Frank Townend, known simply as “Townie” by some of his friends, came to Phillips Academy from his hometown of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. He matriculated in 1925 and graduated in 1929. His lengthy scrapbook has an occasional empty page, and some pages have been detached from the spine of the book. In general, however, the scrapbook itself and the items inside remain intact and in good condition.

At Andover, Townend was a varsity track team member in his final two years at the school. A music enthusiast, he also joined the Glee Club, Mandolin Club, and the Choir. In addition, he was also on the board of the Phillipian and Pot Pourri during his tenure at Andover. In terms of his academics, Frank excelled in Latin, as seen by the numerous test scores above 90 percent he included. For the most part, however, his time at Andover and his scrapbook centered around his two biggest passions in life: athletics and the performing arts.

Although not gifted with the same athletic prowess as some of his peers, Townend was perhaps the biggest supporter of athletics on the entire campus. On multiple occasions, he displays his school authorized pass that allowed him to attend any athletic event on the school’s campus, something he more than took advantage of. At the very beginning of the scrapbook, an entire section is devoted to recording the rosters and every game score for pretty much all sports, a tradition he kept up for all for years of attendance. In this section, he records football, baseball, track, basketball, wrestling, tennis, golf, hockey, soccer and even fencing. He also included the game flyer for every single major Andover-Exeter event (football, track, baseball) in which he was in attendance, as well as ticket stubs and photographs of the immensely popular football rivalry game with Exeter. Working as an associate editor for the Phillipian, Frank often combined his hobbies with his commitments by adding articles about Andover athletic events to his collection.

Quite different from his love for sports, Townend also had a burning passion for the performing arts of music and theatre, which incorporated both his life on and off campus. On campus, his three musical requirements (Glee Club, Mandolin Club, Choir) would often perform at both school concerts for Andover students to enjoy as well as joint concerts with girls’ schools such as Bradford Academy. He usually kept the programs from those concerts to add to his scrapbook memorabilia. In the time in which he was off campus, Frank made his way to various theatrical performances, such as Broadway and Rosalie in Boston, and performances at the Criterion and Ziegfeld theaters in New York. Similar to the musical concerts, Townend kept the programs as well as ticket stubs from those spectacles.

After graduating Andover, Frank strayed away from choosing Harvard or Yale, the normal colleges for Andover students, and instead chose to attend Princeton, where he continued his love for sports by demonstrating his immense football knowledge and eventually graduated in 1933.

by Sam Green, class of 2019

Scrapbook Box 110