Harold Bettger, BA'36, one of Western’s oldest alumni, died Nov. 20 at the age of 99.
As one of only five alumni to receive Western’s 75-year pin, Bettger fondly recalled his time at the university in the early 1930s, where excelled in the classroom, spent time making his own test tubes, played for the soccer team and got rides to downtown from then university president Sherwood Fox.
While at Western, Bettger played a role in the formation of the first-ever Kappa Tau Sigma fraternity, a society for honours science and mathematic students, in 1933. While the campus may have seemed more like a golf course than a university at the time, Bettger was eager to tackle all the courses he could handle, being one of only 11 to graduate with honours mathematics and physics degree in 1936.
After leaving school, Bettger’s diversified career path included navigational instructor at Sky Harbour during the Second World War, co-founder of HERCO Sales Company, and a highly respected and well liked mathematics teacher at Goderich District Collegiate Institute.
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