Died A Hero

Once upon a time I had a local history class that I wanted to make a film for the Easton Film Festival. I had discovered the 1939 gravestone of Stanley Whiten with the inscription “Died a Hero” and the class became deeply involved in unraveling this mystery. This class happened so long ago that two members of the class have grown up and joined the staff at Oliver Ames. That’s only fitting because, as we discovered, our story involved four people who were deeply connected to our school.

All four were graduates of Oliver Ames. Three were involved in the tragedy while the fourth lived long enough to confirm many of the details of our research.  Stan Whiten was a 1926 graduate who, in an era when all students were awarded a superlative, won the title of “The Boy with the Biggest Scowl. His stated ambition was to work in a bank, and he planned to go to business school. His high school nickname was Buddha. During his school years he worked at the Brockton Public Market and was known as someone who always tried very hard. He told the yearbook that he hadn’t done anything for the class, but the editor added “but we know better.” He was on the Senior Class Basketball team and had a small role in the Senior play. His biggest accomplishment was winning typewriting certificates. The last paragraph of the class prophecy had Whiten as the secretary for Lena DeLaura when she became President of the Brockton Public Market. Miss DeLaura worked with Whiten, but found time for an active participation in the class including writing the prophecy.

Stan Whiten somehow got the job of writing the class poem. It’s three short stanzas ended with:

                        Classmates of ’26 soon we must part.

                        Go out on life’s pathway with a cheerful heart.

                        Fight if you must, your honor defend;

                        Be a conqueror in life, my classmate and friend.

Brother Paul graduated in the following year with the superlative “The Teachers’ Pet” although his biography notes that he “promises to be a future lawyer as he has shown his ability to argue. We refer you to Miss Dolan as she knows!” Dolan was the business teacher and Whitten had been in business classes and the Commercial Club. The class will notes that “To Paul Whitten, we leave the title of being “Mother’s Darling Baby Boy. “ Paul did no participate in any sports. Beside the Commercial Club, he was a member of the Drama Club and in his senior year the Moving Picture Committee. He must have really enjoyed movies as the class prophecy had him owning a theater in later life. Neither Whiten boy seems to have been very popular. They lived on Spooner or Wilbur Street, I forget which, in a house probably built by their father who was a carpenter.

There were no “flappers” in 1920s Easton, but Lorraine Dahlborg did have the bobbed hair that was so popular with the “flaming youth” of the day. Dahlborg lived with her parents at 24 Jenny Lind Street. She was an only child and greatly indulged by her doting parents. The petite Dahlborg won the superlative of “The Lightest Girl in the Class.” She was in the Drama and Commercial Clubs with Paul Whiten and won typing awards like Stanley. Unlike the boys Lorraine was “one of the class friends and has always taken an active part in anything the class attempted.” While she didn’t participate in sports she was an active member of the Athletic Association. She idealistically wrote a piece for the Eastoner in her Junior year urging  spectators at athletic events to cheer for the other team as well as our own!  She was a bright enough student to make the Credit List. All in all, she seemed a sweet young thing.

Following along a year behind was Anna Craig, the witness to our story. She was called “the brightest girl” in the Class of 1928, was active in the Drama Club, Debating Team, and Interclass Basketball team. She was Vice President of the class and Editor-in-Chief of the Eastoner. She graduated with high honors and won the superlative “The Most Ambitious Girl.” About the only thing she had in common with Lorraine Dahlborg was skinniness. Both girls were "willed" a book on how to get fat.

Paul, Lorraine, and Anna all went off to college and ultimately found their way back to Oliver Ames where they all were teachers in the fateful year of 1939. Stanley Whiten was also living in Easton. He hadn’t made it to a bank, but he was working steadily in the office at the Shovel Shop. The boy with the scowl had developed into what women called a “real man’s man” and both Whitens had gained a reputation for being “men about town” although Paul, at least, was a serious member of the Methodist Church on Mechanic Street. Unlike many women of the time Lorraine had a new car that according to her students she liked to drive fast down Main Street. All four were doing well in Depression era Easton.

“Died a Hero” with a date on the gravestone was enough for my students to unravel the mystery. They quickly found the information I shared above along with more detail about their teaching careers. Articles from the Enterprise revealed the rest.  The Whiten’s had a cottage at White Island Shores on the south end of White Island Pond in Wareham near the Plymouth line.  The pond was a large one with a complex shape like a figure eight with the top part of the eight bent to the right. Paul had a speed boat that had quite a reputation. According to neighbors he often ran the noisy boat at top speed creating waves and irritating folks sitting on their decks or swimming. On August 9, 1939 Lorraine and the two Whitens went to the cottage. According to the paper Lorraine was dating Paul. After a long day at the cottage and beach, Paul stayed behind while Lorraine and Stanley decided to take the speed boat out to cool down. When they were last seen Stanley was driving and Lorraine was sitting on the wooden decking that covered the bow. Hours passed and it got dark. Back in the cottage Paul didn’t react quickly assuming that engine trouble had forced the boat ashore in a distant part of the large pond. Finally a search was begun and the boat was found run aground near the sharp turn that led through the gap from the southern pond to the northern one. Hope faded slowly throughout the night. In the morning the bodies were found. Reconstructing the accident from the reports and the shape of the pond, the class believed that Lorraine had been thrown from the bow of the boat when Stanley sharply turned it to shoot the gap between the two parts of the figure eight. Lorraine couldn’t swim according to the Enterprise so Stanley jumped in to save her and was either pulled under by the petite but terrified Lorraine or was struck by the boat.

What we couldn’t understand was the inscription “Died a Hero” on the gravestone. It was pretty clear that Stanley had caused the accident by improper operation of the boat. Was there something in the way he died that wasn’t mentioned in the news reports? And why did Paul stay in the cottage while his girlfriend went off with his brother? We turned to Anna Craig, one of the last surviving teachers who were on the staff with Lorraine and Paul. Two students and I went to her home for an interview. It went well with talk of growing up in old time Easton and the school days of the four. Paul and Lorraine hadn’t dated in high school we learned and, in fact, they weren’t dating in 1939. Lorraine was with George, an odd couple-the sweet and petite girl and the boy with the scowl. “How did you know that,” we asked. “I was dating Paul,” came the reply. In fact, the tragedy caused a panic in the Craig household because Anna was off visiting friends when news arrived in Easton that Paul’s girlfriend had drowned. The relationship between Paul and Anna was typical of the time-he was a Methodist and she was a Catholic. They dated for quite a while, but she never brought him home to the family. Nor did she ever visit the cottage. Suddenly we felt like intruders in a time where we didn’t belong. We got the impression that Paul was someone very special to Anna, who never married, but we didn’t feel it appropriate to ask. She couldn’t shed any more light on the accident and told us that Paul enlisted in the navy after Pearl Harbor and moved to Nantucket after the war.  She left Easton in 1942 after failing to gain equal pay with male teachers and had a long career outside of Easton.

The Whiten house still stands today. The Dahlborg house was destroyed by the gas explosion that happened several years ago. The owners rebuilt the home in the original style and report that the ghost of Lorraine has continued to reside in the new home.