Finding a Grandfather, and a Community, at Bowdoin
Her grandfather was George S. Bennett, Class of 1934. The youngest of seven children, Elaine says, “he grew up in the suburbs of Boston, in a struggling Irish immigrant family.” Orphaned before he left high school, George was looked after by his oldest sister, Josephine, said Elaine, who “sacrificed everything she had to make sure he went to college—the first person in his family to do so.”
Bennett received financial aid to attend the College, as Elaine discovered when she visited the Bowdoin Special Collections & Archives.
“Little did I know the archives had a whole file on my grandfather that they let me look through. There were nearly 100 original paper documents in this file. I was able to hold in my hands the application my grandfather filled out by hand in 1930.”
Among the documents she reviewed were a number of handwritten letters between her grandfather and the dean of students, the latter offering guidance on George's job searches. There’s also a letter from George’s sister, Josephine, to President Kenneth Sills, explaining the family’s dire situation and asking the school to provide aid to her brother.
“It’s difficult to put into words the emotions that I felt when I was holding on to the same pieces of paper my grandfather held nearly ninety years ago. I always longed for a connection with him, and I felt such love on the Bowdoin campus.”
“This type of community and connection my grandfather was a part of is not the norm. Bowdoin should be extremely proud of its community, and I am eternally grateful for the experience I had while visiting campus for the first time. I will never forget it.
My grandfather was captain of the baseball team in high school and at Bowdoin, so it’s not surprising that he served as president of the Babe Ruth and Little League divisions of the Quincy Junior Baseball Leagues. He greatly admired his Bowdoin coach, Ben Houser, and drew upon Houser’s teaching in sending letters of advice to Boston Red Sox players, which occasionally were answered. For example, he alerted Tom Seaver to the fact that he looked at the ground and took his eye off the batter at the start of his delivery. (It turned out the future Hall of Famer knew that.)”
George S. Bennett went on to enjoy a successful career in human resources (or personnel, as it was called back then) and was a valued member of his Massachusetts community. He and his wife had four children, three of whom became lawyers, and the fourth became a teacher. One of his sons, George S. Bennett Jr., was a member of the Bowdoin Class of 1965.
George visited the campus as often as he could over the years, and donated every year until he died in 1991, at which time his widow continued to donate annually until she passed away.
“I truly believe our family would not be where it is today without the support Bowdoin gave to my grandfather all those years ago.”
The From Here campaign is raising $200 million for financial aid, to fulfill a promise to generations of future Bowdoin students: that family income will never be a barrier to a Bowdoin education, and a Bowdoin experience.