Frederic R Georgia

Obituaries for Daniel C. Georgia (1867 - 1935), father of Frederick Raymond Georgia

The Times-Tribune [Scranton, PA], Oct 15 1935, P. 22, Col. 5.
"Daniel C. Georgia, sixty-eight, of 310 Prescott avenue, a retired D., L. &. W. Railroad engineer, died this morning at the family home. Mr. Georgia was a resident of Scranton for thirty-five years. He formerly resided in Elmira, N. Y.
  He was a member of Sam Sloan Lodge of Railroad Engineers and Ivy Lodge of Masons of Elmira.
  He leaves his widow, Mrs. Elizabeth Georgia: two sons, Ralph, of New York city, and Raymond, of Black Mountains, N. C., and a sister, Flora, of Los Angeles, Cal.
  The funeral will be held at the funeral home of Howard M. Davies, 120 South Main avenue, at a time to be announced. Burial will be in Elmira."

Note: As a student in the 1920 census, Frederick Raymond Georgia was entered as Raymond F. Georgia. But in later censuses the first name used was Frederic.

The Times-Tribune [Scranton, PA], Oct 17 1935, P. 31, Col. 2. 
  "The funeral of Daniel Georgia, of 310 Prescott avenue, retired Lackawanna Railroad engineer, was held this afternoon at 12:30 o'clock in the family home. Rev. Dr. Robert P. Krietler, rector of St. Luke's Episcopal Church, conducted the service.
  The body was taken over the Lackawanna Railroad at 1:55 o'clock to Elmira, N. Y. where another service will be held tomorrow afternoon, followed by interment in a cemetery at that place.
  The pall bearers were: A. G. Barrett, B. H. Cornell, Louis Isaacs, Frank Shillow, Paul Burrus and William Richards."

Obituary for Mrs. Elizabeth Stewart Georgia, mother of Frederick Raymond Georgia
The Times-Tribune [Scranton, PA], Jun 2 1939, P. 14

"Mrs. Elizabeth Stewart Georgia, a former well known resident of this city, died this morning at the home of her sister, Miss Mae Stewart, 469 West Gray street, Elmira, where she had resided since leaving Scranton, three years ago. Mrs. Georgia, who was sixty-nine, was the widow of Daniel C. Georgia, for many years a locomotive engineer employed by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Company. He died about three years ago. Mrs. Georgia had lived in this city for twenty-five years.
  While a resident of the city, Mrs. Georgia was a member of St. Luke's Episcopal Church and was a past matron of Annette Chapter, Order of Eastern Star, and a past royal matron of the court of the Amaranth. She was a charter member of the Scranton division, No: 570, G. I. A., of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers.
  Surviving are two sons. Ralph, Saint Albans, N. Y., and F. Raymond, a professor at Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y., and five grandchildren.
  The funeral will be Monday morning with services at the home of her sister at 11 o'clock. Burial will be in Woodlawn cemetery, Elmira."

Marriage of Lolita Healey and F. Raymond Georgia
The Ithaca Journal, Aug 21 1920, P. 2, Col. 2.

"Miss Lolita Healey and F. Raymond Georgia, both instructors in Cornell University, were married this morning at 9:30 o'clock at the residence of Mrs. John R. Bergen, 212 Fall Creek Drive, in the presence of immediate friends. The ceremony took place on the lawn, and was performed by the Rev. Ralph S. Nanz.
  Immediately afterwards Mr. and Mrs. Georgia left for an extended canoe trip.
  The bride is a graduate of Wellesley College, and has for the last four years been teaching in the department of domestic science at Cornell.
  Mr. Georgia was graduated from Cornell with the class of 1914. He served in France during the World War as a sanitary engineer, and has recently been an instructor in chemistry at the university.
  Mr. and Mrs. Georgia will make their home in this city."

Folks Worth While in Western North Carolina: featuring Frederick Raymond Georgia
Asheville Citizen-Times, Dec 30 1934, P. 22, Cols. 2-3, with photo

