USA > Ohio > Portage County > Portage heritage; a history of Portage County, Ohio; its towns and townships and the men and women who have developed them; its life, institutions and biographies, facts and lore > Part 63
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Verdun sectors. He served as regimental supply sergeant. His discharge was received May 10, 1919.
After that he resumed his work as vice president with the M. A. Hanna Co., later moving to Twin Lakes in 1932.
In 1931 he married Virginia Herd Colton of Pittsburgh, Penna., who had two children by a previous marriage-Virginia Ann, now Mrs. Larry McClain; and Joseph Colton II. A daughter was born to Mr. and Mrs. Clay-Terry Pitkin Clay.
Mrs. Clay was volunteer receptionist for the Kent Ration Board during the World War II shortages, a member of the Civilian Defense and lieutenant in the Driving Corps. She was also county chairman for the Junior Red Cross and a director of the Portage County chapter of the Red Cross for several years. Mrs. Clay worked in the Hospitality Shop at Robinson Memorial Hospital in Ravenna. She is a member of the American Legion Auxiliary, belongs to Christ Church Episcopal, and has held offices in St. Mary's Guild and the Altar Guild.
Mr. Clay died June 6, 1945.
Judge Blake C. Cook
Judge Blake C. Cook was born at Perry, Ohio, October 11, 1885, the eldest child of Charles B. and Minnie (Secor) Cook. His early life was spent in Ashtabula, Ohio, where he graduated from High School in 1904. He received his Law Degree from the University of Michigan in 1908 and was admitted to the Bar six months later.
He practiced law for ten years in Youngstown, Ohio, first with the firm of "Anderson, Anderson and Barnum", and the last five years with his father in the firm of "Cook and Cook." In 1918, he moved to Kent and practiced in Portage county until he became Judge of the Court of Com- mon Pleas in 1941.
He terminated his judicial service, December 31, 1950, to fulfil his fondest dream-to again form a firm of "Cook and Cook", with his son, Robert E. as junior partner. After the short period of eight months, this partnership was term- inated by his death, August 31, 1951.
Judge Cook was married to Bessie Ann Adams February 14, 1911, and had four children, Donald, Robert, Marguerite and Jeanne Marie.
He was well known through the State for his eminence as a trial lawyer and Common Pleas Judge, and throughout the county for his civic and patriotic works. During World War II, he formed the Social Federation of Portage county, an organization comprised of many divisions which did much to solve the adjustment problems incident to the location of the Ravenna Arsenal in Portage county.
He was a member of the Portage county, Ohio State and American Bar Associations; a charter member of Kent Kiwanis Club and was considered the "father" of the Portage county Preventorium; had served as Grand Knight of Kent Knights of Columbus; as Exalted Ruler of Kent Elks, District Deputy and State President of the Ohio Elks' Associa- tion; was a member of the Wranglers' Club and Mens' University Club of Kent; had taught classes in pre-law at Hiram College and Kent State University. As Judge, he instituted many practices which speeded up the work of the Court and saved tax-payers' money.
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Robert E. Cook
Robert Eugene Cook was born in Kent, Ohio, May 19, 1920, the son of Judge and Mrs. Blake C. Cook. He was a resident of Brimfield township from 1920 to 1942, and of Kent from 1942 to the present date.
He attended Brimfield Township grade schools and Kent State University High School, from which he graduated in 1938. Later, he attended Kent State University, graduating in 1947 with an A. B. degree.
In World War II he was a member of the USAF from 1942 to 1946, holding the rank of Warrant Officer, J. G. After the war he attended the William & Mary College Law School of Virginia, from which he received the B.C.L. degree in 1950. In the same year he was admitted to the practice of law in Ohio and became associated with his father, Judge Cook, from 1950 to 1952.
In 1952 Mr. Cook was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Portage County and was re-elected in 1956.
He is a member of the Ravenna Kiwanis Club, member Board of Directors Portage County Red Cross; Secretary Portage County Cancer Society; one of the founders of the Ravenna Boys Club; member Portage County Bar Association and the Ohio State and American Bar Associations.
Judge Carl H. Curtiss
Carl Henry Curtiss was born July 25, 1872, in Charlestown, Portage County, the son of Alfred B. and Ellen (Knowlton) Curtiss. His ancestors moved to this county in the early days from Connecticut. The first of the family that settled here was Charles Curtiss, after whom Charlestown was named.
