4. To the Family of Charles Batt

A letter dated September 21, 1949, from the office of Franklin Stewart Harris, president of the Utah State Agricultural College in Logan, Utah, addressed to the family of Charles H. Batt. To the best of our knowledge, Charles Batt did not have a middle name or a middle initial, so we are not sure where the "H" came from. The letter was signed by Franklin S. Harris, college president, and three others of a committee representing the faculty. Charles had worked for 54 years as a handyman and gardener at Utah State. At the time of his death on September 17, 1949, he was gardener emeritus. His obituary in the Salt Lake Tribune on September 20, 1949, referred to him as a "retired landscape, heating, and light superintendent at Utah State Agricultural college." Charles Batt (1861-1949) was the father of William B Batt (1888-1959), who was the father of Dorothy Batt Cleverly (1915-1982), who was my mother.

To the Family of Charles H. Batt

Dear Friends:

When Christopher Wren, the English architect, died in 1723, his body was laid at rest in the choir of St. Paul's, the great London cathedral which he had designed, and to the construction of which he had devoted thirty-five of the best years of his busy life. Over the entrance to the choir, the visitor may still read the appropriate epitaph to this great artist and builder, a Latin inscription which reads in translation: "If you would behold his monument, look around you."

As we gather today to carry to their final resting place the mortal remains of our revered colleague Charles H. Batt, it seems to us that a similar inscription might with equal propriety be carved upon the marker of his grave. For within easy view of the hilltop where we are to lay him to rest is the noble campus of our College, and we can truly say that in all its green expanse there is scarcely a spot that has not in some way been made more beautiful by his care.

Before coming to America in his early manhood, Mr. Batt had served his apprenticeship as a gardener on the estate once owned by the poet Shelley, and preserved as a memorial to that great, tempestuous spirit. With him he brought to the land of his adoption that love of smooth lawns and well-planted landscapes that is so vital a part of the English heritage. Thus it was a piece of rare good fortune that when the building which is now the South Wing of Old Main was erected on the brow of what was then a barren sage-brush bench, Mr. Batt should have been employed as one of the custodians. For more than fifty years he made the beauty, comfort and convenience of the Utah State buildings and grounds a mission and a labor of love. During that time he saw tiny plants which his hands had carried from the mountains grow from the first small nucleus to their present impressive numbers and magnitude, and saw them interspersed with lawns and walks and shaded terraces. Always, winter and summer, he was there, while the years took their toll. Only when failing senses and enfeebled strength made further service impossible did he consent to lay aside his burden.

And it was not alone as a custodian of buildings and grounds that Mr. Batt rendered service to the institution. To the halls of this great People's College there have come from the first many young men in straitened circumstances who were compelled to find work on the campus to enable them to attend. To these, "Brother" Batt was a kindly but exacting taskmaster, holding them to rigorous standards of honest and careful work. Many a successful graduate, looking back to his student years from the vantage ground of maturity, has testified that some of his most valued lessons were learned not in the classrooms and laboratories, but in halls and greenhouses at the hands of a man who held no degrees and knew no academic titles.

To Charles H. Batt, therefore, we pay the tribute of a revered and beloved colleague. Acknowledging him as one who exemplified the best for which this College stands, we join with you in mourning his passing, and in pride for the achievements of his long and fruitful life. To him we accord the Master's own accolade: "Well done, good and faithful servant."

Sincerely yours,
The College Faculty