Edwin Forrest Hann (1876-1970)

Edwin Forrest Hann was born on December 5, 1876 in Fairton, New Jersey, the son of John S. and Edith R. Hann. He prepared for college at the Pennington Seminary in New Jersey and originally entered Wesleyan University. By 1898 he was a member of the Dickinson class of 1901 and an active student in class and out. He was a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity, a valuable member of the Union Philosophical Society, serving as clerk of the society, and four year member of the campus YMCA. He graduated in 1901 with the Latin Scientific Section.

His sporting career at the College was outstanding. He was a three year letterman in football, captaining the 1899 team from his quarterback position. Fraternity feuding made for a difficult season that year but Hann was an able leader, running a kick-off back 90 yards in a 51-0 rout of Franklin and Marshall. Hann also played varsity baseball.

Following graduation Hann entered the Methodist Episcopal ministry, beginning with posts at West York Street Church in Philadelphia 1901 and at Fern Rock, Philadelphia beginning in 1902. He was married on April 29, 1903 to Elsie Thorne Driesbach of Oak Lane, Philadelphia. They had two children, both of whom later graduated from Dickinson, Elizabeth Hann Kirby in 1925 and Edwin Forrest Hann, Jr. in 1931. Their father moved from the Philadelphia Conference to the New Jersey Conference in 1917 and took up the pastorate at First Methodist of Trenton. The remainder of his sixty years of service as a minister, he served a variety of congregations in New Jersey. He was also active on the College Alumni Council and served as secretary of the board of trustees of the Pennington School for many years. On April 6, 1970, Edwin Forrest Hann, after a prolonged illness, died at his home in Ocean Grove, New Jersey. He was ninety-three years old.