Mr. Curtiss was educated in the district of Charlestown, in the Ravenna High School, and in the Law School of Ohio State University at Columbus. He came to Kent April 6, 1898. Soon after moving here, he was elected village at- torney and served in that capacity for many years until the village became a city, and then he was elected city solicitor for three terms. He served as prosecuting attorney of Portage County for two terms from 1915 to 1918, inclusive. He was chairman of the County Executive Committee when saloons were voted out of the county in 1908.
Mr. Curtiss was engaged in the general practice of law in Portage County from June 7, 1895 to December 31, 1932. In November, 1932 he was elected judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and served as judge of that court from Jan- uary 1, 1933 until his death, September 11, 1940.
He was a member of all Masonic bodies up to and in- cluding the Commandery, and was active in the Masonic lodge and Eastern Star. He was a member of the Kent Chamber of Commerce and the Board of Trade which preceded it. He was a member of the Kent Rotary Club and Twin Lakes Country Club. He was a life long member of the Congregational Church.
Mr. Curtiss was married to Bessie A. Copeland at Charlestown on February 1, 1896. They had three children: Carl Harold, James Alfred, and Marjorie Ellen Atkinson.
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After Mr. Curtiss' death their home on East Main Street was sold to the state of Ohio to become part of the campus of Kent State University. The home is now known as "The Curtiss House" and is occupied by the president of the university.
John Davey
Shortly after the turn of the present century Elbert Hubbard, one of the leading American authors and philosophers of his time, writing of John Davey in his essay entitled "A Brother to the Trees", had this to say:
"John Davey's heart is in his art; and his art is the art preservative."
Thus was described one of the most unusual and outstanding men in the history of our community, and the one man who has done more than any other to bring to the attention of America the basic importance of tree life to its climate, the conservation of its basic wealth of soil and rainfall, and to the urgent need of active measures of conservation in this country.
John Davey was born at Stawley, Somersetshire, Eng- land, June 6, 1846. His father was the manager of a large farm, and typical of the hardy, rural stock and simple living of his time. His mother was a devout member of the Church of England, who gave to her large family the inspiration of her love of nature and the finer philosophy of living.
Education in rural England at the time John Davey was growing to manhood was largely confined to the thorough training of young men by apprenticeship to true craftsman- ship in certain vocations, rather than in the literary and classic arts. And so, after mastering the skills of farming, at the age of twenty-one he entered upon a six years apprentice- ship in horticulture, floriculture and landscape architecture.
Having completed his training John Davey was drawn in 1873 to America, to its freedoms and its opportunities. He settled first in Warren, Ohio where he worked at his profes- sion of landscape gardening. Here in 1879 he met and mar- ried Bertha Reeves, the daughter of a pioneer minister of the Church of Christ. And here was born their daughter, Belle, now Mrs. H. L. Carson and one of the heads of a much respected Kent family group.
In 1881 John Davey moved with his family to Kent, where he designed, planted, and cared for what is now our beautiful Standing Rock Cemetery. He also established and operated a greenhouse; and during the next twenty years planted many of our street trees and landscaped many of our finer residential properties. Here during this period were born his five sons, and another daughter who died in infancy.
In the course of his work in landscape design John Davey early came to the opinion that trees represent the central points of interest in a landscape, and the one element which cannot be readily or quickly replaced. Therefore, he began to study the conditions of soil and moisture which bring about healthy growth of trees. He also discovered many principles of correct pruning, structural support, and fertilization and he found that, if decayed areas were properly excavated, sterilized, carved to conform with normal sap flow, and filled with concrete in sections, the tree would respond by covering the filling with a developing callus, and many years could be added to its life.
These carefully proven theories of tree care were compiled and published in John Davey's first book, "The Tree Doctor" in 1901. In 1905 he produced "A New Era in Tree Growing," and in 1906 published a revised edition of "The Tree Doctor", which was fol- lowed in 1907 by "Davey's Primer of Trees and Birds." But his greatest service to the cause
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of conservation in America resulted from his illustrated lecture entitled "The Salvation of Our Trees and Birds," which he presented to hundreds of communities over the country.
It also developed a demand upon the part of the owners of nice homes for the services of men properly trained and schooled in the life processes and the care of their trees. From this small beginning was developed the Davey Tree Expert Company, which now employs some two thousand people throughout the country.
