refinement and culture which made a deep impression on his students. He had originality and facility of expression. These, combined with enthusi- asm, led, on occasions, to real eloquence. Diffident, retiring, and modest but given to frank and decisive expression, he gave the im- pression of aloofness to a casual acquaintance. This was really quite inconsistent with the warm affection which he felt for his circle of devoted friends and associates. He did not wear his heart upon his sleeve. It is known that he was planning soon to retire, looking forward to quiet years in the country in the enjoyment of compan- ionship with growing and living things which constituted his chief hobby and in comradeship with his devoted wife and children. Per- haps mild attacks of angina which he had suffered for a year or two warned him that the time might be short. He had no illness but passed away quietly in his sleep on July 14, 1939. He left his wife, two daughters, and a son William Gay of the Class of '41 in Harvard College.


D. C.


OLIVER WILLIAM GILPIN was born at Kittanning, Pennsyl- vania, September 5, 1874, and was a resident of this town until the date of his death, October 27, 1941. He prepared for College at Kit- tanning High School and at Phillips Academy in Andover. After graduating from Harvard with the Class of 1897, he studied law at the University of Pennsylvania and was admitted to the Pennsyl- vania Bar, becoming a partner in the firm of Buffington and Gilpin. Since Mr. Buffington's death, some fifteen years ago, Gilpin had practised alone. For some years prior to his death, he was President of Armstrong County Trust Company of Kittanning, and was very successful and highly respected as a banker in his community. He was always active in civic and charitable affairs in the district in which he lived, and his standing in the community was of the highest.


Gilpin was always retiring and diffident in manner and rarely attended social gatherings, except among his intimate friends; living


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a secluded life, devoted to his family and his work. He left no children surviving and his wife, who was Emily Reynolds, died shortly before his own death.


D. M.


HENRY FLETCHER GODFREY died on June 10, 1940 at Hew- lett, Long Island, having suffered for some time from a bad heart. He was born at Wallingford, Pennsylvania, on January 1, 1874, the son of Charles Henry Godfrey and Anna Louise Bennett Godfrey. He attended the Berkeley School in New York City and entered Harvard with our class in the Fall of 1893. He received his A.B. degree in 1896 after only three years of study, but he always con- sidered himself a 100-per-cent '97 man. In fact he had more than the usual amount of class loyalty and always took great pleasure in attending the annual dinner of a group of Harvard '97 men in New York City. In college he was a member of the A.D. Club, and though his circle of friends was not a wide one, he was loved by all who knew him.


For about two years after graduation Godfrey lived in the West for his health, and thereafter, until he had to retire from business, he was a stockbroker in New York City. From April 28, 1902, to January 30, 1938, he was a member of the New York Stock Exchange. He was a partner in the following stock exchange firms, Lee Kretschmer & Company (1903 to 1907), Taylor Livingston & Company (1911 to 1919), Morgan, Livermore & Company (1923 to 1926), and Winthrop Mitchell & Company (1929 to 1940). He was a member of the Knickerbocker, Union and Harvard Clubs of New York City and of the Meadowbrook Hunt Club on Long Island.


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Godfrey was married twice. His first wife was Mrs. Marie Have- meyer Tiffany, whom he married on April 3, 1906, and who died many years ago. By this marriage he had one child, a son Henry Fletcher Godfrey Jr., who is now serving in the United States Navy. A few years before his death Godfrey married Miss Charlotte Hearons, who predeceased him. There was no child by this marriage.


During World War No. I Godfrey served with the Y.M.C.A. in


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France, being attached to Company A, 23rd Engineers. Later he was commissioned Ist Lieutenant Infantry and detailed to liaison service with the French General Staff. Harry Godfrey's chief pleas- ure in his earlier years was fox hunting, and he was a well known figure at all meets of the Meadowbrook Hunt. An injury to his leg while hunting many years ago resulted in permanent lameness which necessitated the use of a cane.


Few of our classmates had more charm of manner and personality than Harry Godfrey. To this charm he added a keen sense of humor. He was modest and, in every sense of the word, a gentleman of the old school.


H. G. G.


FRANK GORDON died in Kansas City on July 25, 1940, after an illness of several years. He was born December 25, 1876 in Pueblo, Colorado, the son of Isaac and Rosa (Harris) Gordon. After spend- ing his four years with us at Harvard, he attended the Kansas City School of Law, receiving his degree of LL.B. in 1899. His life was spent in practising the law in Kansas City, breaking his routine by serving with Company H, Third Missouri Volunteers, during the Spanish War.


