West Chester University - Serpentine Yearbook (West Chester, PA)

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■v HP ilH ■r ■ y H IQf. 9 . flf DR. ANDREW THOMAS SMITH

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4; O DR. ANDREW THOMAS SMITH A.M., Lafayette College; Ph.D., New York University N THE evening of February 15, 1928, after a painful illness of many weeks, Dr. Andrew Thomas Smith, principal emeritus of the West Chester State Teachers College, passed into the life everlasting. Seldom is an individual connected with an institution by so many ties as bound Dr. Smith to this College. Not only was he an alumnus of the school in the Class of 1883, but he filled for longer or shorter terms the positions of teacher, vice- principal, acting-principal, principal, and principal emeritus. Even in the years when he was principal of another State Normal School, he was, in a way, unofficially connected with this school through the Board of Normal School Principals. In all these relationships he gave the school faithful and loyal service, spending himself and being spent for her final good. But faithfully and loyally as Dr. Smith served the school, his field of usefulness was not limited to this institution. At the Mansfield State Teachers College, where he was principal for seventeen years, he is gratefully remembered as an able administrator and one who played a large part in the develop- ment of the school. The West Chester Civic Association, the Lions Club, the Chester County Historical Association, and the Westminister Presbyterian Church, of which he was a charter member, all shared a part of Dr. Smith ' s time and attention. As a valued and experienced member of the Board of Normal School and Teacher College Principals, and par- ticularly as a membe r of the State Retirement Board, he served well the cause of education in the Commonwealth. Quiet, dignified, gracious, he gave all with whom he came in contact courteous consideration. In his passing the school and the community have lost a loyal friend, a faithful servant — one who has joined the choir invisible of those immortal dead who live again in lives made better by their presence. Grace D. McCarthy 16

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D ' DR. NORMAN W. CAMERON R. NORMAN W. CAMERON, inaugurated February 6, 1928, as the sixth principal of the State Teachers College at West Chester, Pennsylvania, was born in Cecil County, Maryland, September 27, 1876, and passed with high rank through public schools, academy, college, and university, earning his A.B. and A.M. degrees from Washington College, Maryland, and his degree of Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania. Few school men have had such varied and valuable professional ex- perience as has Dr. Cameron. This ranges from teacher of rural schools to college principal. In fields outside of those in which he has been specifically employed, he has rendered extensive and valuable service, as lecturer at teachers ' institutes, as speaker on educational programs of national and state associations, and as writer for educational magazines. In addition, he has, from time to time, held membership on various im- portant committees connected with the National Educational Associa- tion of the United States, and also in various other organizations, edu- cational, civic, and fraternal. Extensive travel in foreign countries has provided Dr. Cameron with a wealth of knowledge and experience which makes him a most interest- ing and attractive personality. No better characterization perhaps could be made than that given by Dr. Frank Pierrepont Graves, Com- missioner of Education of New York, who recently said of him : He is a man of great natural ability, has splendid training, a large and rich experience. He is to me a very attractive man personally and I know that he wins friends easily and retains their confidence in him as a man and educator. It is fortunate that almost at the outset of a new era in its history this time-honored institution has as its leader one of such broad experience who professionally stands so high, one who above all things else is human and is endowed with an abundance of good common sense. Under his guidance this College must quickly take rank in the very fore- front of teacher-training institutions. Dr. Cameron married Miss Lulu M. Serht, a former Baltimore teacher, and a member of an old and respected family of Baltimore. They have two children, Norman W., Jr., and Caroline, and now reside in West Chester. R. F. Anderson 18