Worcester Polytechnic Institute - Peddler Yearbook (Worcester, MA)

Page 31 text:

Sitting, left to right: A. J. Knight, A. H. Holt, head of dept. Standing: C. F. Meyer, F, J. Sanger, C. H. Koontz. And who’s this staring from behind one of his three sets of spectacles? Looks like Fred Sanger, the man who is more British than the “Tower of London”. How often it happened that Fred would give the students writer’s cramp from two hours of lecturing only to summarize by saying, “This stuff is now outdated and practically worthless.” Remember the Geology trip when the “Brit¬ isher” toured the wrong side of Shrewsbury Street trying to test the compressive strength of his fender? The “Lon¬ don Limey” is another man of whom much will be said at class reunions. The newest member of the Civil Staff is the guy with the joke; the guy with the I-beam brain; the refugee from Ill inois, Carl Koontz. We’ll also recall the Geodesy sum¬ mer course when he tried his hardest to fudge a good closure; and those boards filled with figures on beam design were enough to demoralize the best of us. Midst all the kidding, these erudite gentlemen have been great. The thanks we can give them is the satisfac¬ tion of knowing that we are stepping out into industry well-fortified with the tools of our trade . . . our knowl¬ edge gained at Tech. four o’clock

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sighted ship, sank same Civil Engineering Remember the morning we tried to sneak into a back seat only to be stopped with the familiar, “Good morning, mister; seats in the front sell for the same price as those in the back.” That’s Colonel Holt talking, and when he talked, we listened! How about the morning in November when we wondered about the meaning of the chalked phrase, “No problems due after June 9, 1954,” or the meaningful, “Looks like we have a few empty saddles today,” or, “Gentlemen, this class runs from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Would appreciate it if you would remember that.” All these and many more came from the stern “man in the saddle.” The Civil Department is, as well, blessed with the ob¬ ject of many of Bob Pritchard’s jokes. You know that means old “Kid Havana”, the man standing behind the five-cent stogie. The office on Boynton’s first floor could belong to anyone of the civil instructors, as it is loaded with blueprints, log tables, and financial reports; but that slow musty odor of the burnt hemp eliminates any doubt as to its occupant . . . A. J. Knight. “This course is basic if you just understand a few fundamental facts.” . . . leads one to wonder when about 65 of these fundamental facts conglomerate in a problem. Then there are his stories of the “Dark Ages” . . . comical stories coming from a man whose sense of humor is as big as his cigar. Now looking around from behind a sewer pipe is C. F. Meyer, the guy whose comments on returned exams will go down in history. The notations that “this answer is . . . the modern Sampson completely absurd,” or “this sounds like a hodge-podge to me,” or “I asked for a bullet you answered with buck¬ shot” come quickly and easily from the former Ty Cobb of Worcester Tech. It’s not too difficult now to recall the days of route surveying when the “little Caesar” was go¬ ing to separate the men from the boys. Those who gradu¬ ated hope he did. Vage Tiuenfy-six

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The appearance of the senior M.E. at Tech bears a direct relationship to the curriculum he follows. It can be shown how these characteristics develop through the years. The Freshman and Sophomore years started the de¬ velopment by giving their eyes that strained look. Many hours s|)ent in the drawing rooms watching the maze of lines being put on the board by Professors Wellman and Whenman led to a booming business for the local optical companies. It’s funny ' how the above mentioned persons always managed to make something out of those puzzling spiderwebs. Some people believe that they have a pair of 3-D glasses that automatically pick out the correct lines. The seniors have a tendency to wear clothes that are as comfortable as possible. This trait developed in the Junior year from wearing dirty clothes to machine shop and foundry sessions. This was a necessity even though Professors Zepp and Dows did not have to follow this practice. It is funny how they could stay so clean and how they could repair in five minutes what it took some student several hours to foul up. Professor Zepp’s fingers must have had some special glue on them that made the sand stick together when the mold was assembled. It was always a good practice to find something for a shield when Professor Dows revved up one of those lathes. The chips used to fly around like shrapnel. Thermo lab brought about that look of infinite wisdom Mechanical Engineering Sitting, left to right: F. S. Finlayson, G. H. MacCullough, head of dept.: J. A. Bjork, F. A. Ander¬ son, C. W. Staples, B. L. Wellman, W. B. Zepp. Standing: H. S. Corey, C. G. Johnson, F. N. Web¬ ster, R. P. Kolb, K. G. Merriman, K. E. Scott, D. G. Downing, M. L. Price, J. H. Whenman, K. W. Fowler, H. W. Dows.