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Educator Succumbs After Fall
Miss Ethel M. Brumsted, 68, of 9400 Putnam Settlement Rd, a retired assistant principal of Batavia High School, died at 1:50 p.m. Friday, Dec. 30, 1966 at Genesee Memorial Hospital.
Miss Brumsted suffered a fractured hip in a fall at her home September 16 and had been hospitalized since that time.
Besides serving as assistant principal at BHS, Miss Brumsted was a class counselor for many years. On her retirement in June, 1964, she estimated that 12,000 students had graduated under her guidance since 1935.
Miss Brumsted also taught Latin during her 36 years in the Battavia school system and thousands of scholars read Caesar and Cicero under her direction.
A native and lifelong resident of Batavia, Miss Brumsted was born March 16, 1898, the daughter of Charles H. and Anna Hirsch Brumsted. She was graduated from the Universtiy of Rochester in 1921 and did graduate study at Rochester.
After graduation, Miss Brumsted began her teaching career at Alexander and South Byron before coming to Batavia in 1928. Her career in Batavia spanned 36 years to her retirement in 1964. At the time she closed her career, Miss Brumsted was chairman of the foreign language department and Senior Class counselor.
In 1945, Miss Brumsted was named assistant principal. She served as acting principal in 1950-51, when the then principal, Edward L. Osborn was acting superintendent. Mr. Osborn was then permanently named superintendent.
Among Miss Brumsted's duties in the school was sponsorship from 1941 to her retirement of the National Honor Society.
Miss Brumsted was a member of the first Baptist Church and its Wentworth Class. She was a past president of the Batavia Teachers Assn. and formerly was affiliated with the State Teachers Association and served on its classroom teachers committee. She was also a member of the WCTU.
Among the scholarship prizes and awards at Batavia High School commencement exercises is the Ethel M. Brumsted Latin Award instituted several years ago by the Class of 1941, which is awarded to the Senior with the highest average in three years study in Latin.
Surviving are a sister, Mrs. Walter Hermance of the Putnam Rd address; a brother, Principal Harold O. Brumsted of Holland Central School, and several nieces and nephews. She was a sister of the laate Edward H. Brumsted, who was an official of the McAlpine-Brumsted Co., now McAlpine-Barton, and the late Miss Mae Brumsted, who was superintendent of the Children's Home.
Friends may call from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 today and Sunday at the H.E. Turner & Co., Inc. Mortuary, where services will be at 2 p.m. Monday with the Rev. Robert F. Spencer, pastor of the First Baptist Church officiating. Interment will be in Elmwood Cemetery.
Dan Winegar
Topics In The News
WITH REGRET
Ethel M. Brumsted
Resignation of Miss Ethel M. Brumsted as assistant principal of Batavia High School, Latin teacher and class counselor comes with a note of regret.
Miss Brumsted has so long been part of Batavia High that the school can hardly be the same without her.
The suspicion exists here that she intentionally delayed her announcement until after the close of the school year in order to avoid too many saying all the nice things they should about her before the year closed.
She saw her final class through as the Class of 1964 and next year would have become counselor again for Sophomores. Her decision to step down becomes known after she has sent another class on its way.
Quietly and without fanfare, Miss Brumsted has done a dedicated task for the City School Dist. for more than three score years.
A classic scholar with a deep and abiding love for Latin, Miss Brumsted succeeded to a position held by a predecessor who was familiar with Greek and Latin Dr. Myrta Hunn.
Latin has been questioned at times. Why, some people might ask, study a dead language? What good is it? It is true, it isn’t something practical one can put to everyday use or make a dollar with, unless he teaches.
But Latin is a discipline and one which carries over into English and modern languages. Few are the worse for having studied it. Many are far better off. Besides, the practical people haven’t yet saved the world and it may still prove to be the scholars who do so.
Miss Brumsted’s Latin classes were never those of a lost civilization, but of a lively Julius Caesar and a living Cicero.
There were experiences which she long remembered, such as the boys of one class far back in her early days in Batavia who came to class in outlandish top hats, full-dress collars and a gay assortment of trash acquired at a fire sale.
They were not banished. Miss Brumsted took it as the good joke it was and ever afterward reminded them of it when meeting one of them with Latin class long since behind them.
As a counselor she constantly strove to obtain the best from the student, offering no easy path to a diploma but advising achievement in the highest and most difficult courses.
She was constant inspiration to many over the years and there must be those in all walks of life who can thank her leadership for their success.
For 23 years, Miss Brumsted served as sponsor of the National Honor Society. The key words of the National Honor Society are: Character, Leadership, Scholarship and Service.
She was ideal for that position because the four words could well be the story of her career.
Class after class has warmly remembered a beloved teacher and counselor. One of them has already established an award made at commencement exercises in her honor. She is often invited to class reunions to meet once again with former students.
It is estimated that 12,000 students have graduated from Batavia High under her guidance. They are spread far and wide today in all walks of life, but wherever they are they cannot learn of Miss Brumsted’s retirement without recalling a great teacher who exhibited a genuine interest in all her students.
Certainly it is no exaggeration to say that Miss Brumsted’s devotion to her duties was a way of life, a way that makes some today seem puny by comparison.
Every one of her former students joins in wishing her many happy years of retirement and in hoping that her favorite subject goes on forever.
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