The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1915-01-17
death TERMINATES USEFUL
|. CAREER Of DR.. A. B HUGHES

They kept deep interest in him al
so, and a few years ago, his first
high school graduating class came
from all over the United States to
meet in reunion to honor Dr.
Hughes at a banquet.
| A Power in keokuk Schools.
While he was practicing in West
Keokuk, the people Of that part OF
the city, who. knew him best, deter
mined that he should serve on the
board Of education Of Keokuk. They
accomplished his election in March
1899, and he served a term of three
years from that date. He then left
the board for four years, and In
March 1906, was elected member
Of the board and reelected to sue
cessive terms until the present time.
He served total Of twelve years on
the board of education, his last term
expiring March Is, next. He has
been president of the board since
!, March 1909.
1T is utterly impossible to ade-
quately estimate the good that Dr..
A. b. Hughes did to the school sys-
tenn and the children of Keokuk,'
said one of his associates in that
work. land 1t is seldom that any city
schools have the benefit of such a
man who does such important work
with so little fuss about 1t. He
knew education and pedagogy through
and through, and himself was one OF
the best schoolmen in the middle
west. He was markedly progress
sive without ever being in the least
a faddist. These characteristics
made him remarkably able man to
head the school system of Keokuk.
And everybody in the employ of the
board from the superintendent to
the janitors, loved him. Every teach
er will feel personal loss since he
has gone. And the board probably
will never have again so efficient a
member, all things considered"
Some Things He Did for keokuk.
He was very practical in the school
matters in which he showed the
greatest enthusiasm.
One of his first acts after becom-
ing a member of the board Of educa-
ton was to establish the schools
saving system He found nobody
much interested in it, among either
school authorities or bankers. But
DR.. Hughes worked up lot OF sta
tistics of the same system in Nebras-
ka, and talked day after day about
it until he gained the consent OF the
board to introduce it, if he himself
would attend to its installation. He
accepted the tacit challenge.
He went to all the bankers in
town and found only the last one he
approached who would receive the
savings of the school children in
very small amounts, involving a large
quantity of clerical work in the
bank. But Judge William Logan ac-
cepted the plan at once and agreed
to have his bank attend to that end
of it, Then DR.. Hughes worked out
all the details even to making the
various bank forms used, and 1t went
into effect Since then many tens
Of thousands of dollars have been
deposited by the Keokuk school chill
dren and they have been taught
thrift. Keokuk was one of the very
first cities in the United States to
establish school savings.
Always interested in sanitation and
hygiene, the city council and the
board of education jointly. sent DR..
Hughes as delegate to the Internd-
tional Congress of School Hygiene,
in 1913, and he returned ito fill the
other members of the board with his
own enthusiasm for better health
among school children.
Efficient In Everything.
He detested spotlight posing in
his profession and in every other
part of his life. But he was always
efficient in everything he undertook.
and he was especially efficient in
troublous times and places. AS
president. he made the meetings of
the board of education veritable love
feasts. He was a master hand at
stilling troubled waters, and this was
generally due to his absolute homes
ty and his determination to be abso-
lutely equitable though the heavens
fall.
Nobody who was there has forgot
ten an example of this trait of DR..
Hughes which occurred some years
900 Of a republican mass convention
in the district court room. Somewhat
he was made chairman
of the meeting. There was high ten
sion between two or three factions
present. 1t was a good chance for a
hard fight ending in row, but DR..
Hughes kept firm hand on the
whole meeting, led it through all