Whitney Ashbridge as a boy at the Ranch Schoool. Courtesy/Los Alamos Historical Society Photo Archives

By SHARON SNYDER
Los Alamos

Several Los Alamos Ranch School boys have returned to the site of their school in their adult years, bringing back the memories. One such boy returned in his adult years, but he had very little time to reminisce during the months he spent on the grounds of his old school. That returning Ranch School boy was Col. Whitney Ashbridge, the Post Commander for the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos.

Ashbridge was born in 1904 in Philadelphia, Penn. He attended the Los Alamos Ranch School in its first years, 1918-1919. From there he studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, graduating in the Class of 1926.

In World War II, Ashbridge held the rank of colonel and was one of three post commanders for the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos. He served from April 1943 to autumn 1944 when he had a mild heart attack. He retired from the military in 1947.

Whitney Ashbridge as an adult. Courtesy/Los Alamos Historical Society Photo Archives

Ashbridge had married Mary Gurney Naile of Belen, NM, before World War II began. After the war, Ashbridge and his wife and their three children lived in Chevy Chase, MD, where he was a member of several patriotic societies, Army and Navy Club, Sons of the Revolution, the War of 1812, and the Founders and Patriots of America.

In retirement, the couple moved back to Belen, NM. In 1980, while visiting a son in New York, Ashbridge died of a heart attack. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, a fitting honor.