From the archives of the Somerworth Free Press
Presented by John J. Ballentine, editor and publisher

'Eddy' Stillings Gave Generously From His $100
A week Earnings to Create UNH Scholarship Fund

Eddy Stillings, after news of his UNH gift was announced at a ceremony in his honor...

Of the Somersworth Free Press articles for 1960, it was clear no story caught popular interest more that year than did the account of 81-year-old Charles "Eddy" Stillings, a man who never in his life earned more than $100 a week, yet through frugal living and shrewd investment, pyramided his savings into a fortune estimated to be near a half million dollars.

That Free Press article related how the Myrtle Street resident, a Somersworth High School graduate of the Class of 1896, and an honors graduate of the University of New Hampshire, showed his appreciation to UNH by making a gift of nearly a quarter of a million dollars from his investments. He directed that the sum be used to open a scholarship fund for needy students and at the time it was the largest gift ever received from an alumnus. The announcement brought nation-wide attention to the donor and his home town.

Word of the remarkable gift first appeared in the Free Press as a news release from the University and it justified an 8-column headline: "Somersworth's Eddy Stillings Makes $228,000 Gift to UNH."

From that account, the news spread to a national audience. First off, the shy, self-effacing benefactor was sought for an interview by the New York Herald Tribune, and the resulting front page story included the explanation by Stillings for his success in transforming that $100 a week salary as a power company foreman into the quarter of a million dollar fortune:

"Whatever your income, save some portion of it, and do so on a regular basis. Buy common stock, blue chips are best" he said, and "don't sell them. Hang on to them." It was, of course, a lesson worthy of note and practice for years long after.

There were other audiences reached by the thrifty benefactor's story. Time magazine with its 2 1/2 million circulation, speculated Stillings' worth to be close to $500,000 at the time --something Stillings never denied.

Then there was an early morning TV interview on Dave Garroway's Today Show. His nine minute segment, with good natured banter between the two men, was capped by Garroway's classic understatement, "Does it appear to you that you're a good man to do this?" a reference to Stilling's readiness to give away the quarter of a million dollars to his university and beyond that to announce he intended to will the residual of his entire estate to the University.

Friends quoted in Free Press stories spoke of Stillings as a "local boy made good," and saw him as a "very bright young man, extremely studious, not too inclined to athletics and a person in demand as a ballroom dancer."

A contemporary of his day, Will Fullerton, in an effort to picture the spirit and frugality of the man, spoke of a trip made to Stillings' apartment in Stamford, Connecticut, describing it as a single room" with only the barest of necessities available." He went on, "the tiny drab apartment' was piled high with unopened Christmas gifts."

It was clearly not just his frugal living that explained the success leading to the sizable gift made to UNH. It was also an uncanny knack for making his meager earnings multiply. He put that insight to work as early in his life as World War I, at that time buying government Liberty Bonds and faithfully practicing what he advised: hanging on to the equities in which he had confidence even through the crippling depression years.

It was a practice that the University continued and has done so with such skill that today, 44 years later, yearly scholarships have been awarded using money taken from only the interest of the Stillings gift. With pride of accomplishment, university officials cite today's worth of the gift - which started with that quarter of a million dollars - to be now valued well over the million dollar mark.

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