422 STATE BOAllD OF AGRICULTURE 



The school, as you know, is nndor llio iiniiiediate control of the State 

 Board of Education. In fact this board was originally created mainly 

 for the purpose of locating the institution and managing its affairs. 

 Gradually its functions have been enlarged, but for several of the early 

 years of its existence- it hardly did more than to guard the interests and 

 l)rovide for the welfare of the school. In a board limited to the small 

 number of four, each individual counts for more than in a body of larger 

 membership. The i>ersonality of the members comes to be better under- 

 stood by the faculty, and the influeuce of such personality makes itself 

 felt in the direction of allairs njore readily and more obviously. Mr. 

 "Willits became 



A MEMBER OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION 



nt the opening of the year 1861, and served continuously for twelve years. 

 At the commencement of his term of office the school had been in oper- 

 ation but eight years, and was still in a formative condition. Associated 

 with such men as Witter J. Baxter, John M. Gregory and Oramel Hos- 

 ford, Mr. Willits exercised a strong influence in giving direction to the 

 internal organization of the institution, and in the selection of members 

 of the board of instruction. His period of service on the board covered 

 the last years of the administration of Principal Welch, the whole of 

 the administration of Principal Mayhew and the first years of the admin- 

 istration of Principal Estabrook. During these years the character of the 

 school became established; its reputation steadily increased; and its in- 

 fluence upon the educational interests of the State grew more and more 

 ])oteut. Mr. Willits contributed his full share of energy and effort toward 

 the production of these results. He had the confidence of the school and of 

 the faculty, of the people and of the successive legislatures upon whose ap- 

 Ijropriations and good will the institution depended for its means of 

 support and progress. The teachers, who remained for any length of 

 time in the school came to know him, not only as an official of the govern- 

 ing body, but also as a personal friend and a wise and valued adviser. 

 Without exception they regretted that other duties compelled him to 

 decline a third election and six years of additional service on the board. 

 After the severance of his official relations with the institution, and 

 while a member of the national house of representatives, he still retained 

 and manifested a warm interest in its prosperity, and remembered it in 

 the distribution of valuable public documents and in other substantial 

 ways. 



PRINCIFAL OF THE NORMAL SCHOOL. 



At the close of his two terms of service in congress, and ten years after 

 his retirement from the Board of Education, he was elected by that board 

 to the principalship of the Normal School, and was inaugurated in June, 

 1883. The considerations which influenced the board in inviting Mr. 

 Willits to take executive charge of the institution are thus stated in 

 their report: 



''In appointing to so important a position as the principalship of the 

 Normal School one whose life work had been in other callings than the 

 profession of teaching, one who had not through experience and study 

 a systematic course of pedagogy behind him, the board were mindful 



