CUMBERLAND EVENING TIMES, Cumberland, Md., Friday, December 6, 1985

Retired Educator Succumbs At 86

ACCIDENT - Benjamin Otis Aiken, 86, of RD 1, died Wednesday at Cumberland Memorial Hospital.

Born July 19, 1899 in Salem, N. C., he was a son of the late Rufus Judson Aiken and Nora Hester Aiken.

He was a retired educator in the Garrett County area. He had served as principal at the Accident School for 20 years and had taught at schools in North Carolina and in Montgomery County, Md., where he retired in 1962. He was graduated from Duke University in 1922 with a bachelors degree in education, and he received a masters degree in education after attending Columbia University, the University of Chicago and Northwestern University.

He was a veteran of World War I, a member of the Accident American Legion Post 208, the Accident Fire Department, the Friendsville Rotary Club, past president of the Garrett County Farm Bureau, past president of the Garrett County Historical Society and chairman of the Garrett County Bicentennial Commission in 1976.

He also was a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, having served one term in the mid-1960's, and he was instrumental in the formation of Garrett Community College at McHenry. He also was instrumental in establishment of the Garrett County Library System. He was a member of the Zion Lutheran Church in Accident.

At the time of his death, he was completing a book about his experiences in teaching.

Surviving are his widow, Hildegarde (Miller) Aiken; a son, William E. Aiken, Buckhannon, W. Va.; four daughters, Mrs. Barbara Sutton, Baltimore; Mrs. Margaret Byrne, Durwood; Mrs. Martha Best, Clarksville, and Mrs. Amelia Abrahams, Silver Spring; eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Friends will be received at the Newman Funeral Home here Friday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Services will be conducted Saturday at 2 p.m. in the Zion Lutheran Church by the Rev. Wilfred Karsten. Interment will be in the church cemetery.

The body will be taken to the church one hour prior to services.

The family requests memorials take the form of contributions to the Northern Garrett Rescue Squad, Accident Fire Department or to the scholarship fund at Garrett Community College.