ANDOVER (AP) — A 107-year-old man led a parade of alumni at Phillips Academy in Andover yesterday during his unprecedented 90-year class reunion.
C. Yardley Chittick of Concord, N.H., also received a pardon from the school for some ancient schoolboy hijinks.
Chittick grinned as he rode a golf cart with a 1918 banner to the campus chapel, past balloons, trailing media and head of school Barbara Chase, who greeted him along the way.
Chittick used a walker as he made his way inside the chapel for ceremonies, where Chase read a resolution from school trustees that paid tribute to his life and service to the school.
The resolution noted that a 1918 entry in Chittick's diary recorded that he'd sneaked off campus during a spring night with friends, including future actor Humphrey Bogart, to watch a fire in North Wilmington. The group didn't return until 3 a.m.
"Now therefore, be it resolved that the trustees of Phillips Academy do hereby cancel all punishments long overdue for that escapade," the resolution read.
Chittick received a standing ovation from the chapel crowd, and later said the attention was "a special honor" from "a special place."
"I didn't plan this at all," he said. "I feel lucky and I feel fortunate."
Family members say Chittick still makes his own breakfast and lunch and attends daily tea at 2:30 p.m. with a suit on.
Chittick attributes his longevity to "just some ordinary living. I never used alcohol or anything in excess. I like the ladies."
Chittick has taken part in alumni exercises at Andover for several years, said Michael Ebner, the school's director of alumni relations.
His longevity is "mind-blowing," not just to current students, but to alumni who've left school four and five decades ago, Ebner said. He said that Chittick's stories of life as a typical student, rushing to class and playing sports, remind people many things at Andover are unchanged.
"(His visit) is a living is embodiment of the history of the school," Ebner said. "It makes everyone see things change, and see they remain the same."
