Perkins Bass dies at age 99
As published on page one of the Oct. 26 edition of The Keene Sentinel, and online.
PETERBOROUGH -- A prominent politician, decorated World War II veteran and the town's oldest resident has died.
Perkins Bass, 99, died peacefully Tuesday a little before 10 p.m., according to his family.
Bass was a dedicated public servant who was also successful in business and a private law practice.
"He really thought his contribution was to be deliberative and to solve problems, not only for his friends and family but for his country and his community," his son Congressman Charles F. Bass recalled this morning, adding later, "I think his greatest contribution was his love of other people and his willingness to be attentive to other people's contributions and concerns."
Bass received Peterborough's Boston Post Cane, given to the town's oldest resident, in September, a month before his 99th birthday.
He was born East Walpole, Mass., in 1912, son of then-New Hampshire Gov. Robert P. Bass and Edith Bird Bass.
He attended school in Concord and Peterborough and graduated from Dartmouth College in 1934 and Harvard Law School in 1938.
From 1942 to 1945 Bass served as a major in the U.S. Army Air Forces in China, and received a U.S. Bronze Star as well as a decoration from the Nationalist Government of China for his service.
Bass was an active member of the Republican Party who served four terms as a N.H. state representative and was president of the state Senate from 1949 to 1951.
From 1954 to 1963 he represented New Hampshire's 2nd district in the U.S. House of Representatives.
He was a strong advocate of bipartisanship, according to Charles Bass, who today holds the congressional seat formerly occupied by his father.
"He taught me the value of tolerance and the value of public service and the fulfilling nature of it," Charles Bass said. "In spite of the unattractive aspects of public service that I see every day, there is a greater cause here, and he taught me that."
After a failed bid for the U.S. Senate in 1962, Bass stepped down from national politics and his life took on a quieter pace. He practiced law from a two-room office in Peterborough's historical society building on Grove Street, and in the 1970s he served one term as a Peterborough selectman.
Bass had five children, Alexander, Katherine, William J., Charles F., and Roberta, with his first wife, Katherine Jackson Bass, who passed away.
He later remarried, to Rosaly S. Riley.
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