Member of St. Michael’s Society
In 1947 our father was the first minister of The Church of the Good Shepherd in Austin, TX. He knew he would be relocating during the next school year and was reluctant to move while I was a senior in high school. He was considering boarding schools when someone suggested South Kent School. During a phone conversation, Sam Bartlett told my father the school would accept me and my next brother, Doug, ’50, at a tuition my father could set. (I learned this much later, and it cemented my desire to help the school in any way I could.) Thus, I entered the 5th Form (not a common thing then) to repeat the 11th grade; but I only repeated one course in trigonometry. Later our third brother, Rog ’54, attended.
South Kent School played a huge part in my future, preparing me for any number of things – not the least of which was my fascination with the bow ties my roommate, Del Hitch, wore. Del gave me two of his oldest and tried to show me how to tie them. I finally learned after long, arm-tiring sessions before the mirror. I’ve worn them ever since, except for my seven years in the Navy. They’ve been a bit of a trademark.
I recall many new experiences and approaches to life from my time at South Kent School:
- Getting up early to help shovel snow. This was new to me as Texas had little, and I was too small to help when we lived in Arkansas and Virginia.
- Digging potatoes and collecting apples.
- Helping with farming and maintenance one summer.
- Taking the first 10 minutes of an exam to think, plan and organize before putting my pen to paper. (Thanks, Wuz – Lester Wittenberg!)
- As 6th Form truck driver, taking Bill, the cook, home most evenings, and getting the mail daily from the store/post office by the railroad tracks.
- While I am sure I had forgotten the three principles of the school – Simplicity of Life, Self-Reliance and Directness of Purpose – in looking back I feel my life has reflected these, though my wife suggests my parents already had planted these seeds. Either way, these principles undoubtedly guided me.
From South Kent I went to The College of Wooster, majoring in English History. And from there, I entered Cornell University Medical College (now called Weill Cornell Medical College) in New York City, following two uncles and an aunt who went there. I entered the US Navy after one year of residency, completed my surgical training at the Naval Hospital in Philadelphia, and spent three years at the Naval Hospital in Charleston, SC. My years in the Navy included overseas tours in the Mediterranean and four months with a surgical team on two ships in Vietnam.
I developed a solo surgical practice for 11 years in Mooresville, NC, relocated to Salisbury, NC, and, 12 years later, added a partner to start Salisbury Surgical Associates, PA. I retired from surgery in the summer of 1999.
I now enjoy my time around the house. I “make a lot of sawdust” in my garage shop and spend more time at church in the choir and with other activities. I’ve served two vestry terms at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Salisbury, and two terms as a trustee for Hood Theological Seminary, where I now am a trustee emeritus.
Long before I had heard about the St. Michael’s Society, I planned for my estate distribution to include educational institutions. My parents gave all four of their children educations, and I felt that, having done the same for my two, approximately 50% of the residual monies in my estate could be distributed to those institutions I/we felt had played – and still play – a role in my life. South Kent tops that list. The remaining monies will be distributed among my ‘other’ charities. This will occur after the second one of us dies. Hopefully, much still will be in tax-deferred IRA accounts and will be distributed directly and hence untaxed.
South Kent School is a great preparatory school. Its mission is very appropriate in today’s world. I am pleased and grateful to be able to continue to support it. I hope others will feel the same way.