Class of 1887

Willard Geoffrey Lake was born to Alvin and Amelia Haight Lake in Moravia, New York on November 26, 1863. He prepared for college at the Pennington Seminary in New Jersey and entered Dickinson with the class of 1887 in the fall of 1883. Known as "Ted" to his classmates, the 5' 7" New Yorker became a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. He is perhaps far more known for his contribution to Dickinson sports. He was captain of baseball on several very successful teams and was such a driving power behind the organization of a successful football team at the College that he was know for long after as "the father of Dickinson Football." He captained the 1885 and 1886 football teams from the quarterback position during these first two years of organized intercollegiate competition that began with the inaugural game in December, 1885 against Swarthmore in Carlisle. With the help of Professor Fletcher Durell, he did much of the coaching, as well.

Zatae Longsdorff was born on April 16, 1866, the second of six children of William Henry and Lydia R. Haverstick Longsdorff of Centerville, Pennsylvania, a few miles southwest of Carlisle. William Henry, a physician, was a Dickinson graduate of the class of 1856. Zatae’s brother, Harold, graduated from the College in 1879. Zatae continued the family tradition by graduating with the class of 1887, becoming the first female graduate of the College. She obtained a master's degree in cursu from Dickinson in 1890. Sisters Hildegarde (class of 1888), Jessica (class of 1891), and Persis (class of 1894) all attended Dickinson in turn.

After graduation, Zatae pursued medical instruction at Women’s Medical College in Philadelphia, earning her degree in 1890. She served a year as an intern at the New England Hospital for Women and Children, and then relocated to Fort Hall Reservation near Blackfoot, Idaho where she became the resident physician for a short time.

A. Gale Straw and Zatae Longsdorf were married November 12, 1891, shortly after Zatae returned to the East. The couple had four children, and Zatae later resumed her medical practice at Elliot Hospital in Manchester, New Hampshire. A. Gale Straw died in 1926 after a long illness following his surgical service in the First World War.

John F. Mohler was born on a farm near Boiling Springs, Pennsylvania on October 30, 1864, one five children of Samuel and Elizabeth Williams Mohler. He was educated at the local common schools where he also assisted with teaching in order to help fund his higher education. He entered Dickinson College in nearby Carlisle in December 1883 and graduated with the class of 1887 as its valedictorian. While at the College he became one of the first students elected to the new chapter of Phi Beta Kappa and was active in the Belle Lettres Society.

Following his graduation, Mohler taught mathematics and science for three years at the Wilmington Conference Academy in Dover, Delaware, then, from 1890 to 1894, at the Wesleyan Academy in Wilbraham, Massachusetts. He then broke from his career to enroll in a Ph.D. program at Johns Hopkins University, serving also as an assistant in astronomy and a fellow in physics. With his doctorate secured, Mohler returned to Dickinson College in 1896 as professor of physics. There he remained for the rest of his career becoming a respected author in the sciences and a remarkably admired teacher. The Dickinson Scientific Club, founded in 1867, was renamed the Mohler Society in his honor at his retirement and freshmen prizes in physics carry his name to this day.