Spring 2014 AAUS Newsletter

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY SCHOOL SPRING 2014 NEWSLETTER MEMBERSHIP 2014 Our membership drive for 2014 is closing out with the addition of 10 yearly renewals, 1 new year and 1 new Life membership. Thank you all for the continued support you give to AAUS!!!

FAREWELLS We do continue to lose members of our University School family. The numbers now include a much loved member of our faculty. We send our most heartfelt sympathies to their families, classmates and friends. *Robert Hightshoe, fac. *Shirle Nesbitt Westwater, ‘36 *Sarah (Sally) Sells Bryan, ‘38 *C. Eugene Price, ‘53

ANNUAL MEETING/REUNION It is time again for our Annual Meeting/Reunion. It will be Saturday, June 21st, 12:30-4:00 at Ramseyer Hall.

Good news…for the first time in two years the Arps Parking Garage will be available to us. After having had extensive renovations,

off of College at 18th Ave, the old driveway entrance to Arps Hall. (There is construction the new entrance is ½ block south everywhere around St. Stephens but there are signs leading to the new entrance.)The parking fee will be a maximum of $6.25 depending on how long you stay and the automated exit machines take credit cards.

By now being able to use the parking garage, the building is handicapped accessible through the south door ramp and elevators.

Light refreshments will be served and we certainly hope to see you there for the latest updates and building tour.

SPECIAL TRIBUTES The Winter newsletter told that in the City of Worthington, two special tributes happened during December and February. These were special tributes to two University School alumni who have really made a difference to the central Ohio community. We featured Lou Goorey in the Winter issue and in this one we wish to recognize Harvey S. Minton.

We don’t normally devote most of an entire newsletter to one person, but Harvey is so special to us in central Ohio as well as a talking ambassador for University School, that it needed to be done.

Harvey S. Minton, ‘52

Mayor Harvey Minton attended the Boy Choir School from grades 5-9 and was graduated from University High School.

He was an outstanding athlete who received 3 letters in football and was named all-state in that sport in both his junior and senior years. He also received 3 letters in track and field – winning a High School State Championship gold medal in track in his senior year.

Jim Lorimer presenting his proclamation to Harvey and Jane with Worthington City Council in the background with Jane and Harvey listening.

Here are excerpts from Mr. Lorimer’s recognition comments which were entered into City Council minutes on Monday, Feb. 10th, 2014, at Harvey’s retirement celebration. (Mr. Lorimer is a former Mayor of Worthington.)

“In the late 1950s a new city charter was adopted and the duties of the Mayor (of Worthington) were to be focused on presiding over the City’s Mayor’s court and on serving as the ceremonial head of the community and would be appointed

by City Council.

During these past 55 years – 7 mayors have held this specially defined position.

It has proved a wise model for small community governance. It recognizes that the person with responsibility for administering justice in the city should not also have the duty of administering the city’s finances. Hence, the past 7 mayors have all been attorneys. The last of these mayors – one of the longest serving over a period of 14 years – is the man we have gathered to recognize and honor this evening.

Harvey attended and was graduated from the Ohio State University with a degree in Business Administration in 1956. A member of R.O.T.C. he entered military service upon graduation and became a captain in the U.S. Air Force. He was an Air Force pilot who flew jets - F-86 single engine fighters – and was selected as a member of the tactical evaluation team for the 5th Air Force in the Pacific.

Upon completion of his military service he entered the Ohio State University Law School where he obtained his Juris Doctorate degree in 1962.

Harvey became deeply involved in and committed to all aspects of our community’s activity and life. He served on the Board of Elders of the Worthington Presbyterian Church, as an active member of the Dublin – Worthington Rotary, a member of the Masons, served on the Worthington Historical Society Board of Trustees and also served on the City of Worthington’s Board of Zoning Appeals.

The administration of Mayors’ court involves a year-around “24-7” responsibility, fifty-one regular Tuesday evening court sessions were held in 2013 and the amazing number of 3,848 cases was on the docket. In addition, the

Mayor must be involved on a regular basis with arrests and incarcerations in downtown Columbus involving Worthington citations that require special hearings in order to prevent defendants from spending days in jail waiting for the next regular court date.

He implemented a diversion program which is focused on young offenders who become involved in alcohol and drug related issues. This educational program is designed to encourage youthful offenders to attend professional counseling sessions – upon satisfactory completion of which the offense would not appear on their record and adversely affect future life opportunities. Mayor Minton has been an especially committed and caring judicial counselor for the youth of our community.

No mayor has cut more ribbons, attended more functions, performed more weddings, or provided more personal and community counseling than Mayor Harvey Minton. His strong support of Worthington’s sister-city relationship with Sayama, Japan has done more to foster international bonds with that friendly foreign community than had any previous outreach.

