In the Dean of Students’ office, a portrait of Admiral of the Navy George Dewey now hangs above the school desk he studied at while he was a student at Lamoille Academy, which would later become Johnson State College.
“I just like the fact that we have the connection to the past,” said Assistant to the Dean of Students Barbara Flathers. “We found out that the painting was in the alumni archive,” Flathers added, and said it was a natural fit with the Admiral’s desk.
While attending Lamoille Academy as a young teen, Dewey studied in Chesamore Hall, which is still located on Main Street in Johnson. He graduated from Lamoille Academy in 1851, before going to the Norwich Military School and later to the U.S. Naval Academy.
Dewey served in the U.S. Navy during the Civil War and the Spanish-American War, where he won his greatest military victory during the Battle of Manila Bay, in the Philippines. During the battle, his squadron of ships destroyed or captured the entire Pacific Spanish fleet in six hours without losing a single American life.
“I think it is great,” said Dean of Students David Bergh, about wanting to put the painting of Admiral Dewey on the wall by his old school desk.
Based on a program on the back of the portrait of Admiral Dewey, the painting is believed to date back to at least the 1930’s. The program itself is dated Dec. 1, 1937 and it is about the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Admiral Dewey, who was born Dec. 26, 1837, in Montpelier, Vt.
The painting itself was not discovered recently. Its existence and location were already on file in the Archive Office in Martinetti Hall when it was moved to Bergh’s office. “We knew it was up there,” said Data and Communications Specialist Kelley Ford, who works in the Alumni Archive Office. The painting was originally located in the alumni archive on the third floor of the Willey Library and Learning Center.
The painting was placed on the wall above the admiral’s desk in the Dean of Students Office on Oct.3, after being professionally cleaned by a JSC MFA graduate, Chepe Cuadra.
For the moment, the portrait is without a frame.
JSC’s Dewey Hall has no connection to Admiral Dewey. It was named after John Dewey, who was a psychologist, philosopher, and educational reformer.
