Benjamin Goodall Symon, Jr.
Benjamin Goodall Symon, Jr.

Two members of the class of 1957 were killed in an automobile accident on the outskirts of London on December 20, 1957. George Moses and Ben Symon, both students of theology at the University of Edinburgh, were en route to spend their Christmas holiday in Sweden. Their bodies were flown back to this country and funeral services were held the weekend following Christmas in their respective home towns, Winnetka, Illinois and Brooklyn, New York .

Both George and Ben were outstanding members of their class and their contributions were noted in varied phases of life. Hailing proudly from New Trier Township High School, George's career at Amherst was marked by distinction in several fields. In athletics, "Mo" was a stalwart member of the track team, winning his letter junior year and the “Alumni Track Trophy'' as the "outstanding track man" in his senior year.  Active in campus politics and extracurricular organizations, George served for three years on the Student Council, holding the office of Vice-President in his last year. A member of the Fine Arts Committee, the Rotherwas Committee, and the Prom Committee, he was elected to Scarab in his senior year.  An English major, George received a Chi Psi Fellowship for graduate study.

After a distinguished career at Bronxville High School , “Sy” continued to demonstrate at Amherst his talents and abilities in the areas of scholarship and citizenship. A member of Phi Beta Kappa, he graduated last June magna cum laude in English, receiving additional honors for his thesis work on W. B. Yeats. Following his Interest In music, Ben was a member of the Glee Club and the Chapel Choir for four years and the leader of the Double Quartet in his senior year.

George and Ben had many things in common: both were members of the college Christian Association and the Pre-Theology Club; both were elected to Sphinx in their junior year; both were members of Chi Psi Fraternity; and both had planned to continue their studies at the Yale Divinity School upon their return from Scotland. In addition, the two were roommates their last year at Amherst and again this year at Edinburgh.

After all these facts about George and Ben have been recorded, words become inadequate to express the intangible qualities which marked their lives and which were far more significant to those who knew them. Amherst and their classmates are richer for having been exposed to their moral and intellectual integrity, their selfless devotion to God and their fellow men, their buoyant good-humor, and their unfailing zeal in applying to their lives the principles in which they believed. With firm commitments to their chosen vocation and with abundant promise of careers of significant contributions to society, these two Amherst men were taken from us so that they might see "face to face” the Master to whose service they had dedicated their lives.

"The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”