'BLUE RIDGE. Dec. 29. (special) - Frederick Raymond Georgia, professor of chemistry at Black Mountain College here and secretary to the faculty, was born at Sayre, Pa., and educated at the grammar and high schools of Scranton in the same State. He graduated from Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. in 1915 with the degree of bachelor of chemistry specializing in the chemistry of public water supplies, under the nationally known authority. Professor E. M. Chamot. He stayed on at the university as instructor in sanitary chemistry while studying for an advanced degree.
  In 1917 he was commissioned first lieutenant in the sanitary corps. A. E. F. and went at once to France with the 41st or "Sunset Division." a national guard outfit from the Northwest, sailing in November, 1917. He was the one sanitary officer attached to the Mobile Laboratory as water expert of the division. This later became the First Depot Division and eventually Depot Division of the First Army Corps. Most of his time in France was spent in  St. Aignan. "St Agony, as the boys promptly christened it, had the doubtful honor of being reputedly the second muddiest place in France. Dr. George remarked reminiscently, "Of course, anyone who saw Brest knows what town is entitled to first honors in any such competition."
  -- Awarded Ph.D. in 1922 --
  He returned to the United States in February, 1919, and was discharged from the service the following month. He returned at once to Cornell, where he resumed his duties as an Instructor at the university, and his studies for his doctorate. In 1922 he completed these, and was awarded the degree of doctor of philosophy in chemistry.
  Dr. Georgia remained on the faculty at Cornell until 1926, when he was called to Rollins College, Winter Park, Fla., as professor of chemistry. He held this position for seven years. He served as chairman of the curriculum committee during the years that saw most of the changes in educational practice for which Rollins has become known.
  When, in company with nearly a dozen other members of the faculty of Rollins, Dr. Georgia's connection with this institution was severed in the spring of 1933, the question of founding a new college in which some really fundamental educational changes could be embodied and given a real try-out, was seriously considered as a practical possibility. As summer advanced, what had at first seemed but a hazy dream began to take shape as an attractive hope; but it was not until September that the necessary funds had been underwritten to justify the announcement that the projected institution would actually open its doors for students, at what may now be considered almost the low point of the depression.
-- College Opened In Sept. 1933 --
The men who, with Dr. Georgia, had the courage to become the founders of this new laboratory of educational theory at the college level were John Andrew Rice, Ralph Reed Lounsbury, and Theodore Dreier, all members of the group who had been it Rollins college. Others who had considered joining with this group had been unable to wait until the opening of the new college could be assured, and so had taken other positions.  Nine other members were added to this original group and Black Mountain college, having obtained ideal quarters in Robert E Lee hall, the main building of the Blue Ridge assembly, opened its doors in September, 1933.
  For the first year, Dr. Georgia served as rector, in accordance with the practice in European universities, where the head of the institution is not a permanent president, chosen from outside the faculty, but one of the professors, designated to serve in this capacity for a year.
  Dr. Georgia also became secretary of the college after the death of Professor Lounsbury and continues to hold this office. He is also a member of the board of fellows, the governing board of the college, which is made up of five faculty members and one student member, thus making faculty control certain and obviating the unfortunate condition seen on some American college and university campuses where control by a board of governors or fellows made up largely from the business world often renders the best scholastic ideals and practices impossible of adoption.
  -- Married Miss Healey --
  In 1920 Dr Georgia married Miss Lolita Healey, of Boston, a graduate of Radcliffe college, They have two children. Daniel Carver and Nathalie Elizabeth. Both attend the Cottage school, the newly founded elementary school that serves the faculty children and other youngsters living In the neighborhood of Blue Ridge and Black Mountain. This school, which is a branch of the Black Mountain public school system, is attempting to do for education at the elementary level what the college is doing for older students.
  Dr. Georgia is a member of the American Chemical society, the American Waterworks association, and the American Association of University Professors. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and of the American Public Health association. He was made a member of the Sigma Xi fraternity (honor scientific society) at Cornell university.'

The Sciences at Black Mountain College, May 2021
David Peifer, Department of Mathematics, University of North Carolina at Asheville
https://www.blackmountaincollege.org/peifer-sciences/

Extract from section II: The Roots of the Sciences in the BMC Curriculum

'Rollins College, in Winter Park, Florida, began a progressive education experiment in 1925, when the college hired a new president. Within a year of starting at Rollins, President Hamilton Holt had implemented his “conference plan.” This approach emphasized one-on-one interaction between students and faculty. As opposed to lecturing, faculty served as mentors to guide students. Holt realized that this required a uniquely qualified professor. He began hiring his “golden personalities,” faculty distinguished in their discipline and dedicated to teaching, who could champion his new approach to liberal education. The four founding members of the BMC faculty were hired by Holt to teach at Rollins College during these years. By 1930, Holt had the whole Rollins campus community planning for an extensive reworking of the curriculum based on modern theories of progressive liberal education. To culminate this work, he held a national conference at Rollins in January 1931. Holt invited the philosopher John Dewey to chair the proceedings. The aim of the conference was to bring together leading experts on liberal education to envision a cohesive structure to the college curriculum in America. The conference, “The Curriculum for the Liberal Arts College,” resulted in an important report (Dewey 1931) that has served as a guide for many progressive liberal arts colleges since that time.