Harvey Minton’s 14 years of leadership and mayoral service in our community well and perfectly reflect the caring, competent, and devoted person he is. It also provides inspiration to us as an example of a special man’s love for the people and community in which he lives.

We have been most fortunate, privileged and honored to have Harvey Minton as our Mayor.”

And now the more personal side of

Harvey… This article, written by Candy Brooks, appeared in our local paper, ThisWeek Worthington News, on Feb. 13th, 2014.

“When one sits down to talk about Harvey Minton's life adventure, one quickly learns he did not go through it alone.

For the past 60 years or so, wife Jane has been by his side, sharing it all -- her sparkle playing off his quiet kindness.

She was there, studying next to him at Ohio State University; fretting about him as he flew dangerous missions in the Air Force; moving about the country as he built a career; and doing his secretarial work when he finally settled down in their private law practice in Worthington.

For the past 16 years, she has attended nearly every Mayor's Court, where he presided, personally greeting the defendants.

She has helped cut nearly every ribbon, stood proudly through hundreds of proclamations and been at all of the 200or-so weddings at which the mayor officiated.

One of the first things an interviewer notices about Minton is that he rarely uses the "I" pronoun as he reviews his life. Almost always, memories are shared as "we."

For the first 20 years, until he met Jane, and probably sometimes later, "we" was Harvey and John.

John was Dr. John Minton, a worldfamous cancer surgeon whose life was

cut short in a tragic car accident on the streets of Upper Arlington in 1990.

Only months apart in age, the brothers grew up on the north side of Columbus.

One of Harvey Minton's first memories is of getting lost in the maze of tunnels under Ohio State University. The brothers were enrolled in nursery school at Campbell Hall, where their mother had taught. One day the duo took a walk through an open door, disappearing from the world. Two-and-a-half hours later, they were rescued.

They also attended the Columbus Boys Choir School from grades 5 to 9. They rehearsed twice a day, traveled the world performing and sang with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Boston Symphony.

In 1945, a Christmas performance at Radio City Music Hall was televised in a very early television broadcast.

Brothers Minton went to University High School, where they played football and ran track. John played end, Harvey tackle.

They also played in the band. John played trombone, Harvey trumpet.

Harvey also had a dance band in high school. They played in 88 counties and on the Ted Mack Show, which was an amateur hour in the 1950s.

The brothers went on to Ohio State University, planning to play for coach Woody Hayes. When John failed the physical because of a spine defect, both gave up the pigskins in favor of focusing on academics.

Harvey was class president his freshman year and later became vice president of the student senate and involved in national politics as part of the National Student Association.

It was during college that Harvey met Jane, who was from Bexley and attending Ohio Wesleyan University.

They met at a pig barn (both with dates) at the Ohio State Fair and quickly were drawn to each other.

They had their first date in January and were pinned by June. She transferred to OSU, and they were married before he left for the Air Force.

He piloted planes, including fighter jets, mainly in Japan and the Far East.

Though it was technically a time of peace, his stories of adventure and near crashes are so exciting and numerous that he has considered turning them into a book.

"It wasn't really a Cold War if you were a pilot," he said.

When they returned, Minton went to law school at Ohio State. Again, he was president of the freshman class.

From law school, he was hired by a Toledo law firm as a real estate lawyer.

He traveled all over the world for the firm.

He worked for Owens Illinois for 22 years, first in Toledo and then in Corning, N.Y. In Toledo, Minton became involved in reforming the local jail, which had raw sewage on the floor and inmates stuck in cells for months without judicial hearings.

During one tour, a man reached through the cell bars and grabbed Minton's arm.

He had been imprisoned for nine months for public drunkenness. He used his one phone call to contact his employer. His family did not know where he was, and his records had been lost in the system.

Minton had him out of jail in 20 minutes.

He received a national award from the American Bar Association for his leadership in that effort.

Minton continued traveling with Owens Illinois and eventually became president of one of its companies. Sunmaster was

a solar energy company that had become profitable under Minton's leadership.

When the company sold Sunmaster, Minton decided it was time to return home. In 1986, the Mintons moved back to Worthington.

He worked for a Columbus firm for two years and then opened a private practice on High Street in Worthington. Only recently did he and his secretary, Jane, move their office to their Old Worthington home.

His health problems started last year with an old football injury. Plans for a knee replacement were postponed after he tried to pull dandelions in the yard in May and suddenly could not stand.

He endured back surgery, followed by stays a two different rehab centers. He last walked June 28 but vows to walk -and to dance with Jane -- sometime soon.

