Arthur “Whitey” Whitehead was our oldest OH at 97. He died in Quincy, Massachusetts July 26, 2001. He worked at Pinkham from 1922-1927, the same year Joe Dodge arrived and was Joe’s partner during the early part of his career. In the fall of 1926, he and Joe rescued the cook from the Glen House, Max Engelhart, who barely survived a snow storm on Mount Washington. The details of their life-saving saga became a chapter in Nick Howe’s book Not Without Peril.

Arthur was the originator of the Resuscitator which was posted at the Trading Post at Pinkham which answered the most often asked questions such as the distance to the summit of Mount Washington, elevation at Pinkham, number of porcupine noses collected for bounties and other interesting local statistics. His son Don said his father’s years in the mountains influenced his life and led to Don’s own career in ecology. Arthur worked as an engineer at Pneumatic Corporation in Quincy.

Don Whitehead sent this picture of his father Arthur standing next to Joe Dodge on the front porch of the Ravine House in October 1926 just a few days after their rescue of Max Englehart.

Leave a Comment