1930s

Charles Kimball Brown III ’38

Charles Kimball Brown III ’38, a veteran mathematics teacher and a leader in the Religious Society of Friends, grew up in Deposit, N.Y., the small town near the Pennsylvania border where he was born on June 2, 1917. The only son of Charles K. Brown, Jr., the town’s pharmacist, and the former Ella Fox Baird, he prepared for college at Northwood School in Lake Placid, N.Y., and arrived on College Hill in 1934. Charley Brown, also called “Zeke,” joined Delta Kappa Epsilon and served as its house steward for three years. An avid cross-country skier, he was also a founder of the varsity ski team and captained it in his senior year. He concentrated in mathematics and chemistry, and left the Hill with his B.S. degree in 1938.

A couple of years spent in New York City as a bank clerk convinced Charley Brown that he would rather teach. While there, he first attended meetings of the Society of Friends (Quakers) and was drawn to their commitment to peace at a time when war clouds were gathering over Europe. When taking education courses at Cornell University, he joined the Ithaca Friends Meeting and, as a conscientious objector, took part in Civilian Public Service, a Quaker-sponsored alternative to military service during World War II. He was for a time a firefighter and a surveyor of federal forest lands in California, and finally a “guinea pig” in malaria research. He was working as an orderly in a ward for mental patients at Philadelphia State Hospital when, on March 25, 1944, he and a fellow Friend, Ellen M. Baily, were wed in Westtown, Pa. The marital union would thrive for 67 years until Ellen’s death in 2011.

After the war, Charley Brown found employment teaching math at Westtown School, a Quaker boarding school in ­Chester County, Pa. There he taught “with humor and insight” for 35 years until his retirement in 1982. He also served as dean of boys and boys’ college counselor as well as coach of soccer and an intramural softball team dubbed the Charley Horses. Along the way, in 1950, he acquired an M.S. degree in math education from Cornell.

For a dozen summers, beginning in 1958, Charley Brown returned to College Hill as assistant director of the Institute for Teachers of Mathematics, sponsored by the National ­Science Foundation. A program for high school teachers, it had been brought to Hamilton through the auspices of Professor Brewster Gere.

Through the years, Charley Brown was highly active in the Society of Friends. He served as presiding clerk of the Westtown Monthly Meeting as well as the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and its committee on ministry and worship. The Yearly Meeting’s guide for “Faith and Practice” was revised under his auspices. In addition, he participated in numerous vigils and demonstrations against war during the Vietnam era and in favor of peace.

In 1986, the Browns retired to Maine, where they soon took up residence in Wiscasset and later Brunswick. There, Charley helped Ellen, a talented potter, sculptor and papercutter, display and sell her works of art. He also engaged in gardening and home maintenance as well as collecting and splitting wood to keep their house warm during Maine winters. In addition, he found time to tutor inmates at the county jail. An ever-devoted alumnus, he faithfully served as class correspondent for this magazine from 1995 until virtually the end of his long life.

Charles K. Brown III died in Brunswick on July 2, 2014, at the age of 97. He is survived by two sons, C. Baird and David S. Brown ’70; a daughter, Eliza Allison; and four grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and two sisters.

 

Richard Savage Allen ’39

Richard Savage Allen ’39, employed for 32 years by the San Diego Gas & Electric Co., was born on April 25, 1917, in Detroit. A son of Percy M. Allen, Class of 1911, a paper company sales manager, and the former Catherine D. Savage, he grew up in Port Huron, Mich., and was graduated in 1935 from Assumption College High School in Sandwich, Ontario. He followed his father to Hamilton that fall and joined his fraternity, Sigma Phi. Dick Savage quickly involved himself in an impressive variety of student activities. He played trombone in the College Band as well as piano at the Sig house, and, a photography buff, became active in the Camera Club, serving as its president in his senior year. He also lettered in fencing and managed the varsity basketball team. He was, in addition, president of the Newman Club. Photographic editor of the Continental and editor-in-chief of the 1939 Hamiltonian, he served on the Student Publications Board and was elected to the journalism honor society Pi Delta Epsilon.

