ROBERT M. FARRAR, LT, USN

Robert Farrar '15

Date of birth: September 22, 1894

Date of death: March 7, 1923

Age: 28

Lucky Bag

From the 1915 Lucky Bag:

Robert Morse Farrar

Wahpeton, North Dakota

"Geraldine" Runt" "Shrimp" "Cutie"

"WHO is that funny-faced little man?" asks the O.C. "That's Mr. Farrar," is the reply; but had it been anybody but the O. C. who wanted to know, he would have been told that the object of his curiosity was "The Runt," or "The Shrimp," or "Geraldine"—the last being the designation bestowed upon him by "Buck." For four years the Runt has been the object of constant running on account of his size, or lack of it, but he is a pretty good man for all o' that. Rough-housing with "Schuele" is his greatest pleasure and it has kept him in good condition.

Fairly savvy, but his little bed and the "Cosmo" have cost him many numbers, though he has never had to worry over the necessary 2.5. He is the happy medium between fusser and Red Mike, inclined to the former path but hates to write a letter to ask the fair one down. When he does drag, it is always a queen, worth at least a 3.7.

His ability in handling a racing shell was demonstrated Plebe year when he coxswained the class crew to victory in every race. Since then he has stuck to the crew squad and this year he has the first boat. Second Class year the Runt showed hitherto undreamed of qualities by appearing before the assembled multitude as a clown in the gymkhana. Skeeter and Hoif were the only other clowns there that had anything over him.

We know that Geraldine will make good, and those of us who are to be shipmates with him in the Big Fleet are indeed fortunate.

Here's to one of the best of them all!—drink to the Runt!

Crew Numerals.

Robert Morse Farrar

Wahpeton, North Dakota

"Geraldine" Runt" "Shrimp" "Cutie"

"WHO is that funny-faced little man?" asks the O.C. "That's Mr. Farrar," is the reply; but had it been anybody but the O. C. who wanted to know, he would have been told that the object of his curiosity was "The Runt," or "The Shrimp," or "Geraldine"—the last being the designation bestowed upon him by "Buck." For four years the Runt has been the object of constant running on account of his size, or lack of it, but he is a pretty good man for all o' that. Rough-housing with "Schuele" is his greatest pleasure and it has kept him in good condition.

Fairly savvy, but his little bed and the "Cosmo" have cost him many numbers, though he has never had to worry over the necessary 2.5. He is the happy medium between fusser and Red Mike, inclined to the former path but hates to write a letter to ask the fair one down. When he does drag, it is always a queen, worth at least a 3.7.

His ability in handling a racing shell was demonstrated Plebe year when he coxswained the class crew to victory in every race. Since then he has stuck to the crew squad and this year he has the first boat. Second Class year the Runt showed hitherto undreamed of qualities by appearing before the assembled multitude as a clown in the gymkhana. Skeeter and Hoif were the only other clowns there that had anything over him.

We know that Geraldine will make good, and those of us who are to be shipmates with him in the Big Fleet are indeed fortunate.

Here's to one of the best of them all!—drink to the Runt!

Crew Numerals.

Loss

Robert was lost on March 7, 1923 when the seaplane he was piloting crashed near Gibbstown, New Jersey.

Other Information

From Find A Grave:

Lieutenant R. M. Farrar, USN, was designated Naval Aviator #2724 in 1920. Graduated U.S. Naval Academy, Class of 1915.
Lieutenant Farrar and his mechanic Stephen F. Sullivan, both based at NAS Anacostia, Wash. DC, drowned when the seaplane piloted by Farrar crashed in the Delaware River near Gibbstown, NJ. -- approx. seven miles south of the Philadelphia Navy Yard, from where they had taken off to return to Anacostia.
LT Farrar was married to the former Miss Edna Beatrice Jane Brown. Mrs. Edna Farrar would later marry U.S. Army LT Frederick L. Hamilton.

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Robert came to Washington, D. C., to join his family in 1906. He was a member of the First Presbyterian Church. In June, 1909, Robert was promoted from the Dennis School to the McKinley Manual Training school in Washington, D. C.
In July 1915, his sister Louise married Henry Poynter Burnett (’15.) Henry was best man at Robert’s marriage to Edna Brown on February 14, 1919, at her parents’ home.
In early January 1919 Robert returned from France. He was then stationed at Charleston, South Carolina.
Robert died on his father’s birthday. He was to join them for a family dinner that evening.
In 1908, his father Robert Wallace Farrar was private secretary to Senator McCumber of North Dakota. In January, 1922, he was appointed clerk of the committee on finance in the U. S. Senate. Robert’s mother was Louise, and his brother was Murvale (’23.)

He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Other Service

Robert was commanding officer of USS Monaghan (Destroyer No. 32) for a few months in 1919.

Photographs

From the 1915 Lucky Bag

Navy Directories & Officer Registers

The "Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps" was published annually from 1815 through at least the 1970s; it provided rank, command or station, and occasionally billet until the beginning of World War II when command/station was no longer included. Scanned copies were reviewed and data entered from the mid-1840s through 1922, when more-frequent Navy Directories were available.

The Navy Directory was a publication that provided information on the command, billet, and rank of every active and retired naval officer. Single editions have been found online from January 1915 and March 1918, and then from three to six editions per year from 1923 through 1940; the final edition is from April 1941.

The entries in both series of documents are sometimes cryptic and confusing. They are often inconsistent, even within an edition, with the name of commands; this is especially true for aviation squadrons in the 1920s and early 1930s.

Alumni listed at the same command may or may not have had significant interactions; they could have shared a stateroom or workspace, stood many hours of watch together… or, especially at the larger commands, they might not have known each other at all. The information provides the opportunity to draw connections that are otherwise invisible, though, and gives a fuller view of the professional experiences of these alumni in Memorial Hall.