On March 15, WILLIAM HOWARD COURTENAY, for many years chief engineer for the Company, died at his home in Louisville, Kentucky, following a week's illness of pneumonia.

Born in Louisville, July 30, 1858, Mr. COURTENAY was a son of the late ROBERT GRAHAM COURTENAY and ANNIE CHRISTINE HOWARD COURTENAY. He was educated in the Louisville schools and graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1879. He immediately sought employment with the L & N Railroad as offering the best field for his talents, for it was during the contraction period of American railroads when most the heavy problems were encountered. Starting as a rodman he became assistant engineer in 1891, and in 1905 he reached the post of chief engineer.

In the first few years of his career with the Company, he was assistant engineer on the project of building a railroad bridge over the Ohio River at Henderson, Kentucky. He saw the work to a conclusion and it was an unique experience when he was privileged to drive the last rivet in the structure, which replaced the original one, on January 1, 1934. More or less preoccupied with bridge engineering during his last days as chief engineer, he participated actively in the building of Rigolets and Chef Menteur bridges on the N. On. & M. Division a few years ago, and these stand today as monuments to his skill.

Of patrician lineage, he was a member of the Baronial Order of Runnymede and a lineal descendant of a COURTNEY of Devon, who participated with other British nobles in the Conference of Runnymede in the year 1215, when King John was forced to pen his signature to the Magna Carta.

Mr. COURTENAY was made an honorary life member of the Engineers and Architects' Club of Louisville. Besides that he was a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Railway Engineering Association, and the Pendennis and Conversation Clubs, of Louisville.

His wife, ISABEL STEPHENSON CLARK COURTENAY, and two sons, ERSKINE HOWARD COURTENAY and JAMES CLARK COURTNEY, survive him.

Funeral services were conducted from the residence in Louisville on March 17. Interment was in Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville, Kentucky

Source: THE L & N Employes' Magazine, April 1934, Page 10