C. Yardley Chittick '18, PA's Oldest Alum, Dies Several Weeks After Attending His 90th Reunio

July 21, 2008 -- Charles Yardley Chittick ’18, Phillips Academy’s first-ever 90th Reunion attendee and believed to be the country’s oldest patent attorney, died peacefully on July 18 following a fall earlier in the month.

Just three days before Mr. Chittick’s death, Don Abbott, senior development officer, and Peter Ramsey, secretary of the academy, joined caregiver Jennifer “Jiffi” Rainie to visit Mr. Chittick at the Pleasant View Retirement Community in Concord, N.H., where he lived for the past decade. After the visit, Abbott reported that the revered alum, although bedridden, was resting comfortably and still had an amazingly firm grip—and an occasional sparkle in his eye.

As displayed at his recent milestone reunion, Mr. Chittick was an enthusiastic storyteller and loved to reminisce about his Andover days. His long-term memory was excellent, and his stories often were embellished with colorful details: he particularly enjoyed telling of how he refused to shine dormmate Humphrey Bogart’s shoes.

“He and I had a row about,” Mr. Chittick would begin. “Somehow or other I didn’t like him, and he didn’t like me. I polished all the shoes on the floor but I wouldn’t shine Bogie’s.” Much to his satisfaction, Bogart was later expelled for bad grades.

Mr. Chittick attended numerous Andover reunions over the years, especially since becoming a member of the Old Guard. In recent years, he was often accompanied by Ms. Rainie.

At his 90th Reunion this past June, Mr. Chittick was showered with attention, honors, and praise: He led the Academy’s annual Parade of Classes, was cheered by fellow alums, as well as Andover trustees, administration and staff, and was then honored during a ceremony in Cochran Chapel, with three generations of his family in attendance. Mr. Chittick, who would have turned 108 in October, received a standing ovation from the crowd of about 1,200 after Head of School Barbara Landis Chase read a proclamation on behalf of the Board of Trustees: “Your presence reminds us of the traditions of loyalty and service that mark Andover…. We salute you as a cherished son of Phillips. We are proud to call you Mr. Andover.”

Mr. Chittick’s 90th Reunion attendance and intriguing life story were also the subject of a Fox News television report and were featured in newspapers nationwide.

“Yardley Chittick was truly an Andover institution,” said Mrs. Chase upon hearing of his death. “He remembered his time as a student on Andover hill quite fondly, yet he also understood and appreciated the changes made over the years to respond to the needs of succeeding generations. He exemplified the best in an Andover-educated human being—embodying the notion of non sibi (not for self) and remaining intellectually curious throughout a very long and distinguished life. We shall miss him.”

Mr. Chittick was born in New Jersey on Oct. 22, 1900. McKinley was president, Sigmund Freud had just published The Interpretation of Dreams, and a first-class postage stamp cost two cents; the first transatlantic wireless signals had yet to be received.

Because he had flunked French at his Newark, N.J., high school, Mr. Chittick was sent to Andover his senior year, courtesy of his uncle Farnham Yardley (PA 1886). At Andover, he took up the mandolin, played varsity hockey, and was a cross-country runner. With World War I under way, he and other PA students prepared for military service by digging trenches, marching, and learning to fire a rifle. He was proclaimed the “windiest” classmate in Pot Pourri, PA’s yearbook.

Mr. Chittick earned a BS degree in mechanical engineering at MIT and shortly thereafter interviewed for a job with Thomas Edison, which involved an 18-page test, covering everything from geography to history to mathematics. Although Mr. Chittick did well on the test, Edison was slow getting back to him, so he accepted a job with a tool company that soon began making golf clubs under the brand name Kroydon. Working with a patent lawyer in New York, he helped the plant workers secure patents for improvements they made to the clubs.

Several years later he decided to go to work for the U.S. Patent Office in Washington, D.C. He attended George Washington University at night and passed the patent bar in 1934. He later moved to Massachusetts with his second wife, Ruth, and opened an office in Boston. He had two sons, Charles Jr. ’45 and John ’49, with his first wife, Dorothy.

Mr. Chittick retired in 1985 and moved to Wakefield, N.H. When Ruth died in 1997, he moved to Pleasant View, where, until recently, he fixed his own lunch most days. He is survived by his son Charles Jr. of Hingham, Mass. His son John died in 1992.