ALUMNI ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY SCHOOL SUMMER 2012 NEWSLETTER DIRECTORIES *Claribel Taylor, fac, mother of William K. Taylor, 70s
Those who ordered print copies of the directory should have received them by now. (They were mailed the last week of July.) I have a few extra copies if you would still like one. Since then I have found typos, some address changes and there were many changes to information for the class of 1963. In this newsletter I have included the updated 1963 roster for those of you who ordered the print copies. (Sorry I had to fold it but this was the most efficient way to correct this class for you.) You will receive a fuller updated sheet of corrections in the Winter newsletter after the Fall mailing.
*Mary R. Tolbert, fac SPECIAL EDITION This will be a special edition of the newsletter. The wonderful reunion reports from the Annual Meeting, the Classes of 1952 and 1962, (with pictures) the latest on the website (www.tosus.org), any special projects, the Nicodemus sale, reader comments and submissions will all appear in the upcoming Fall newsletter.
FAREWELLS
I decided to devote most of this newsletter to Mary Tolbert. University School was so blessed in our faculty. We knew the faculty cared about us, treated us with respect, and became our friends, but I think few of us knew just how academically and professionally skilled and respected in their fields they really were. Every faculty member came to us exceptionally trained in their field.
Unfortunately we continue to lose more University School family. Some we have only learned about recently. This time it seems especially sad since so many of those who have passed have siblings who are also University School members. We send our deepest sympathies and condolences to the families and friends of: *Ted Darby, ’53, brother of Frank,’62, Jim,’54 and Sally Darby Katchoreck, ‘55
Teachers such as Mary Tolbert and Jeanne Orr were especially impactful to us not only because of their longevity as a member of the University School faculty but the fact that they had students over multiple years, for some of us,14 years, if you had the opportunity to be there K-12. It is really no wonder that so many of our graduates chose to make
*Harold Giles,’63 brother of Hawood,’59 *Genevieve Smith Hahn, ‘42
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At that time, I weighed 123 pounds, wore thick eyeglasses and looked like a 5’7” pimple. At first, I tried to stay out of the way of bullies; however, when I tired of the constant insults, being the butt of jokes and suffering pushes into the wall, I began to rearrange their facial features. My father, a genius fight trainer, taught me the manly art of selfdefense when I was five-years old. Before long, whenever anyone in school had a fight, my name came up.
music and art either a career or a life long love affair given the quality of these teachers. This and the next several newsletters will give space to tributes for Mary; she was certainly one of a kind who I feel very privileged to have known.
After having made a bad reputation for myself, I made friends on the “dark side” who didn’t care that the algebra teacher thought a-b-c might equal “x.” So what? The Latin teacher said that she was teaching a dead language. At least, she was honest; Latin class WAS dead. My grades were awful in all subjects, even music. At graduation time, the principal didn’t really know what to do with me. He didn’t want me in his school, and I didn’t qualify to go to South High School.
From Wallace DePue, ’51…
Principals must have made a “deal,” because I was told to show up for classes at South High. One of the classes that I learned to really enjoy was geometry. I was making an “A” in the course! Alas, one day class was interrupted by some Gestapo-like, stern-looking man who escorted me to the principal’s office. The principal dropped me from geometry, because I had never passed algebra! Of course, one could not possibly pass geometry without algdribble.
MISS MARY TOLBERT, a God-send Ohio State University High School changed my life. It was said that only children of professors, gifted children or "troubled children” were admitted, and that there was usually a three-year waiting list of applicants. When I left the Columbus Boy Choir School (now, the American Boy Choir School), I couldn’t understand why students at Roosevelt Junior High School, knew so little about great music. Even the chorus teacher seemed uniformed! What’s more, most of the people there resented anyone who preferred classical music; it was deemed “sissy music”!
In study hall, while the supervisor was out of the room, some wise guy swept the books off of my desk as he passed by me. Of course, that was an invitation to dance! The supervisor walked in and caught us in combat. Because of my past
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and present reputation, I was accused of starting the fracus. The principal made my heart sing when he said I was permanently expelled from his school.
If he had come to my empty rooms to check on me, I would not have trusted him, because it would have been obvious that he didn’t trust me.
My Italian mother was mortified! She had heard there was a high school at Ohio State University that accepted derelict children such as I, so she made an appointment at the OSU University School with the headmaster, Dr. John Ramseyer.
The only thing I looked forward to was playing that grand piano after school. One day, a very kind, pretty lady, Ms. Louise Ort, came into “my habitat” to pick up something she had forgotten. She asked if I liked art. Drawing had always appealed to me; I was quite expert at making insulting caricatures of teachers during algebra and Latin classes, so I answered affirmatively. She happened to be the art teacher, so she invited me to attend an art class, not as a student, of course, but just to see what was happening in her class.
