Camden People - Dr. G. Russell Atkinson

DR. GEORGE RUSSELL ATKINSON was born in 1897 in New Jersey. He attended public schools in Camden, and graduated from Camden High School in 1918, in the same graduating class as Carl Kisselman, who would become a prominent lawyer in Camden.

After serving with the United States Army during World War I, G. Russell Atkinson joined the Raymond C. Thoirs Post of the American Legion in Camden. Trained as a dentist, he married his wife Frances around 1921. By 1930 two daughters had been born, Vivian and Frances. A son, George Russell Jr. was born in 1934. The Atkinson family resided at 522 Cooper Street.

In October of 1936, Dr. Atkinson, his wife and son were killed in an automobile accident on Mullica Pike (Route 45) about a mile north of Mullica Hill NJ. The Atkinsons were buried at Lakeview Memorial Park in Cinnaminson NJ.

Dr. Atkinson had been a member of Trimble Lodge, No. 117 Free and Accepted Masons. He also was a medical corps Captain with the 112th Field Artillery in the New Jersey National Guard at the time of his death. He also had been past president of the Southern Dental Society, was on the Board of Advisors of the State Dental Clinic in Camden, and was a member of the Interprofessional Association's Camden chapter.

Camden Courier-Post * February 24, 1936

SECURITY CHAPTER WILL HOLD SESSION
Interprofessional Association to Hold First Meeting Here Thursday Night

Dr. Martin Steinberg, of Philadelphia, and Mrs. Mary Foley Grossman, teacher and economist, will be the principal speakers at the first meeting of the Camden Chapter of the Interprofessional Association, Thursday night, at the Labor Temple, 538 Broadway.

Florence Frisch Fox, of 1267 Magnolia Avenue, chairman pro tem of the Camden chapter, said the association is a national organization with chapters functioning in all the larger cities of the United States, and with national headquarters in New York.

"Our purpose," the chairman said, "is social security. Through co-operation in professional groups, our object is to help solve this problem of insecurity which looms greater and darker than ever before."

Miss Mary Van Kleeck, noted economist, is national chairman of the association. Francis F. Kane, recipient of the 1935 Bok Award, is chairman of the Philadelphia chapter.

Various representatives of the professions in Camden County will attend the first meeting of the Camden chapter, including Dr. Thomas K. Lewis, Dr. G. Russell Atkinson and Arthur B. Gill, it was announced.

Camden Courier-Post * February 1, 1938

*Retires Today*	TEACHES 35 YEARS, SHE’LL KEEP HOUSE Miss Taylor's Fondest Wish to Come True After Retirement Today Miss Carolina W. Taylor bids goodbye today -to the second grade class room at the Broadway School where she has taught for 35 years. In that time this quiet little teacher has seen the surrounding neighborhood change from a languid residential area to a business center and methods of teaching and even the attitude of the school children transformed. Now comes the biggest change of all for Miss Taylor. She is going to retire and keep house. And believe it or not, all the time she has been earning the title of a most efficient teacher, Miss Taylor confesses she has longed to do but one thing, keep house! The scene of Miss Taylor's homemaking activities will be the residence at 104 Powelton Avenue, Woodlynne, where she makes her home with a sister, Miss Harriet Taylor, formerly a teacher at Central School, and a brother, Thomas A. Taylor. Attended School Here Miss Taylor’s experience with Camden schools dates back

MISS CAROLINA W. TAYLOR
even further than her teaching career for she was born and educated in this city. Discussing her education in the old high school at Second and Federal Streets, Miss Taylor laughed as she recalled lapses in class work while the teachers hastened to tend the coal stoves. She graduated from high school in 1901 and finished the normal school course, then included in the high school, in 1902. Her first assignment was substitute work at Broadway School and with the exception of a couple of months spent at Liberty School, she has instructed second grade there ever since. Miss Taylor thoroughly approves of the newer methods of education in which more freedom is allowed the pupil. She declares much, more can be accomplished with a class and the children do not dread school. "We have no bashful pupils any more," she declared. If I can remember how I suffered from shyness when I was the age of these little tots." Recalls Many Pupils Despite her many years in the classroom and her long procession of pupils, Miss Taylor can rapidly recall their names to mind. There was Judge Clifford A. Baldwin, who she remembers as a quiet, lovable little boy; Dr. Alexander Ellis, who she terms her "cutest" pupil; Clarence Fuhrman, Dr. Byron Tuttle, the late Dr. Russell Atkinson, Anna Snow, of Temple University; E. Howard Broome, Dr. Everett Hemphill, Dr. Paul Ironside, and Warren Mainak. Many of her boys, she declares, seem to have become professional men, while few of her girls, so far as she has been able to ascertain, have followed the teaching profession. Miss Taylor's niece, Miss Ella Ellis, also is a teacher at Broadway School.

Dr. Atkinson and his daughter Francis , his wife and small son were driving in a four door car when the child opened the door in the back seat. All were killed except the daughter. I know a huge number of people drove only two door cars after that...and I think it had a lot to do with safety locks on doors. Several dentists each took the surviving daughters, Vivian and Francis and raised them. Dr. Ludlam was one of them. His son, George, was in our CHS class and also became a dentist. He married Honey Thomas and lived across the street from us in Tavistock Hills.... and George Savitsky a few doors to the left.

Catherine Casselman Grenhart
Camden High School Class of 1942
July, 2009

Camden Courier-Post - October 26, 1936
DR. ATKINSON, WIFE, SON KILLED

...continued...

...continued...

Camden Courier-Post - October 27, 1936

Dr. G. Russell Atkinson	Frances Atkinson	George R. Atkinson Jr.