John Davey passed away suddenly on November 8, 1923, at the age of seventy-seven. But he had lived long enough to see his new science and the profession for its practice demonstrated successes, and to have profoundly affected the whole future of conservation in America.
Martin L. Davey
Martin L. Davey was born in Kent, Ohio, July 25, 1884, the son of John and Bertha (Reeves) Davey. He was graduated from Kent High School in 1900 and attended Oberlin Academy and Oberlin College from 1904 to 1907 when he entered the tree care business with his father on a partnership basis. Following the incorporation of The Davey Tree Expert Company in 1909, he served as General Manager until the death of his father in 1923 when he became President. Under his direction the company survived two World Wars and a severe depression to become nationally known as the oldest and largest concern of its kind in the world.
In 1910 Mr. Davey organized the Kent Board of Trade becoming its President in 1913. The same year he was elected Mayor of Kent-and re-elected in 1915 and 1917. In Novem- ber 1918, he was elected to Congress and re-elected in 1922, 1924 and 1926. As a candidate for Governor, he was defeated in 1928 in the Hoover land- slide. In 1932 he was elected as Delegate-at-Large to the Democratic National Convention and in 1934 and again in 1936 he was elected Governor of Ohio. One of the many high spots of his two terms was his proclamation in connection with the "Little Steel" strike in 1937 when he declared "The right to strike is sacred. But the right to work is equally sacred." The strike was soon successfully settled. Frank Lausche who later served five terms as Ohio's Governor praised Mr. Davey's administration: "Martin L. Davey was Governor of Ohio at a time when the finances of the state were at their lowest ebb and the demands of distressed people at their very height. How he managed to operate the govern- ment with the finances that were available is a mystery to me, as I have studied the relative revenues available to the different administrations of the last sixteen years. He did a remarkable job with the finances he had."
Following a severe heart attack in 1941 Mr. Davey devoted his whole time to the able management that was needed to bring the Davey Tree Expert Company through the difficult war years. Even so, and with health failing, he found time to successfully head six local war bond drives. Death came March 31, 1946.
Mr. Davey was married August 31, 1907 to Berenice M. Chrisman, daughter of Doctor and Mrs. Charles Chrisman of Kent. Three children were born: Evangeline C., May 30, 1911, now Mrs. Alexander M. Smith of Kent; Mary Berenice, June 15, 1916, who died at the age of three; and Martin L. Davey, Jr., February 7, 1918, now President of The Davey Tree Expert Company.
In addition to being President and General Manager of The Davey Tree Expert Com-
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pany, Mr. Davey was President and Treasurer of The Davey Investment Company and a Director of The City Bank of Kent. He was also a Chief Consultant of the Associated Garden Clubs of Ohio.
Martin L. Davey, Jr.
Martin L. Davey, Jr., was born February 7, 1918, the son of Martin L. Davey and Berenice (Chrisman) Davey. He attended the Kent Public Schools until his junior year at Kent Roosevelt High School when he was transferred to Columbus Academy at the time his father first assumed office as Governor of Ohio. Upon being graduated in 1936 he attended Yale University where he received his degree in 1940. The summer of 1938 was spent as a fieldman in Davey crews. Prior to being accepted for army service in February 1943, Mr. Davey worked in the Employ- ment and Personnel Departments of the Davey Tree Expert Company in Kent.
Military service of thirty-three months included twenty- seven months overseas in the Transportation Corps, earning battle stars for the Battle of Normandy, the Battle of North- ern France and the Battle of the Rhineland. He was honor- ably discharged as a Staff Sergeant on December 7, 1945.
Mr. Davey returned to the Davey Tree Expert Company and upon the death of his father in March 1946, was elected President and General Manager. By continuing and expanding the successful policies developed by his father, the business of the Davey Tree Expert Company jumped ahead from a volume of $4,000,000.00 in 1946 to more than $10,000,- 000.00 in 1955. Chemical brush and weed control service, a rapidly expanding department, was added to the long list of services provided to private tree owners and to utility companies. A program of profit- sharing planned by his father was put into effect along with a retirement program, a com- prehensive health and life insurance plan and other programs designed for employee wel- fare and improved organization. Under Mr. Davey's planning and management, the Davey Tree Expert Company has enjoyed its greatest growth in volume, scope and operating efficiency.
