Homer L Ferguson High School - Mariner Yearbook (Newport News, VA)

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u )aru)icJ? junior J fiof) Becomes j fomer lj. Jerjuson yilcjf i Sc ioof (Note from the staff of THE MARINER: When the junior high school idea was abandoned in favor of the five-year plan, following consolidation with Newport News, the name War- wick Junior High was changed to Homer L. Ferguson, in honor of a former president of the Newport News shipyard. Following is a brief biography prepared by Miss Cerinda W. Evans, Librarian Emeritus of the Mariners Museum, and forwarded to the school by Mr. Richard Newman for insertion in our yearbook. Mr. Newman was named January 9, 1962, by city council to fill the unexpired term of Mr. Richard Yates whose death on November 28, 1961, left a vacancy on the school board. Miss Evans’ biography of Mr. Ferguson is reprinted as it was received by the school from Mr. Newman.) Homer Lenoir Ferguson 1873 - 1953 Homer Lenoir Ferguson was born March 6, 1873, the son of William Burder and Laura Reeves Ferguson, at the old home in Haywood County, North Carolina. When he was a year old, the family moved to Wayne sville in the same county. He entered the U. S. Naval Academy on May 21, 1888, at the age of fifteen, and was graduated with honors in June, 1892. In the fall of that year, he entered the School of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering in the University of Glasgow from which he was graduated in 1895 with a B. S. degree. He was appointed as Assistant Naval Constructor, and on October 10, 1901, joined the staff of Admiral A. W. Stahl at the Newsport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company. In 1903, he was given charge of the Bureau of Construction and Repair at Washington, D. C. In 1905, he resigned from the Navy, and joined the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company as Superintendent of Hull Construction. He was made General Manager of the Yard in 1912, Vice-president and General Manager in 1914, and President and General Manager in 1915. He accepted the Presidency on condition that he retain his residence in Newport News, he could keep in much better touch with the Yard. The earlier presidents had their offices in New York City and resided there. In 1905, Mr. Ferguson had built a comfortable brick house on Huntington Avenue at 57th Street for his family. He desired it to be known that he was permanently established. He was married on September 23, 1895, to Miss Eliza Anderson Skinner of Kentucky. Six children had been born to them: Homer Lenoir, Junior, Charles Anderson, William McLeod, Walter Post, Isabel Laura, and Baby Elise. Mr. Ferguson ' s period as chief executive extended to 1947, over three decades and through the two World Wars. Under the depression of the ten-year Naval Holiday after World War I, the shipyard entered other fields of activity in order to keep the skilled force together among which were the building of hydraulic turbines, repairing locomotives, building box cars, and the manufacture of paints for sale.