I HATED school, principals and teachers of all subjects, and I loathed having the possible opportunity to attend University School. While my mother was arguing with the headmaster, countering each of his negatives with a positive in my behalf, I walked out into the hall and noticed what I thought was the end of a grand piano in a large music room. After I finished playing the Chopin Polonaise in Ab major, I was startled by applause, and horrified by hearing Dr. Ramseyer say to my mother…”We’ll take him.”
The students in art class were working with oil paints on canvas, something I had only seen done in pictures! It looked creative and exciting, so I told Ms. Ort that I wanted to be enrolled. Ms. Ort asked me if I would like seeing some student pictures hanging in the choral room. On the way to the choral room, Ms. Ort introduced me to a lovely lady, by the name of Miss Mary Tolbert, who was on her way to have a choir rehearsal in the choral room. She was ebullient and enthusiastic about music, so I listened to her work with the students.
On my first day of school, a Mr. Sylvan Mikelson, asked me what curriculum I would like to study. “None,” I replied with my arms crossed. To my surprise, he smiled and said that my alternative was to sit in a vacant room during classes. Gratefully, I accepted that idea. It wasn’t too long before sitting alone all day in some room became quite boring; but I suspected that Mr. Mikelson was trying to force me to change my mind, therefore, I wouldn’t budge.
After the rehearsal, Miss Tolbert asked for my honest opinion of what I had heard. I mentioned that I could hardly hear the tenor section. She invited me to help her make the tenor part stronger, so I joined the choir. Her rehearsals were inspiring; so was the encouragement given to her “problem child,” me.
Mr. Mikelson was imbued with a very pleasant personality and a broad, charming smile. His height was about 5’9” with a normal build, and his hair was blond. Because of his constant kindness, I didn’t entirely mistrust him.
After school, I was practicing something of my own creation on the piano when
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and he was asleep! His two friends awakened him and helped him out of the room. That was my first experience of being afraid that I was in serious trouble and destined for expulsion.
Miss Tolbert overheard me. She came into the room and asked me what I was playing. She was delighted to hear that it was my own song. She asked if I had written down my “composition.” When I said that I didn’t know how to notate music, she offered to help me learn to deal with notation and harmony after class each day. As she was leaving the room, she asked if I knew how to write lyrics to my song. Since I always had tons of lyrics in my head, I jumped at the opportunity of learning both harmony, as well as setting lyrics to music.
The next morning, I was summoned to Mr. Mikelson’s office, full well knowing that I was going to be expelled. Mr. Mikelson was busy writing something at his desk, but after a while, he looked up and calmly said, “I heard that you broke the tape recorder in the choral room.”
Miss Tolbert was very clever in her way of getting me into an English class. She made it plain that writing lyrics involved poetry. Next, I enrolled in Core classes, so that I could study English. English led to me to prose and poetry that entailed history. Those subjects led me to research and script writing, etc. Finally, I was in the same boat with all of my classmates. Being in school again wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be!
“No sir,” I replied. “My opponent fell on it.” Mr. Mikelson broke into a wide smile and asked, “Who were you fighting?” “There were three guys who I didn’t know,” I replied. “Is it true that you knocked one of them out?” he asked.
All was going well and then came “The Main Event.” As I was practicing, after school, three boys came into the room with the obvious intention of distracting me from making music. When I asked them to leave, they became nasty. One of them tried to close the piano keyboard lid and failed; then, he pulled my hand off of the piano and it jumped up and smacked his cheek!
“Yes sir, but that wasn’t what I wanted to do. When he fell down and didn’t get up, I was really scared that I’d be kicked out of school,” I admitted. Mr. Mikelson looked down and started writing again, while I stood in front of his desk waiting for two angry words familiar to baseball fans: “You’re out!“ After a while, he looked up and said, confidentially,
The beat started without any music! As I stood up, my adversary struck a mighty blow to my left temple that made me see black for a second. I answered with a hard left hook to his chin that caused him to back into a stand holding the school’s only tape recorder. They both hit the floor. The machine was broken
“That fellow whom you flattened has been looking for that experience a long time.” Then, he returned to his writing. Still I stood waiting. Without looking up, he said, “That’s all, you can go back to your empty room.”
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graduation ceremony. As I learned about the techniques of writing harmonies and setting words properly, I started composing other songs and piano pieces. During that time, I wrote my first opera libretto, The Bridegroom’s Best Man. Ms. Stewart proof-read it and afforded me positive criticism.
“Thank you, sir, but I don’t go to any more empty rooms.” Then came a wonderful smile of approval from my new friend, Sylvan Mikelson. WHY wasn’t I being punished? WHY did anyone bother to listen to MY side of the story? ‘Man,’ I thought, ‘this place is weird!’