Mr. Davey was married July 18, 1942 to Elizabeth Breading Speer. Three children were born-John Martin, February 23, 1944; Hugh Speer, December 1, 1946; and Cecil, December 13, 1947.
Other offices held by Mr. Davey include: Director of the Davey Compressor Company; President and Treasurer of the Davey Investment Company; Trustee of the Twin Lakes Association. He is an organizer and charter member of the Young Presidents Organization and has served as a Director and Area Vice President. He is Chairman of the Education Committee of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce and a member of the National Chamber of Commerce. In 1955 Mr. Davey served on the President's White House Conference Commit- tee on Education. He is a charter member of the Martin L. Davey Chapter of the Izaak Walton League in Kent, a member of the Twin Lakes Country Club, the Rockwell Trout Club and the Catawba Cliffs Country Club.
Paul H. Davey, Sr.
Paul H. Davey, Sr. was born August 19, 1894, in Kent, Ohio, the son of John and Bertha (Reeves) Davey. He was educated in Kent public schools, and was graduated from Kent High School in 1912. Later he attended Oberlin College for two years, and then went
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to Yale University, from which he was graduated in the class of 1918. In May, 1918, he en- listed in the 116th Engineers, United States Army, and shortly afterward was sent overseas. He served six months in France, and was discharged February 26, 1919.
Mr. Davey has been associated since 1911 with the Davey Tree Expert Company. In 1917 he was made vice-president, and was in charge of its field forces and its research pro- gram from 1917 to 1929, during which time many of the basic developments of the business were undertaken. He has retained his interest in that business as vice-president and director.
In 1922, he began a long series of experiments which re- sulted in the development of the Davey air-cooled air com- pressor and in 1929 in the incorporation of the Davey Com- pressor Company. Mr. Davey has been the active head of this important Kent industry in all the intervening years, and still functions as its president. He is the holder of 31 United States patents, 25 Canadian patents, and various patents in other foreign nations, most of which represent basic improvements in the field of compressed air equipment and in the care of trees.
Mr. Davey is a director and a member of the executive committee of the C. L. Gougler Machine Company, which flourishing industry he helped to incorporate in 1924.
In 1927, Mr. Davey served as chairman of a special com- mittee of the Kent Chamber of Commerce which succeeded in persuading the Twin Coach Company to locate its plant in Kent, and which through public subsricption provided the necessary stock investment to demonstrate the interest and substantial support of our citizens in this important Kent enterprise. This committee also aided in obtaining the Loeblein Company, and the L. N. Gross Company, and assisted them in becoming established in Kent.
Mr. Davey is a member of the Blue Lodge, Chapter, Council, Commandery, and Con- sistory of the Masonic Lodge. He is a Past Master of the Blue Lodge. He is also a member of the American Legion, the Rotary Club, the Twin Lakes Country Club, the Society of Automo- tive Engineers, and the American Manufacturers Association. He is a member of the Church of Christ.
On June 21, 1917, Mr. Davey was married to Maxine Beckwith of Oberlin, Ohio. They have two children, Mrs. Marilyn Myers, born February 10, 1922, and Paul H. Davey, Jr., born March 23, 1924, both of whom now reside in Kent, together with three grandchildren.
Paul H. Davey, Jr.
Paul H. Davey, Jr. was born March 23, 1924, in Kent, Ohio, the son of Paul H., Sr. and Maxine (Beckwith) Davey. He attended Kent public schools through his sophomore year at Kent Roosevelt High School, and was graduated from Western Reserve Academy at Hudson, Ohio in 1942. He completed freshman year at Yale University and enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1943. He was commissioned a lieutenant of communications, and after three years service was discharged in 1946. Returning to Yale, he was graduated in 1948 with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering.
Mr. Davey has associated himself with the Davey Com- pressor Company and is now functioning as secretary, direc- tor, and vice-president in charge of production. He has been active for several years in youth work, serving as Kent District Chairman of the Boy Scouts as well as on the Camp Develop-
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ment Committee of the Girl Scouts. He is a member of the Kent Rotary Club, Masonic Lodge, Twin Lakes Country Club, Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, American Society of Mechan- ical Engineers, and Kent Congregational Church.
On February 27, 1954, Mr. Davey was married to Elizabeth Ripley of Shaker Heights, Ohio. They now reside at 1 Joyanne Court in Kent.