Gordon occupied the position of City Attorney of Kansas City at one time and was later appointed Assistant City Counsellor, be- sides being connected with the City Water Department. He never married. He is survived by a brother, Bernard Gordon of San Francisco, and a sister, Mrs. Lillian Gordon Plonsky of Kansas City.


GEORGE BULKLEY HASTINGS died on March 8, 1942, at Boston. He was born at Boston on June 3, 1875, the son of Francis and Mary Constance (Hews) Hastings, and prepared for college at the Boston Latin School.


Of a less robust physique than that of his more strenuous Boston Latin friends and classmates, Dave Scannell and Arthur Beale, stal- warts of '97, Hastings took but little active part in our undergrad- uate athletic life, devoting his energies to the more studious side of his college career. It was but natural, therefore, that, following his


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graduation with us in 1897, he should choose the profession of con- veyancing as best suited to his abilities - and to this profession he brought the product of a keen and a well-trained intellect. But it was in his intense and lifelong concern for all that made for relief and betterment in constructive legislation that he found his greatest happiness. To that end he prepared and drafted many bills, in co- operation with the local improvement societies, and secured the pas- sage of, and placed upon the statute books, many pieces of important legislation.


He was married, on July 8, 1918, at Brookline, Massachusetts, to Mabel E. Clark, who, together with four sisters and a brother, sur- vives him.


Always an enthusiastic "rooter" for our Harvard teams, attending our Yale and Princeton games with devoted regularity, Hastings' especial interest was in the affairs of our Class. He never allowed a Commencement or a Class Reunion to pass without his being pres- ent, to renew old associations and re-live past triumphs with a de- lighted fervor and a joyful satisfaction. He will be missed at our Class Reunions to come!


H. T. N.


EDWARD SPARHAWK HATCH was born February 2, 1875, in Boston. He graduated from the English High School and entered Harvard with the Class of 1897, where he spent two years. He then entered the Medical School and received his M.D. degree in June, 1899. After serving his interneship at the Carney Hospital, South Boston, and finding his chief interest in Orthopedic Surgery, he served this Institution in the Orthopedic Department from 1900 to 1906, also engaging in private practice in Boston.


In 1900 he married Miss Blanche Baxter of Everett, Massachusetts. In November, 1906, he took his wife, young daughter and baby son to New Orleans where he wished to do pioneer work in Ortho- pedic Surgery. His industry and ability led to his appointment to the Touro Infirmary. At his death he held the position of Chief Orthopedic Surgeon at this Institution, and of Orthopedic Consult-


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ing Surgeon to the New Orleans Dispensary for women and chil- dren, and to the Marine Hospital No. 14, U. S. Public Health Service, New Orleans. During the War Hatch served as a contract surgeon, on duty as consultant in Orthopedic Surgery at New Orleans from February, 1918, to January, 1919, and at Camp Beaure- gard, Louisiana, until March 19, 1919. He was a member of the Orleans Parish and Louisiana State Medical Societies, the Central States Orthopedic Club and the American College of Surgeons.


Hatch's death occurred October 20, 1937. He is survived by his wife, two children and three grandchildren. The high appreciation of him felt by his community is expressed in the following notice published in a New Orleans newspaper :


"In the untimely death of Dr. Hatch New Orleans medicine loses another of its leaders and very many Orleanians will mourn a bene- factor and friend. In the surgery of the bones and joints he long ago took a position of leadership. This was signalized by his rise ten years ago to the professorship of orthopedics in Tulane University, after directing Touro Infirmary's work in that field for many years before. His merit gained broader recognition in the meantime through his advancement to some of the highest places in the na- tional councils of his co-workers.


"Dr. Hatch was a man of liberal education, pursuing most of his general and medical studies in Boston schools and Harvard University. His kindly impulses led him to give much of his atten- tion to charity practice, of which he did more than the average, both in the organized institutions of City and State and in countless cases of individual suffering where his craft could serve. He will be the more deeply regretted on that account." R. L. S.


RICHARD HAROLD HUNT died at Springfield, Massachusetts, May 14, 1937. He had been in the investment business almost con- tinuously ever since his graduation, and in recent years had been the Springfield representative of F. S. Moseley & Company, Boston. He was previously connected in a similar capacity with N. W. Haine & Company and then with Merrill, Oldham & Company,


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both of Boston. He was born at West Newton, Massachusetts, June 29, 1874, the son of Henry H. and Emeline (Frogley) Hunt, and prepared at the Newton High School. In 1903 he married Mabel Ross of Northampton, Massachusetts. Mrs. Hunt, a daugh- ter, and two sons, Ross Franklin Hunt, '26, and Richard Henry Hunt, '32, survive. A sister also survives.


