Gould Academy - Academy Herald Yearbook (Bethel, ME)

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Er. .Frank 4 hnmrh iaanarnm You Will forgive me l hope if in this little and unworthy tribute to him who has gone, I speak briefly a11d very simply-without rhetoric or attempted oratory. He whose loss we mourn would have been the last, I think, to wish his passing marked by bonibast or by show. Like most men of real greatness and nobility, he was one whose conduct ,was marked by simplicity, directness, and an utter absence of pretense. It is the little man who seeks to conceal his diminutive stature by a11 atfectation of greatness. Few of you, I believe, have known Doctor Hanscom longer than l have. When he first arrived in Bethel to be- come principal of the Academy, I came with him and I had already been his pupil in another school for several years. Thus for nearly a half century I have had the opportunity to watch tho development and progress of this re-I markable man. I would be blind indeed if in that long period I had not observ- ed some of his qualities of mind and soul. Of his dignity, his industry. his earnestness of purpose. his ability to meet any situation with distinction. of his success in his chosen career I need not speak here among his pupils and friends to whom these things are so well known. After all, when one is gone. it is not of his success in the worldly sense that one likes to think but of character and of the goodness of his works. It matters not so much that, during his long service to the Academy. the single structure in which he began his duties gave way to many. or that its few pupils were multiplied several fold. XVhat really measured his greatness was the impress of his life and person- ality on the many students who came and went through the Academy doors. That he was a great teacher everyone who was ever under him could 11ot fail to recognize. He was so great a teacher that I have never seen nor expect to see again his like. But he was more than sa greatteacher. He was possessed of some inner and mysterious power which shone from his eyes so that by a mere look he could compel obedience and enforce discipline a11d make o11e guilty of any meaness hang his head in shame. He was the most friendly of masters yet one knew that he was mas- ter and knew likewise that he was al- ways just. How many boys a11d girls he encouraged to better work and better conduct I do not k11ow only because I do not know how many came into l1is school. Certainly no one who came in contact with him could escape his help- ful and uplifting influence. The good that he did is incalcuable. There are many here today who have been his pupils and who in their hearts know that much that they possess not only of knowledge but of character they owe to llllll. ' What more satisfactory life can we imagine than that of our old much loved teacher and friend. what great- er happiness than his, if his modesty did not prevent. him from realizing, as his years neared their Clld, that his teaching and example had entered into the lives of countless persons, had infiuenced them for good and that their character which he had helped to build and enrich, would in turn pass on perhaps to their children and their child'ren's children, so that in very truth his works shall have an immor- tality on this earth. In thinking sadly of those days when

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TO THE MEMORY OF FRANK EDWARD HANSCOM, A. M., ED. D., PRINCIPAL OF GOULD ACADEMY FROM 1897 to 1936 PRINCIPAL EMERITUS FROM 1936 T0 1940, ATRUE FRIEND. TEACHER, SCHOLAR, AND OUTSTANDING LEADER IN THE HISTORY OF GOULD ACADEMY, THE FACULTY AND STUDENT BODY DEDICATE THE ACADEMY HERALD OF 1940

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4 THE ACADEMY HERALD I sat as a pupil at his feet, there came back to my memory his custom of hav- ing the students commit to memory and recite at morning exercises some worthwhile quotation of poetry or prose and then I remembered one of the old favorites which he must have heard many times repeated and which seems not inappropriate to this sad occasion: So live that when thy summons comes to join The innumerable caravan. which moves To that mysterious realm, where each shall take His chamber in the silent halls of death, Thou go not. like the quarry-slave at night, Scourged to his dungeon, but. sustained and soothed By an unfaltering trust. approach thy grave. Like one that wraps the drapery of his couch About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams. He, whom we mourn today, has so lived that, with uufaltering trust, he can approach and enter the portals of that mysterious realm. and we, who were his friends, with equal trust may feel assured that, his life well Spent, and free from all regret, he has in truth lain down to pleasant dreams. Leon V. VValker o This tribute to Dr. Frank E. H3118- com was delivered by an executive com- mittee member and trustee of Gould Academy, Leon V. Walke1'g former pupil and life-long friend of Dr. Hans- com.