Mr. and Mrs. Ward A. Denig
Ward Allen Denig was born in Convoy, Ohio, June 3, 1916, and was an only child. He was the son of William G. and Lela (Leslie) Denig. He graduated from the Convoy high school in 1934 and went on to Ohio State University from which he graduated in 1938 in the School of Pharmacy.
Immediately upon graduation he was employed by the Gallagher Drug Company of Dayton, Ohio. Soon they trans- ferred him to a store in Marietta, Ohio, as an assistant manager.
In 1940 he took a position with the Shurtz Pharmacy of Zanes- ville, Ohio, an independent store, at which store he worked for three years.
In 1943 he assumed a part- owner managership with the W. H. Donaghy Drug Company of Kent, Ohio. During the month of May, 1956, he bought the store from the Donaghys and continues to operate under the original name.
Mr. Denig met and married Virginia Lockhart while employ- Mr. and Mrs. Ward A. Denig ed in Marietta. She was the daughter of Earl H. and Iva (Gibson) Lockhart. They have two children, Judith Lela and William Allen, and live at 420 Rockwell Street. They attend the Kent Methodist church. Mr. Denig is a Mason, Past President of the Kent Kiwanis Club, member of the Welfare As- sociation Board. He acted as Chairman of the Community Chest Drive one year, headed two Heart Association Drives, and is active in the Retail Division of the Chamber of Commerce.
The family are members of the Twin Lakes Country Club and enjoy golfing, fishing, swimming, and photography. Mrs. Denig is vice president and bookkeeper for the present firm.
Dr. Arville Ottis DeWeese
Arville Ottis DeWeese, B. S. Ed., M.D., listed in Who's Who in America as Physician- Educator, was born in New Salisbury, Ind., twenty miles below Louisville, Kentucky, August 25, 1888. His paternal and maternal great grandparents had followed Daniel Boone across the Blue Ridge Mountains from the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia into the Blue- Grass Country.
He attended the Ohio Valley Normal College and graduated from the Central Normal College at Dansville, Indiana. At the age of 17 he was teaching a one room rural school on the banks of the Ohio just below Louisville. From this time on, he never missed a year
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of teaching in some capacity.
After graduating from the Indiana State Teachers Col- lege and attending Indiana University, he served as ward principal, high school principal and was elected county school superintendent of Harrison County, Ind. in 1911, the youngest county superintendent ever to be elected in Indiana.
He was a charter member of the Indiana School Men's Club, a pioneer in introducing vocational agriculture, home economics, boys and girls clubs, and health education in the schools of Indiana. During this period he was a contributor to the professional magazines, the Teachers Journal, and the Indiana Educator, and lectured at teachers' institutes, also serving as extension instructor for the Indiana State Teacher's College and Indiana University.
He graduated from the University of Louisville in 1919. While completing his medical training and services, he was a member of the faculty of the university medical school. Dur- ing the six years he went through all the chairs, instructor, assistant professor, associate professor and then head of the department of physiology and pharmacology. Then he as- sisted in the training of several hundred physicians.
In the summer of 1924, he assisted Dr. Haven Emerson in making a health survey for the City of Louisville. This convinced him that what medical science had to offer in the training and preparation of our young men and women for citizenship and leadership should be an integral part of our public schools.
When Dr. John McGilvery, the first president of Kent State University invited him to come to Kent to organize and administer a health and physical education department in teaming up medical science with the schools, he accepted.
He organized these departments in 1924, remaining as director of the combined depart- ments 22 years. This work was greater than that of Ohio State, Michigan, Cornell or Pitts- burgh universities and drew many out-of-state students interested in health work. Here pre-medical and pre-dental training were offered. It drew into the University the first influx of young men.
For a number of years he served the state in organizing a program for health and physical education, being consultant and on the advisory council. He was also identified with the national movement for health work in the schools and when the American College Health Association was formed the annual proceedings showed his contributions and the influence of K.S.U. in the movement.
He was active in the work of the first National Conference on College Health as well as others from 1927 to 1955, as well as the first Conference of Physicians in Schools.
In 1927, he was one of the organizers of the American School Health Assn., composed of physicians, educators and health workers, and which publishes the Journal of School Health. He was fourth president of this Association for over 30 years one of its national officers, including being executive secretary.
Through his various health activities he was known to most of the school physicians, dentists, nurses and health educators of the country. Though he never relinquished the practice of medicine, he believed that the most important link of the national health pro- gram was the school health program and the teacher.
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