The Chalmers Family – St. James the Less, Scarsdale Inquirer, Junior Wightman Cup, and APTA National Champion

The Reverend Alan Reid Chalmers was the rector of St. James the Less from 1920 – 1940 and was a keen tennis player and apparently the person to beat in singles. The July 8, 1922 edition of the Scarsdale Inquirer reported on the Men’s Singles and said the “the most noteworthy event… was the defeat of Rev. Alan R. Chalmers, who was on his way to being the club’s perpetual and universal champion.”

Born in Cambridge, MA, Chalmers was the son of an Episcopal minister who served the Church of the Holy Trinity in New York City for 27 years before his death. He was educated at St. Paul’s School, Garden city, LI and Princeton (1908). After a short business career he attended the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge MA and graduated in 1913. Upon graduation he married the former Ruth Nash, a Vassar graduate, and served as a missionary in Cody, WY before moving to Scarsdale in 1920.

Ruth Nash Chalmers started a long career as editor of the Scarsdale Inquirer in 1926 and retired in 1957. Her retirement was covered in a special edition of the Scarsdale Inquirer captioned The Scarsdale Chalmers

The Chalmers had four daughters and one, Ruth, remained a long-time member of the club. She was a graduate of Scarsdale High School and Smith College, and was a ranking junior tennis player and a member of the Junior Wightman Cup Squad. She also toured in England with the Camp Merestead field hockey team and later as manager of the U.S. women’s lacrosse association touring team to Great Britain and Ireland. In 1957, she and Richard Hebard of Scarsdale won the National Mixed Doubles Championship of the American Platform Tennis Association.