Business connections establishing him in Springfield, Hunt built his life into that of the city, taking a leading part in the work of his church and the community - the kind of citizen of which his col- lege and his class can be proud. His business associates testify to the high level on which he conducted his business, revealing a character that made him respected and trusted by clients and friends alike.


One who was closely associated with him writes: "Dick Hunt was a prince among 'good fellows,' - straight and clean and fine. You could count upon his hearty greeting, his quick and spontaneous handclasp of fellowship. Dick had his share of trial and worry, but he seemed to have an inexhaustible store of cheerfulness, and he went about among his fellows radiating friendliness and good will." C. J.


LABIB BURRUS JUREIDINI died at Beirut, Lebanon, in 1938, where he had passed most of his life. He was born at Shweifat, Mt. Lebanon, Syria, on June 4, 1871, the son of Burrus and Sitkan (Fadel) Jureidini, and first came to this country in '92, having grad- uated from the American University of Beirut in 1890 with the degree of A.B. He entered the Lawrence Scientific School with the Class of '97 and received his degree after one year's study.


Leaving Harvard he joined the staff of El Mokottom, an Arabic journal in Cairo, which was in its day without doubt the ablest and most influential journal published in the Arabic language. After some years of service on that journal, he was transferred to Khartum, becoming editor-in-chief of the Khartum Times.


According to such information as the secretary has been able to secure, Jureidini did fine work in this position, where he exercised a


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wide and good influence. It is clear from the too-meager information we have been able to secure that the Class has lost an able and cultured gentleman, whose life has been passed on the other side of the world. R. L. S.


WILLIAM WENTWORTH KENNARD, who died on Decem- ber 16, 1938, was born September 3, 1874, the son of William and Lucy J. Kennard. He prepared for Harvard at the Somerville, Massachusetts, High School, entering Harvard College in the fall of 1893. He received his A.B. in 1897 and his LL.B. from Harvard Law School in 1900.


He practised law independently in Boston and Somerville until 1917, and also served in the Massachusetts Legislature for a number of years, during several of which he was the Republican Floor-leader in the House of Representatives and a member of important com- mittees. He retired from politics and from his practice of law in 1917, on his appointment to the Industrial Accident Board of Massa- chusetts by Governor McCall. He later became chairman of the Board and as such served with distinction until failing health com- pelled his retirement a few years ago. He did much to make that Board the respected tribunal which it is today.


He also served for some years during this period as a member of the School Board of Somerville and as Treasurer of the Republican City Committee of that city. He was also interested in the Masonic Fraternity.


His disposition was naturally quiet, but his loyalty to his friends and devotion to those closest to him, as well as his keen, though quiet, sense of humor, endeared him to all who knew him.


On June 15, 1905, he married Lina Sears Doe, who, with two chil- dren, Wentworth and Rebecca L., and a grandchild, Joan Kennard, survive him.


J. F. N.


FRANCIS HARRISON KINNICUTT died at his home in Far Hills, New Jersey, on July 3, 1939, at the age of sixty-three. He


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was born in New York City on November 13, 1875, son of Dr. Francis Parker Kinnicutt and Susanna Eleonora (Kissel) Kinnicutt. He received his preparatory education at Cutler's School in New York City. After graduating, cum laude, from Harvard College in 1897 he spent three years at the Harvard Law School from which he received his LL.B. degree in 1900. He then returned to New York and began the practice of law in the office of Evarts, Choate & Beaman. In 1909 he joined the staff of Hunt, Hill & Betts, of which he later became a member. In 1916 he resigned from this firm and for some years practised law independently. At the time of his death he was a member of the firm of Iselin, Riggs, Ferris & Mygatt, with which firm he had been associated since 1932.


In 1903 he enlisted in Squadron A, New York Cavalry. Having served out his time, he re-enlisted in 1916 when the Squadron was ordered to the Mexican border. In 1917 after the return from that expedition he was honorably discharged from military service be- cause of ill health. Soon after the entry of the United States into the World War he became an assistant on the War Trade Board, serving until May, 1919.


Following the World War one of the most serious and immediate problems facing the United States was the restriction of foreign immigration. This problem had been in the minds of thoughtful Americans for many years, but nothing constructive had been done to solve it. With the end of the War the prospect of an increased flood of immigration from the war stricken and persecuted peoples of Europe, with their alien philosophies and racial prejudices, brought the subject sharply home to Americans generally. Frank Kinnicutt, seeing in a continuance of unrestricted immigration a serious threat to the free government and institutions of the United States as well as to its racial integrity, and being passionately devoted to the American way of life and all that it meant for individual free- dom, threw himself into the struggle to preserve his American heritage with all the ardor of a crusader. With rare patience and keen intelligence he devoted himself to a study of the subject of im- migration in all its phases. He spent much of his time in Wash-


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ington where he became intimate with leaders in both houses of Congress and won their support by his clear and intelligent pres- entation of facts. In the same way he succeeded in gaining the cooperation of the American Federation of Labor.


