Arnold Waters, Lower Waterford Resident: Diamond Mines and Community Service

Arnold Waters, 1906-1985, photo from the 1985 Town Report, courtesy of Helen C. Pike

It's easy to look at the white houses and green shutters of Lower Waterford's "White Village" and think that the residents will all fit together, New Englanders of some generation and maybe even "kissing cousins."

But the reality of the White Village,  even from its days as an important stagecoach stop, is far different. One of the residents who left wonderful stories behind of his adventurous life was Arnold Waters, with his wife Betty and, later, subsequent wife Beth.

Long-time local resident and attorney Kate Piper wrote this about the couple, back in 2007:

Arnold E. Waters, Jr., graduated with a PhD in geology in 1933 from Johns Hopkins University. After graduation he joined the Anglo American group, a diamond mining company. He spent his career exploring parts of South Africa, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), Indonesia, and Canada. After he retired in 1972, he and his wife, Betty, moved to the village of Lower Waterford where they purchased the house next to the Rabbit Hill Inn. Arnold was a beloved and active member of the community. He served as president of the board of the Fairbanks Museum and was later named a museum fellow. Arnold chaired the Waterford Planning Commission and served the Lower Waterford Congregational Church in many capacities. He was an avid gardener and prize-winning beekeeper who generously shared his knowledge and skills as well as his honey and produce. Betty (Elizabeth S.) Waters died in March 1977. In June 1983, Arnold married their close family friend from South Africa, Elizabeth (Beth) Hicks. When Arnold died on August 15, 1985, one of Waterford’s selectmen, lamenting his passing, described Arnold perfectly as “the cement that holds this community together.” 

Diamond mining?? Yes, indeed! The obituary written by David Lang for the Caledonian-Record said even more:

Thanks again to Helen C. Pike for this.

 

Years in the White Village meant that there are many other memories of Mr. Waters. Here is a reflection from Donna Rae Heath:

I first met Arnold Waters at Green Up Day at the Waterford Elementary School. I was assigned to the last remaining volunteer with a vehicle. That is how I picked up trash on a Saturday with a lanky retired geologist, both of us picking up highway garbage in his Mercedes Benz in the mid-1970s. I learned that he was still active as a geologist and a volunteer in the Waterford community. I was a farm girl recently graduated from Johnson State College after having to work thirteen years in low paying typist jobs before being able to afford college.

Later, I had been hired by the Essex County Conservation District through a one-year funded position to work on a USDA soil erosion project and administrative work for the district. Arnold was asked to be a speaker at the meeting of the district in Guildhall and offered to let me ride with him. When he picked me up in the Mercedes Benz, he opened the door for me.

When the I-93 highway construction was at the end of the planning stage and close to construction, I read some of the State’s paperwork and discovered in the Environmental Impact Statement that the access to my road, now called Walsh Rd., and the Hudson Rd. that enters Rt.18 by Stiles Pond was not to be saved. I discussed this with one of my former teachers from Johnson State College, and he gave me suggestions on what information to obtain to enter an appeal to the State. I obtained the accident rates for two other roads accessing my area versus
the intersection of Hudson Rd and Rt.18, the number of new houses built in the area, and the time for the St. Johnsbury Fire Department to arrive to my area. The access from Hudson Rd., to Rt. 18 was the safest. On my birthday evening in January, I walked the neighborhood and collected signatures to support the appeal. Only one neighbor refused.

I submitted the appeal with my research to the Vermont Transportation Agency and cc’d Arnold Waters as he was on the planning commission. Arnold called me and said the Transportation Agency had called him asking for information. Arnold promised to visit the Transportation Agency. He obtained a commitment from them to not close our access to Rt. 18 from Hudson Road, and we now have overpasses, and the road remains open.

Arnold had a face, somewhat reddish and windblown, like someone who was outdoors all the time. He was a man in his seventies, always running with a project or a job to do. My brother, Raymond, had a construction company, and Arnold had hired his crew to work on a new well for him. I remember my brother telling me how impressed he was when Arnold offered to collect tools or supplies from his house or garage. He ran down from the well site to the house and back again with whatever they needed.

Arnold Waters was a gentleman, always committed to his community, and never afraid to speak up even though he had a stutter or lisp, but always forceful in his beliefs. I try to follow Arnold’s rules, except speaking up, that’s still a little shaky.

Donna Rae Heath

Another time when memories of Mr. Waters came up was when the Waterford Historical Society hosted a "reunion" of people who owned, worked at, and for other reasons had vivid memories of the Rabbit Hill Inn, next door to the house where Arnold resided. Watch an engaging and often light-hearted video of this gathering, recorded by Donna Heath for the WHS, here.

And if you'd like to read something about Arnold Waters and the diamonds, check out The Geochemical News from January 2000 -- here's a good bit:

There are also mentions of the important role of Mr. Waters in the South African diamond mines in a 2018 conference report describing the Jwaneng diamond mine in the hands of De Beers -- Mr. Waters is decribed as consulting geologist for the famous diamond company, productively testing a theory on where to mine the gems.  

A memoir by Tom Molyneux also mentions Arnold Waters:

After a thirty-six hour journey by train across The Karoo I arrived in Johannesburg and went to the Anglo American offices at 44 and 45 Main Street. It was a Friday and I met Dr. Arnold Waters who was the Chief Geologist and a long term member of the famous Northern Rhodesian geological team of The Late Dr. Austin Bancroft. That team had been based in The Northern Rhodesian (Zambian) Copperbelt in the 1930s and they had great success in exploring for, and bringing huge copper mines to the production stage. This team was also legendary for its hard work, self-reliance, dedication and Spartan approach to field work.

After all that adventure, the most tangible sign that Arnold Waters ended up belonging to Lower Waterford is that when the village church was decommissioned a few years ago, historian and author Helen C. Pike already knew which pew had always been where Mr. Waters sat, along with his wife and their friends the Hird family -- number 12 -- and she made sure it was saved as a treasure of White Village history.