After his graduation in 1939, Dick Allen returned to Port Huron and soon obtained a job with Detroit Edison Co. as a meter reader. Years later he reflected that it was “probably the healthiest job I ever had.” It also marked the beginning of his long career in the utilities industry. In 1940, when the federal government established the Civilian Pilot Training Program, he took to flight training on the side. He became a flight instructor, teaching U.S. Navy cadets at the Port Huron Airport. Later, in Minnesota, he taught U.S. Army personnel preparing to be glider pilots.

In 1943, Dick Allen was commissioned as an ensign in the Navy, and on August 7 of that year, while home on leave in Port Huron, he was married to Dorothy Ann Cox. He spent the duration of World War II as a naval aviator, ferrying fighter planes and torpedo bombers from East Coast factories to delivery points in the South and on the West Coast. Released from active duty at the war’s end, he remained in the Naval Reserve until 1957 and attained the rank of lieutenant commander.

“Having experienced the delights of Southern California” during the war, Dick and Dorothy Allen headed west to San Diego in 1946. There, after working in a bank for a year, Dick began his long employment with San Diego Gas & Electric. He served as an investigator, collector and adjustment representative for the company until his retirement in 1978.

Through the years, Dick Allen retained his intense interest in both music and photography. An ardently committed Catholic, he was the volunteer organist, playing the pipe organ for Mass every Sunday for almost 50 years at Our Lady of Angels Church, where he was also the first president of the Parish Council. In addition, he was an active member of the American Theatre Organ Society and faithfully attended its annual conventions. Drawing upon his lifelong interest in photography, he became an enthusiastic creator of home movies and, during his long retirement, quite active in the San Diego Amateur Movie ­Makers Club, of which he served as president.

Another consuming interest of Dick Allen’s was genealogy, and he bought a computer and taught himself to use it, primarily for genealogical research and record-keeping. He was a founding member of the San Diego Computer Genealogy Society. Highly regarded by family and friends as “a kind, considerate, generous and genial man” who loved to tell a good story, he found much enrichment in life and contributed much enrichment to the lives of others.

Richard S. Allen, an ever faithful and generous supporter of Hamilton, died in San Diego on June 20, 2014, at the age of 97. He was predeceased by his wife in 1982. Survivors include two daughters, Dorothy M. Shoopman and Catherine E. Allen; two sons, Patrick M. and Philip A. Allen; and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren. His eldest child, Richard C. Allen, predeceased him in 2007. Also predeceasing him were his brother, Charles L. Allen ’42, in March 2014, and their stepbrother, Robert J. Allen ’37, in 2004.

 

Frederick Haines Cunningham, Jr. ’39

Frederick Haines Cunningham, Jr. ’39, long employed in freight sales by American Airlines, was born on June 8, 1917, in New York City. The younger son of Frederick H. Cunningham, Class of 1899, a lawyer, and the former Minnie Keller, he was a grandson of John H. Cunningham, Class of 1866, and nephew of Carl G. Cunningham, 1898. Fred ­Cunningham came to College Hill in 1935 from the Horace Mann School in the Bronx and joined his father’s fraternity, Theta Delta Chi. A versatile ­athlete, he lettered in baseball, basketball and soccer, and also played tennis. He was elected to Quadrangle and D.T. A member of the Interfraternity Council in his senior year, he left the Hill with his B.S. degree in 1939.

Fred Cunningham returned to New York City, where he joined the reservations department of American Airlines at what was then LaGuardia Field. From 1942 to 1945, during World War II, he was on active duty with the U.S. Army Air Corps, serving as an aircraft operations officer in the Air Transport Command and stationed in Alaska. In 1944, he was married to Jeane North. They had two sons, Frederick H. III and Richard K. Cunningham.

Discharged from the Army as a captain, Fred Cunningham returned to American Airlines. After spending 12 years in sales at its Syracuse, N.Y., office, he moved to New Jersey in 1957 and handled freight sales as a senior account executive at its Newark Airport terminal. He retired after 39 years with American Airlines in 1978.

In 1984, Fred Cunningham moved back to New York State and took up residence in a 90-year-old Swiss-style chalet in the northern Catskills. His last known residence was in Wilmington, N.C. The College has only recently confirmed through Social Security records that Frederick H. Cunningham, Jr. died on Feb. 27, 2007. His survivors include his son, Frederick H. Cunningham III ’66. His brother, John R. Cunningham ’36, predeceased him in 1988.