THE PROMISE OF LOST COVE n 72 HOURS ON THE MOUNTAIN n SEWANEE CELEBRATES 150 SPRING 2008 SewaneePUBLISHED FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH G Higher round Contemplative teaching takes flight. In this issue Cultivating Wonder A unique set of teaching methods that helps students bring a departments different kind of focus to their work is taking flight at Sewanee. PAGE 14 Vice Chancellor’s Corner 4 Viewpoints 5 Finding Lost Cove The University’s historic purchase of 3,000 acres preserves a On the Mountain 6 priceless resource for current and future generations of faculty and students. PAGE 20 The Sewanee Call 34 History 39 72 Hours on the Mountain Photographer Scott Suchman spends three days in Sports 41 Sewanee to capture a vibrant cross-section of student life today. PAGE 28 Alumni News 43 Class Notes 46 On the cover: Illustration by David Cutler. In Memoriam 56 Above: Photo by Woodrow Blettel. Afterword 62 Editor Buck Butler, C’89 Magazine Advisory Council Send address changes to: where preference is given to individuals of the Associate Editor Pamela Byerly Alumni Members: Julian Bibb, C’97; Jack Hitt, Office of University Relations Episcopal faith and except for those employment Graphic Designer Susan Blettel C’79; Paige Parvin, C’93; Margaret Rixham, 735 University Avenue, Sewanee, TN 37383-1000 positions where religious affiliation is a necessary Assistant Editors Margaret McCall, C’08; Rachael C’87, Associated Alumni Vice President for Phone: 800.367.1179 qualification). The University of the South Snow, C’08; Catherine Ann Whelchel, C’10 Communications; John Sullivan, C’97; Jennie E-mail: [email protected] complies with the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Title IX Photographers Woodrow Blettel, Lyn Hutchinson, Goodrum Turrell, C’93 of the Educational Amendments of 1972, the Paul O’Mara, Scott Suchman, Charley Watkins, T’90 I.R.S. Anti-Bias Regulation, Section 504 of the Faculty/Staff Members: Virginia Ottley Craighill, The University of the South does not discriminate Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Americans Sewanee is published quarterly by the University C’82, Visiting Assistant Professor of English; Jett M. in employment, the admission of students, or with Disabilities Act. The Provost of the University of the South, including the College of Arts and Fisher, C’79, Executive Director of the Associated in the administration of any of its educational of the South, Dr. Linda Bright Lankewicz, 735 Sciences and the School of Theology, and is dis- Alumni; Karen Kuers, Professor of Forestry and policies, programs, or activities on the basis of University Avenue, Sewanee TN, 37383-1000, tributed without charge to alumni, parents, faculty, Geology; Christopher McDonough, Associate race, color, national or ethnic origin, sex, sexual 931-598-1000, is the person responsible for students, staff and friends of the University. Professor of Classical Languages; Gayle McKeen, orientation, age, disability, veteran/reserve/ coordinating the University’s effort to comply with © Copyright 2008, Sewanee. All rights reserved. Associate Professor of Political Science; Robert national guard status, or religion (except in the these laws. W. Pearigen, C’76, Vice President for University School of Theology’s Master of Divinity program, Relations. viceVICE CHANCELLOR’Schancellor’s CORNER corner Dear Sewanee Alumni and Friends, I have been in awe of Wendell Berry for a long time. He was already a revered writer and poet when I showed up in 1969 to become a very junior mathematics faculty member at the University of Kentucky, where he was a highly regarded Professor of English. I had been moved by his work, and it was a red letter day for me when he spoke in a College of Arts and Sciences faculty meeting, arguing for traditional values in the curriculum with compelling thoughtfulness and endearing self-deprecating humor. In the years since, his work has come to mean even more to me, and it was a special joy to welcome him back to the Mountain for the Jan. 22 convocation that marked the opening of the Easter Semester in this sesquicentennial year for the University of the South. That was a high day for Sewanee. Tennessee Gov. Philip Bredesen joined Mr. Berry in speaking, commemo- rating both the 150th anniversary of the granting of the University’s charter by the Tennessee General Assembly and the addition of the 3,000-acre Lost Cove tract to our fabled 10,000-acre Domain under a Land Trust for Tennessee conservation easement. As reported in the article that begins on page 20, this wonderful addition was made possible through generous gifts and grants from many sources, the largest coming from the State of