Frederick Raymond Georgia (1892-1961) was hired at Rollins as one of President Holt’s golden personalities. According to records at the Rollins College Archives, Georgia earned a bachelor’s degree in 1915 and his PhD in 1922 at Cornell University working in Chemistry. From 1915 until 1926, aside from serving 14 months in France as a First Lieutenant in World War I, he was a lecturer at Cornell University where he taught and published research in Sanitary Chemistry. In 1926, he joined the faculty at Rollins College as the head of Chemistry. A Rollins announcement stated that Georgia’s hire indicated President Holt’s intention “that science … is to receive proper emphasis in the liberal arts curriculum of Rollins College…” (Rollins 1926) In his position at Rollins, Georgia was given a leadership role in determining the college’s new curriculum. From 1930 until 1932, Georgia served as the chair of the college curriculum committee. This was an important position as the college was preparing to transform its academic program. The curriculum committee produced a preliminary report in 1930 and then the next year presented a comprehensive “plan for the organization of the curriculum of the College.” (Dewey 1931)
  The 1931 Rollins College Curriculum Committee Report (Dewey 1931) outlined several ideas that would find their way into the BMC program. The curriculum was divided into a Lower and Upper Division. (At BMC these were called the Junior and Senior Divisions.) The Lower Division was intended to provide students with a “broad foundation,” while in the Upper Division students acquired “effective mastery of a field.” In the Lower Division, students were expected to gain competence and knowledge in several areas. This included: English, foreign language, mathematics, history, physics, chemistry, biology, sociology, and economics. In both divisions, the initiative was placed on the student and studies were determined by student interests. The report states that, “The Committee proposes to abolish the evaluation of the degree in terms of credits, grades and term of residence … To take the place of this system the Committee proposes to substitute two formal evaluations of the student’s work, one when he applies for transfer from the Lower to the Upper Division, and the other when he comes up for his degree.” (Dewey 1931)
  Georgia played a key role at the conference, one of the seventeen members. These members included prominent administrators, faculty, and education experts from around the country. The members held several panel discussions which were open to the campus and public. Georgia organized and served as secretary for the conference. The final report, written by John Dewey, emphasized a curriculum meant to be directed by student interests, as well as, to expand and broaden these interests. It encouraged learning by experience. The conference report also clearly stated a disdain for grades. “Grades are not ends in themselves nor is the attainment of grades a worthy incentive for work in college. … If it is possible, and wherever possible, the consideration of grades should be eliminated as a method of appraisal of a student’s attainments.” (Dewey 1931) These ideas became centerpieces in the BMC curriculum.
  In the next few years, as Rollins College began to implement these progressive ideas, some of the faculty on the curriculum committee began to question if President Holt’s conference plan should be abandoned. Holt took this as a personal attack, and not long after, he fired John Andrew Rice. Rice argued against his dismissal as an issue of freedom of speech. The case was brought to the attention of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). At the hearing, Georgia and his colleague Ralph Lounsbury represented Rice. While the AAUP did eventually side with Rice and sanctioned Holt, this took too long and Rice was forced to leave Rollins. In the meantime, Holt also refused to renew contracts for Georgia and Lounsbury. One by one, Holt called several faculty members into his office to ask them to sign “loyalty” agreements if they wanted to stay at Rollins. In all, eight individuals were either fired or resigned from Rollins in 1933 because of the controversy with President Holt. (For an insightful perspective on these years at Rollins College see Jack Lane’s book “Rollins College: A Centennial History.” (Lane 2017)
  During the summer of 1933, four of the former Rollins faculty (Georgia, Rice, Dreier, and Lounsbury), and several former Rollins students, decided to start their own version of a liberal arts college. Robert Wunsch, another fired Rollins faculty who would join BMC a year later, knew of property near Asheville that the new college could rent during the academic year. By the Fall 1933 semester, BMC had rented a large hall at the YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly near Black Mountain, North Carolina, and was open for business.
  Because the AAUP was still considering Rice’s case, Georgia served as the first rector of BMC for one year until Rice took over. Georgia stayed at BMC for four years, teaching chemistry in what the BMC Preliminary Announcements described as meager laboratory settings. The Announcement stated, “Scientific apparatus and laboratory equipment will, of course, be on a simple scale. They will be sufficient, however, so that a small number of students may secure adequate training in laboratory work of undergraduate caliber in Physics, Chemistry, and Biology, ...” The Announcement goes on to point out the value to students of working in such a program. “Actually, in a pioneering enterprise, where the students may have to work to help fashion some of their own apparatus, much is gained that is usually lost where the latest, most expensive apparatus is found, ready for them to go ahead.” (BMC Records: General Files 1933-1956) After leaving BMC, Georgia went back to upstate New York and for several years was the Water Works Supervisor for the Filtration Plant at Cornell University.'

Notice of death of Dr. Frederick Georgia
The Tryon [North Carolina] Daily Bulletin, Oct 3 1961, P. 8, Col. 2

 "Mr. and Mrs. Karl Nesslinger have gone to Potsdam, N.Y.. on account of the sudden death of their son-in-law, Dr. Frederick Georgia, visiting Professor in Mathematics at Clarkson College of Technology.
  He is survived by his wife, Dr Carlita Nesslinger Georgia, and two children by a previous marriage."

Miss Georgia Leaves Estate to Frederick Raymond Georgia
The Ithaca Journal, Mar 29 1921, P. 5, Col. 3

'Two wills were admitted to probate this morning, that of Mrs. Mary C. McCormick Lyman, late of Ithaca, and of Miss Ada E. Georgia, late of this city.
  The estate of Miss Georgia amounts to about $4,000 personal property and $5,000 real estate. It is left to a nephew, Frederick Raymond Georgia of this city, with the exception of the annual royalty on a book, "Manual of Weeds" written by Miss Georgia which is to go to her sister, Mrs. Sophrona Bailey of Binghamton during her lifetime. The nephew is named executor.'