After graduating, I never forgot the boost I had from OSU H.S. In only two years, I was well educated enough to be accepted as a student at Capital University, in Bexley, Ohio. Later, I went to Ohio State University for a master’s degree; then I earned my Ph.D. at Michigan State University. It was there, in 1967, when to my utter amazement and disgust, I learned that the OSU H.S. was being closed! ‘What board of idiots would do that?’ I asked myself.
Of course, Miss Tolbert heard about what had happened to her tape recorder. It was tough to have her displeased with me; however, she told me that the right person fell on the machine and was taught an important lesson. Her beautiful smile took a heavy cross from my shoulders. For the first time, I silently vowed never to fight in school again, no matter what. Mr. Robert Miner, the physical education teacher, was forming a boxing team. After hearing of my infamous deed, he invited me to participate; of course, I welcomed the idea. Mr. Miner had boxed in the U. S. Marine Corps, but what he was teaching was altogether wrong! When I questioned his instruction, he seemed pleased. I was embarrassed when he said, “Well, Mr. De Pue, come spar with me, so the class can learn something.” I sparred with him, but after a short time, he threw down his gloves, looked at the class and said, “Class, meet your new boxing instructor.” I always loved Mr. Miner. Teaching his class was really fun; but sometimes I strongly resembled a raccoon.
Years after I became a professor of music composition at Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, I learned that Miss Mary Tolbert was to be honored at the Palace Theater in Columbus, Ohio. Of course, I was in the audience. When Miss Tolbert was escorted onto the stage by Robert Butche, a man who would later become my good friend, she had everything that I remembered about her intact: a distinguished appearance, an enchanting smile and a fine sense of humor. I saw how kind the years had been to her and felt quite happy. After the ceremony, I made my way through a crowd to speak with her. As soon as she saw me, she said, “Oh, my problem child! Thank you for coming.” We only had a brief chance to speak, but
When my evening classes began with Miss Tolbert, I practiced everything she told me. In a short time, I wrote “Friendship Is A Valued Gem,” a song that was later sung at my class
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she made my heart sing again because she recognized me.
conversation about old times, it was hard to say goodbye.
Years passed before I saw Miss Tolbert again. My friend, Bob Butche, made it possible for Elaine, my wife, and me to visit Miss Tolbert at her home on Mount Oval, near Circleville, Ohio. As we approached her residence, I realized how far she had had to travel every day, toand-from work, all of the years she taught in Columbus, and how much time working with me took out of her life. What a teacher she was!
The reason why I’ve told the reader so much about myself, is to show him/her what kind of an animal Dr. Ramseyer had accepted for the faculty at OSU High School to teach. Other teachers such as Mrs. Katherine Jones, my excellent Core teacher; Ms. Jane Stewart, my terrific radio script teacher; Mr. William Jennings, my wonderful shorthand teacher; Mr. Robert Miner, my great physical education coach; and Sylvan Mikelson, my fair-minded administrative friend; were patient, pleasant and always instructive when dealing with me. For the first time during my entire education, up to that point, I was not treated disrespectfully. The whole faculty made me think that I might actually be worthwhile.
Elaine and I had a gift of a beautiful, miniature porcelain piano for Miss Tolbert. When we arrived at her domicile, there she stood at the door, beaming that lovely smile which always lit up my life. She had prepared some tea and cookies-another example of her refinement-and received her gift from us. She was thrilled with her little piano, but asked me to play something on her grand piano. Although, being without a piano in my home, and having my technique dulled by years without practicing, I did manage to play a piece that I had performed and dedicated to her so long ago. She recognized the music, immediately, and applauded enthusiastically.
Miss Mary Tolbert went the “extra mile,” and started my career as a composer of music. Later, I became a professor of music composition at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. Now that Miss Tolbert has passed on, there must be legions of her former students who will remember her as long as they live. Where would I be now, if she and I had never met, perhaps in prison? To me, and to many others, Miss Mary Tolbert was indeed a God-send.
The last time I saw Miss Tolbert, Elaine and I were on our way back from visiting my father’s grave in Chillicothe, Ohio. We stopped at Miss Tolbert’s Mount Oval home-really a historical museum-and were delighted to see that Bob Butche was with her. After we had a delightful talk, we went to The Red Lobster Restaurant in Chillicothe for an enjoyable, tasty meal included a bottle of wine. After having had an informative
Editor comment: Somewhere Mary Tolbert is smiling her generous smile as we all continue to enjoy and pursue the “specialness” that music, in all its varieties and sounds, continues to bring us. We feel happiness and fond memories of her and of being in her room, Rm. 100, in our very “special” school.
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