Tennessee’s Heritage Conservation Trust Fund that Gov. Bredesen led in creating. Mr. Berry and the governor were joined in receiving honorary degrees by famed writer Ann Patchett and Sewanee’s own leading educator and generous benefactor, William Laurie, C’52. Being Sewanee’s vice chancellor carries many rewards such as that happy Jan. 22 convocation, but it also entails deep sadness. All of us who have had the privilege of serving Sewanee in this way have been blessed by warm friendships with generous alumni and friends of the University. We have enjoyed many meals with them, been adopted as family members, and swapped stories for hours at a time. They have become dear to us, and us to them, and we have been saddened and lessened by their deaths. In the last few months, the losses of three outstanding Sewanee supporters have been especially hard for 13th Vice Chancellor Bob Ayres, 14th Vice Chancellor Sam Williamson, and me. Lou Hermes, C’57, died in San Francisco on Nov. 19. Bill Weaver, C’64, died in Nashville on Dec. 10. And Pete McGriff, C’41, died in Birmingham on Feb. 16. Sewanee has been blessed by wonderfully generous gifts from these men and in their honor, but the deep sense of loss that followed the sad news of their deaths came even more from our memories of their generous friendship, their gracious hospitality, and the warm encouragement they gave every time we were with them. As I sat in the overflowing congregation at Pete McGriff’s memorial service in St. Mary’s-on-the-Highlands Church, I pulled from the back of my pocket calendar a well-worn copy of a poem by Wendell Berry that I have turned to again and again on such sad days over many years. It comforts and reminds me that the loss of dear friends is a part of a much larger and better whole. Here’s that poem: Within the circles of our lives each giving into each, into all. we dance the circles of the years, Only music keeps us here, the circles of the seasons within the circles of the years, each by all the others held. the cycles of the moon In the hold of hands and eyes within the circles of the seasons, we turn in pairs, that joining the circles of our reasons joining each to all again. within the cycles of the moon. And then we turn aside, alone, Again, again we come and go, out of the sunlight gone changed, changing. Hands join, unjoin in love and fear, into the darker circles of return. grief and joy. The circles turn, I am grateful to Wendell Berry for those words, and to Lou Hermes and Bill Weaver and Pete McGriff and the many others whose gifts of friendship and generosity have blessed Sewanee and her vice chancellors over the last 150 years. “Song (4)” was originally collected in The Wheel (1982) and was reprinted in Wendell Berry’s Collected Poems 1957-1982 (Northpoint Press). Copyright 1982, 1984 by Wendell Berry. Reprinted by permission of the author. 4 • SEWANEE MAGAZINE • Spring 2008 viewpointsVIEWPOINTS editor’s note t only took 118 years to get central air conditioning to the FROM OUR READERS third floor of Fulford Hall, and when it was finally installed recently, a window unit was removed from my office. I arrived I recently returned from a for work the next morning to be greeted by a brand-new view Christmas trip to London. outI the previously obstructed window: the south side of Rebel’s On my way to see some Rest, perfectly framed. In a year when the history of the University friends in the country, I is in sharp focus for everyone on the Mountain, Major George passed through Oxford, Fairbanks’ elegantly rustic log home is, for me, a daily reminder and had a pint at The Bear of both how far we’ve come in 150 years and how strongly we’re (a 13th-century hostelry connected to our past. still popular with under- Rebel’s Rest was built by Fairbanks in 1866, just after the end graduates, as it has been for of the Civil War, a time when the grand original plans for the generations). The Bear is University were being scaled back to recognize the financial reali- known for its collection of ties of a new day in the South. Compared to the imposing Gothic neckties from regiments, academic building that was to be the centerpiece of the University batallions, colleges, and — a plan that was scrapped after the war — Rebel’s Rest is a mod- clubs from all over the world. The place had to stop taking ties at est reminder of the beauty to be found in simplicity, the grace in some point in the ’70s. Originally, the ties were merely pinned to humility. It’s also a testament to the steadfast resolve of Sewanee’s the walls and ceiling. They are still affixed to the walls and ceilings, founders and those who refused to let the idea of the University but now they are under glass.