Albert Metzger Witwer (1876-1950)

Albert Witwer, or "Wit", was born in Lancaster County on March 3, 1876. He attended the Dickinson Preparatory School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania and then the College proper. He received his B.A. in 1900 and his M.A. in 1905 from Dickinson. While at Dickinson, Witwer was a member of Sigma Chi, Belles Lettres Literary Society, and the track team. He was the manager in chief of the Dickinsonian, manager of the Microcosm, and a winner of the Pierson Prize Junior Oratorical Contest.

Upon graduation, Witwer became a member of the Philadelphia Conference of the Methodist Church, serving as pastor in a variety of parishes, including the Wharton Street Memorial Methodist Church in Philadelphia. He served as the superintendent of the North District of the Conference for six years. In 1932, Dickinson awarded him an honorary doctorate of divinity.

He served the American Expeditionary Forces in France as an administrator with the Y.M.C.A. in the First World War and after worked and studied in Grenoble. He married Emma Gorsuch in December 1900 and they had three sons, two of whom, Albert and Charles, attended Dickinson. His third son, Russell, pursued a naval career. Albert Witwer died on February 28th, 1950 at the age of 74.