In 1921 Congress passed the Quota Immigration Act, basing quotas on the 1910 census. This was the first important piece of restrictive legislation adopted by Congress. Following this Act each successive Congress was bombarded with bills for exemption from its provi- sions so that at one time it looked as if the barrier which the Act had raised would be completely demolished. In the struggle to pre- serve and extend the gain which had been made, Frank took an out- standingly active part. In October, 1922, he helped to organize the Allied Patriotic Societies, Inc., an association of some thirty pa- triotic societies in New York City, became its President in 1929, and served in that capacity until his death. As the representative of this organization he analyzed the bills presented to Congress, appeared personally before Committees of Congress in favor of some and in opposition to others, wrote numerous briefs, addressed many meet- ings and contributed many articles to newspapers and periodicals. It was a most difficult task to which he had set himself, and it had to be carried on often in the face of bitter opposition. Although it took its toll of him, he persevered with brave and unselfish devo- tion to the end of his life and accomplished a great patriotic service. Due largely to his efforts legislation was ultimately passed basing immigration quotas on the national origin of the entire population, as shown by the 1890 census.


Mr. Jarvis Cromwell, in a letter to the New York Herald Tribune written shortly after Frank's death, writes of his public service:


Probably as much as any other single individual, Frank Kin- nicutt was responsible for this insurance that our population will continue to grow racially in rough proportion to the groups which founded and developed this country during its pioneer days. His influence must necessarily be great, indeed, and his life stands as an example of what a truly intelligent private in- dividual may accomplish for the public good by wholehearted allegiance to a high ideal.


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Frank had made his home for many years in Far Hills, New Jersey, where he owned a farm which he ran himself and in which he took great interest, devoting to it all of the time he could spare from an otherwise active life.


In August, 1931, he married Margaret Chanler Emmet, daughter of C. Temple Emmet. They had two children: Francis H. Kinni- cutt, Jr., born July 18, 1934, and Margaret Chanler Emmet Kinnicutt, born July 18, 1936. Frank's greatest happiness came to him with his marriage, late in life though it was, and the pity of it is that he should have had so comparatively few years in which to enjoy that happiness.


Frank was a man of rare and lovely character, - high-minded, cultured, intellectual, quite without self-consciousness, unswerving in his loyalty to his ideals, true to himself always, able, fearless, con- scientious to a fault, with never a selfish or unkind thought.


It is not possible to measure the accomplishment of such a life, so truly lived, but that it was great there can be no question. In the records of our Class, Frank Kinnicutt should have a high place, as one who kept the faith that Harvard gave him.


F. A. B.


SAMUEL WALTER ROSS LANGDON died in Stockton, Cali- fornia, on December 30, 1938. After a boyhood spent in California, he prepared for College at Exeter. Entering Harvard with the Class of '97 he completed A.B. requirements in three years and took his degree in absentia with the class. Three years later at the University of California he was given his M.D.


His parents came East to be with their only child at Cambridge during his college years, and the family kept house during that time. However, Sam ate his dinners at Memorial, and he was always the life of the club table. He entered with quite a few advanced credits, and this enabled him to spend a great deal of time in his beloved Boylston Chemical Laboratory. Due to this fact his classmates saw far too little of him. Sam, likewise, had a very intense interest in everything Harvard. For a foundation he had a heritage such as


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only a few of us can boast. He was the descendant in the direct male line of Samuel Langdon, President of Harvard 1774-1780. Old-fashioned and extremely conscientious about the responsibility of an educated man, he set about his own education with the utmost seriousness. Always an inveterate reader, he often surprised his friends with authentic and accurate information on all sorts of topics. Likewise, he possessed an unobtrusive and charming way of sharing his knowledge. Throughout his life, he was always the centre of interesting conversation and much sought after in any company.


For twelve years Sam practised medicine in his birthplace, Stock- ton. An uncle, Samuel Langdon, came to the San Joaquin Valley early in the gold rush days. The grandparents in the East felt their oldest son was gone never to return. To assure the continuance of the direct line of Samuels, they named a much younger son, Samuel. Later the two brothers Samuel were both physicians in Stockton. The third Sam in his practice had as patients many descendants of his two predecessors.




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