E.E. Cauthorne, Oldest Alumnus, Dies At Age 103

Edward Everett Cauthorne '92 died Thursday at the age of 103 in Quecus, N.Y. At the time of his death Cauthorne was Harvard's oldest living alumnus.

Cauthorne who attended his last Commencement in 1964 was a familiar figure at the head of the line of Harvard alumni at the annual Commencement meeting.

Born in Davies County Mo. during Abraham Lincoln's first term. Cauthorne was a school teacher and cowboy in the West. He served as clerk of the Missouri court that acquitted Frank James, brother of Jesse.

In 1896 and 1900 Cauthorne who was a Masonic educator for many years bicycled extensively in Europe is search of Masonic manuscripts.

He later moved to the East where he assisted in the revision of Mackey's Encyclopedia of Free masonry. He also published Masonle books and said real estate.

Simplified Spelling

Cauthorne was an advocate of simplified spelling. When told that phonetic spelling would destroy philology, he countered by quoting Francis James Child, then Boylston Professor of Rhetorie and Orstory. "They can change spelling all they please but it will not threw a Biologist off the trail so long as they leave one letter of the word".

Services for Cauthorne will be held at 2 p.m. today in Appleton Chapel.