Harvey and Jane Minton say they miss their days as Mr. and Mrs. Mayor.

He believes his greatest contribution was the diversion program he developed for young people who came to Mayor's Court on drug or alcohol charges.

Under the program, they could choose a program of counseling and education, which, upon completion, they could have the charges erased from their records.

"It apparently worked out very well for some of them," he said.

Minton also was instrumental in stopping a statewide effort to abolish mayor's courts in Ohio a few years ago.

He testified before the Ohio legislature, telling lawmakers that roughly 96 percent of Ohio's mayor's courts were well-run and were providing an important service to the community.

The Mintons appeared at hundreds of dedications, ribbon cuttings and celebrations, always offering

proclamations and appreciation on behalf of Worthington.

Their favorite duty was weddings, a job they enjoyed and took seriously.

Minton insisted on interviewing couples prior to the ceremony and one time refused to marry a couple who, in his opinion, were entering into the union for the wrong reasons.

He never hesitated to hold up his own marriage as an ideal and always insisted that his own bride be at his side as he officiated and danced at weddings.

‘People were always wonderful to us,’ Jane Minton said. ‘They always said it was a beautiful ceremony.’”

Harvey and Jane at the recognition.

(You both look so wonderful!)

FOND MEMORIES Sent in by Nanny Garrett Logan, ‘62 Remember those Foreign Language Festivals?

Bilbao, Spain, is a destination now for many travelers due to the Frank Gehry designed Guggenheim Museum. That's what drew me to the Basque city on the north coast of Spain before heading off on to walk part of the St. James Way, aka The Camino de Santiago, aka Le Chemin de St Jacques. But wait, there's more! Casco Viejo is the Old Town part of Bilbao. On a Saturday night in the summer the tapas ( called pintxos in

Basque) bars overflow into the pedestrian streets. A private party? Perhaps a wedding reception I thought? No. Just Saturday night in Casco Viejo.

What, you may ask, has this to do with University School? Remember those Foreign Language Festivals? Dr Allen (I believe, but perhaps Mme Woodruff) would write the play, all in the target foreign languages and we would learn to sing and dance folk songs of the region of choice. I remember one when the class of '62 was in eighth grade. It was set in the Pays Basque with a combination of French and Spanish friends coming together. Red berets. A bull fight (I seem to recall Eddy Ferguson having something to do with that). A traditional Basque dance with some harness arrangement made for a dance that ends up with the dancer balancing on an upturned glass as I remember. (Oh the creativity of 50+ year old memories!) I can still sing the songs the 8th grade had to learn for those productions 'De lo alto de aquella montanas ....'. Was any of this legit? Did we think it was time well spent? Not all of us; Ken Nemzer (I believe) wrote a scathing parody.

What, you may ask, has this to do with Bilbao's Casco Viejo on a summer Saturday evening? As we took the long way back to the hotel we found a crowd in the plaza in front of the Cathedral. The crowd might have been part of the political crowd (ETA) of Basque separatists that we had made our way through from the Guggenheim, but now they were just enjoying the warm evening.

There were families -- little kids, big kids, old folks (well, our age anyway). There was a band. The band consisted of three musicians each playing a flute with one hand and a drum with the other (you figure).

The band leader called out the name of a step, the band played and the dozens of dancers began to move in an ever widening circle in intricate steps not unlike the steps Drs Allen and Woodruff taught us to step to for the Foreign Language festivals. It was really happening. It wasn't a performance it WAS FOLK DANCING. As I tried to join in (there were but three or four moves - step

forward, hop, turn, shuffle -- how difficult could it be?) it became clear how complex and probably ancient each dance was. It was dancing by the light of the moon. in the Cathedral Square. In Basque country. I at last understood how our teachers had been charmed by this so much that they had subjected a bunch of Ohio teenagers to the same tunes and maneuvers that this mountain culture with its lost history had created.

Thank you Drs Allen and Woodruff. Thank you University School. Ole. (Or however you might say that in Euskede)

REMEMBER… …to please send us more of your memories of University School and stories of the achievements and interesting lives of those who were part of the University School experience. ...to attend the Annual Meeting/Reunion, Saturday, June 21st, 12:30-4 at Ramseyer Hall. …to visit our website, www.tosus.org and read the many wonderful stories in it and visit the OSU Knowledge Bank to see all the U-Hi yearbooks available for you to see. The 1959 one will be coming soon. To access the yearbooks go to: https:kb.osu.edu/dspace Once there, choose 1) Communities and collections, 2) go alphabetically to University Archives, 3) then go alphabetically to University School and you will find the yearbooks listed by year. What fun!!!