CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – A 107-year-old New Hampshire man who once turned down a job offer from Thomas Edison will lead the reunion parade Saturday at the Massachusetts prep school he graduated from 90 years ago.

C. Yardley Chittick of Concord is the last surviving member of the class of 1918 at Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass.

“I’m honored a lot these days,” said Chittick, who is scheduled to be in a golf cart at the head of the annual alumni parade for the third year. “It’s only taken me this long to be recognized.”

A distant uncle sent Chittick, who grew up in New Jersey, to Andover to prepare him to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At Andover, Chittick got into a scuffle with fellow student and future actor Humphrey Bogart after he refused to polish Bogart’s shoes.

“Somehow or other I didn’t like him. He didn’t like me,” Chittick said. “I polished all the shoes on the floor, but I wouldn’t shine Bogie’s.”

After MIT, Chittick became a patent lawyer and at one point refused a job from Thomas Edison. He said Edison gave him a 150-question test before offering him the job.

Chittick took a job in the golf club industry instead because it sounded like more fun. A few years ago, he said he asked for a copy of the test from the Thomas Edison Museum and was shown the original with Edison’s handwriting in the margins.


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