David Eccles, Member of the Board of Directors of the Weber Academy It is with deepest feeling of sorrow that we see our dearest friends depart. As a school we most keenly feel the loss of one of our most progressive and influential board members, Brother David Eccles. For many years we have appreciated the interest Brother Eccles has taken in us as a member of the board and as the father of our classmates, but it was not until we lost him that we knew his full value. We also looked upon him as the David Eccles of today, the industrial magnate of the great northwest, instead of inquiring into his past life and profiting by the most beneficial lessons he has taught. From humble poverty to immense wealth, honestly gained, is the story of his life. David Eccles was born at Paisley, Scotland, May 12, 1849. He was the second son of a large family. His father was a wood-turner by trade, but, being blind, he had to depend upon David to attend to the greater part of his small business. Brother Eccles, Sr., became interested in the teachings of the "Mormon" church and left his home in Scotland and came with his family to Utah. The Eccles family landed ACORN 9 in America during the darkest part of the Civil War and were forced to travel, as far as the railroads extended, in cattle cars. Although they were but poorly provided with money and the necessaries of life and their journey westward across the plains was a most trying one, they arrived at Ogden in October, 1863. Upon reaching their new home, Brother Eccles took up his work of wood-turning in an endeavor to obtain a living. David and his older brother would go into the mountains and gather the wood which the father fashioned into potato mashers, rolling pins, spoons and other useful articles. As they had no horses nor oxen, the boys, in delivering the articles, carried them on their backs or pulled them on sleds in winter. By practice of extreme frugality on the part of the family, they were able to purchase a team of oxen, but during- the following winter their cattle died leaving them as poor as ever. Soon after this, David left Utah and went to Oregon, where he spent two years working at the lumper camps. While there his active mind was busy and he saw the advantages that lay in the timber belt of Idaho and Oregon. He returned from Oregon and went to work at a local mill, in which he soon bought a small interest. This marks the beginning of his life as a lumber manufacturer. The investment proved successful and he bought shares of other mills. He began organizing lumber companies until Utah became too small a field for his enterprise and he pushed out into the remembered forests of Oregon. Here he established one mill after another until the Eccles mills were very numerous. Brother Eccles did not confine his mind and great ability to the development of the lumber industry, but he saw the advantages offered in the west for the production of sugar beets as well as lumber, and accordingly he built sugar mills and caused millions of dollars to flow to the farmers for their beet crops. Much as the master mind of Brother Eccles will be missed in the industrial realm of the west, we feel that it will not outweigh our own loss. He has been in sympathy with the Weber Academy ever since its beginning and has aided in its progress and growth materially as well as morally. Most of his children who have lived in Ogden have attended the school and they have shown many of the remarkable traits that characterized their noble father. Whenever a change or improvement was necessary to the institution. Brother Eccles' constructive mind was ready to help arrange the plans and he was ready with a liberal sum of money to aid in carrying them out. He was very desirous that a modern gymnasium should be added to our present equipment and it was his intention to carry the larger end in the construction of the building. When we stop to consider what he has done and what he contemplated doing for us, it is not strange that we bow our heads and share in the grief that has befallen his friends and loved ones.