86 Staten Island Association of Arts and Sciences 



The committee submitted, as nominees, the names of Stafford Clarence 

 Edwards, John DeMorgan, William Goodenow Willcox, John Quincy 

 Adams, and James Richard Walsh. 



The president asked if there were any other nominations and none 

 others being made, the secretary, on motion, was instructed to cast one 

 affirmative ballot for the nominees submitted by the committee. 



The secretary cast the ballot as instructed and the president declared 

 the nominees elected trustees of the Association for the ensuing three 

 years. 



Dr. Arthur HoUick referred to the recent death of Mr. Walter C. Kerr 

 and submitted the following memorandum for incorporation in the minutes 

 of the meeting : 



It is with a sense of great personal loss that the Staten Island Associa- 

 tion of Arts and Sciences records the death, on May 8, 1910, of Walter 

 Craig Kerr, M.E., who was elected to active membership in the Natural 

 Science Association of Staten Island on March 12, 1892, and who served 

 it faithfully as president from 1892 to 1900. He was also a member of 

 the first board of trustees of the Staten Island Association of Arts and 

 Sciences, in 1905, and his subsequent interest in our welfare was evidenced 

 on several occasions when his advice and financial assistance were sought. 



Our younger members will never know and can never realize the extent 

 of his influence, not only in the development of our present Association 

 but also in the preservation of its predecessor from threatened dissolu- 

 tion at the most critical period in its history, and it is in this latter 

 connection especially that we should remember him with gratitude. 



At the time of his first election as president of the Natural Science 

 Association the conditions were serious and the prospects discouraging. 

 The members as well as the public had apparently lost all interest in the 

 object and aims of the Association. Attendance at the meetings had 

 dwindled to almost nothing. The roll of membership contained only 

 thirty-six names, and the entire burden of administrative work, as well 

 as of scientific activity, was borne by some three or four members. The 

 influence of his virile personality, however, soon made itself felt. The 

 few who had remained active were encouraged to continue, and others 

 were inspired with new interest. The- result was that when he retired 

 from the presidency, after seven years of service, the membership had 

 more than doubled, the meetings were well attended, and the Association 

 held an assured position as an important factor in the intellectual life 

 of the community. 



His attainments along the lines of his life work as a successful. elec- 

 trical engineer we need not dwell upon. They are recognized and have 

 been recorded elsewhere, together with the customary formal expressions 

 and resolutions of regret and condolence by those who were more inti- 

 mately associated with him socially and in business. It remains for us 

 to merely place upon record this brief testimonial of our appreciation of 

 what he accomplished for this Association. 



