Eisenhower-Freeman Friendship Recalled in Necrology
1907 A. Thornton Jones of Mayer, Arizona, died on January 20. He was 85. Mr. Jones was water commissioner in administration of Kent Decree, Arizona, for the past 20 years. He was a member of the varsity football team at Richmond College in 1907, and remained an enthusiastic supporter of Spider athletics. He was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon social fraternity. He was foreman of a cattle ranch and had a small ranch of his own before op.ening an office as a public accountant. In 1935 he was made secretary-treasurer of the Buckeye Irrigation Company and became manager of the firm . He served in the Arizona State Legislature and was appointed water commissioner of Maricopa County in 1949. 1916 Louis C. Yancey of Big Stone Gap, Va., died Nov. 25. Mr. Yancy was a retired employee of Westmoreland Coal Company and had been a resident of Big Stone Gap since 1932. He was a member of the Board of Deacons of First Baptist Church and taught Sunday School there. He served overseas during World War I. He is survived by his wife, two brothers and a sister. 1918 The Reverend Jean Vache, Sr., of Richmond, and former rector of St. John's Episcopal Church in Farmville, died February 17 in Richmond. Mr. Vache had been rector at the Farmville church from 1949 to 1961. He also served as chaplain for Episcopal students at Longwood and Hampden-Sydney colleges. He graduated from Union Theological Seminary in 1918 and was ordained in 1928. From 1928 to 1932 he was rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Beaufort, N. C. He also served churches in Greensboro, N. C., and Pittsburgh. Among the survivors are his wife, a daughter and two sons.
"THE STATE AND NATION CAN MAKE NO GREATER CONTRIBUTION than to provide education to the full capacity of the individual," General Dwight David Eisenhower said in accepting the LLD. degree from the University of Richmond. Seated behind him are Dr. Douglas S. Freeman and Colgate W. Darden, former Governor of Virginia.
The first man aboard the "I like Ike" bandwagon was the late great Douglas Southall Freeman , '04, editor of the Richmond N ews Leader, rector of the University of Richmond and as a profound student of the Civil War a lecturer at the War College in Washington. When President Dwight David Eisenhower died on March 29, the close friendship between the two men was recalled. Political writers remembered than on a visit to Richmond in 1952, Eisenhower, then campaigning for the presidency, said: "The first man in the United States who ever got me to think seriously about a possible political career was in 1947 when Dr. Douglas Freeman came to my office and earnestly urged that I go into politics." The world mourned the death on March 29 of former President Dwight David Eisenhower , for millions knew him as a great military leader and statesman. But few knew that Eisenhower credited the late Douglas Southall Freeman, '04, with influencing his entry into politics. On a visit to Richmond in 1952 as a presidential candidate, Eisenhower said, "the first man in the United States who ever got me to think seriously about a possible political career was in 1947 when Dr. Douglas Freeman came to my office and earnestly urged that I go into politics." Dr. Fr.eeman was editor of the Richmond New Leader and rector of the University 40
of Richmond Board of Trustees as well as a famous journalist and historian. It was in his role as rector of the University 's board that Dr. Freeman was in Cannon Memorial Chapel on March 28, 1946, and delivered the address at a convocation at which General Eisenhower and Admiral Chester W. Nimitz received honorary Doctor of Laws degrees. Dr. Freeman described Gen. Eisenhower's military career, particularly the then recent victory in Europe. In his discussion of the tactics, strategy, and other mechanics of war, Dr. Fr.eeman gave the credit for the victory to Eisenhower the man. "What may escape the historian is the spiritual discipline of the man, his steady and inflexible mastery of himself before he undertook to master either his own troops or the enemy." Although this "aside" will not be found in the text of Dr. Freeman's remarks, hundreds who were present on that day will recall that he said "the University could not have selected two more handsome men. General Eisenhower blushed, a sunset red that spread from his neck to his balding head. The audience roared and then broke into prolonged applause. Dr. Freeman liv.ed to see the Eisenhower bandwagon cross the finish line a winner. He died just four months after Ike's inauguration as the 34th president of the United States.
1919 The Reverend H. Pierce Simpson of Carmel, N. Y., died December 8 at Castle Point (N. Y.) Veterans Hospital. He was 73. Mr. Simpson was graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary and was pastor of the Baptist church in Townsend, Vt., for two years and pastor of the New Monmouth Baptist Church at Monmouth, N. J. before being appointed pastor of the Mt. Carmel Baptist Church in Carmel, N. Y., in 1930. He served the Carmel church until 1959, when he became pastor of Croton Falls Baptist Church. He was chairman of the advisory board of the Putnam County (N. Y.) Selective Service Board for 23 years and had been appointed last year as director of the Putnam Offic.e of the Aging. Survivors include his wife, two sons nd a daughter. Harris B. Winfrey, a retired school teacher and principal, died January 21 at Culpeper Memorial Hospital. He was 71. Mr. Winfrey taught two years in Culpeper County schools, taught and served as high school principal of Rappahannock County High School for 45 years until his retirement in 1966. He was a member of Reynolds Memorial Baptist Church, Sperryville, and Fairfax Masonic Lodge in Culpeper. Survivors include his wife and three brothers.
1922 Dr. Edward W. Gray, a retired physician of Front Royal, died January 16 in Winchester, Va. Dr. Gray, 70, was a pathologist at Pilgrim State Hospital in Brentwood, N. Y., before his retir.ement in 1961. He was a graduate of the Medical College of Virginia. Survivors include his wife, a sister and a brother.
