Besing ’57 Catches Up with Bill Tyree
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pud Hannaford is not the only “sprightly, vigorous and active man” to have taught philosophy at Ripon. Ray Besing ’57 recently visited with Professor of Philosophy Emeritus William E. Tyree and believes Hannaford simply may be following the example of the man who lured him to Ripon College long ago. Tyree still lives in his large, three-story home in the small town of Rushville, Ill., about 50 miles west of Springfield. He recently celebrated his 92nd birthday, and Besing says his former professor is “as charming, lively and bright as ever.” In late July, I found Dr. Tyree, impeccably dressed, in his Rushville home and ready to take me on tour of one of those classic and majestic Midwest houses so popular in the 1900s. The Tyree family tree in America started in 1791 when the Tyrees emigrated from Scotland. Bill Tyree’s father, Earl C. Tyree, and his mother, Elizabeth Mellow Tyree, moved from Champaign, Ill., in the early 1900s, and young William was born in the Rushville home in 1917. Earl Tyree was a partner in the Morris Wells Men’s Clothing Store, while Elizabeth’s father, Hart Mellow, owned the Mellow Monument Company for many years before retiring in 1922. Earl also was an excellent baseball catcher and played for the Champaign team just before it was acquired by the Chicago Cubs. A sore throwing arm lead Earl into the clothing business in Rushville instead of playing for the Cubs. Young Bill also was a good baseball catcher during his high school years in Rushville. For more than 25 years, Bill’s mother, Elizabeth, served as city clerk of Rushville. After receiving his bachelor’s degree at Illinois Wesleyan University, Tyree obtained a divinity degree from Northwestern University and was ordained as a Methodist minister in 1942, shortly before joining the U.S. Navy. He served aboard an attack transport ship in the Pacific Theater as a Navy chaplain during World War II until 1946. At the Professor Emeritus William urging of his bishop, Tyree earned a master’s degree Tyree at Alumni Weekend in sacred theology at Union Theological Seminary in 2004. New York, becoming a close friend of his mentor, the great American theologian Reinhold Neibuhr. He then earned his doctorate in 1949 at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. Tyree started his teaching career at Ripon in 1950. Tyree and Hannaford became a very effective and balanced teaching team at Ripon. Tyree taught those philosophy courses more closely related to theological issues, and Hannaford taught those more closely related to the secular and scientific realms. Both were regarded by generations of Ripon students as extremely articulate, “silver-tongued” lecturers who made the complex fields of philosophy come alive. Having learned the ability to think and analyze abstract thought and concepts, many philosophy majors under Tyree and Hannaford headed to graduate schools in theology, law, political theory and advanced teaching degrees in philosophy itself. A 1995 dinner at Ripon honoring Tyree and the endowed scholarship established in his name brought back scores of students and friends from the 1950s, ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, many of whom had gone on to great academic and vocational achievements. Many former students of Tyree — and many students who never took a course from him — have benefited from his personal caring for students who were having serious personal or vocational crises in their lives. Looking back, those many students realized what Tyree had meant to them when personal, family, financial or academic problems were resolved as a result of his counseling skills and his big heart. Ray Besing ’57
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nd there is, finally, what Cope-Kasten personally considers to be the major contribution of the Hannafords. “In January 1982, while Spud was on sabbatical at Harvard, studying under John Rawls, the Hannafords were staying outside of Boston in the then-summer home of former Professor of French Dan Delakas and his wife, Mimi. They invited me to visit them, which I did that bitterly cold winter,” recalls CopeKaten. “Unbeknownst to me, they also invited their niece, Janilyn, to spend a couple days, allegedly as a stop-over on her way from her family’s home in Florida to her current residence in Maine. I guess you can decide whether this was a set-up and, if so, whether it, too, was deeply practical or wildly speculative. We wed within six months and the Hannafords have been a kind of second grandparents to our children, who have been, as I have been, taught and even mentored by them. I owe to them, as does Ripon College, essentially inexpressible gratitude.” Terry M. Goode ’66 of Bailey’s Harbor, Wis., recalls Spud Hannaford as “a good teacher, even a great teacher. “He was tough, but fair, and showed considerable patience — particularly with me! His tests were difficult. And one never received a paper back from Spud that wasn’t totally redlined — but always with thoughtful comments,” says Goode. “I have told many that if it wasn’t for Spud’s preparation, I would not have gotten through graduate school. More than that, however, Spud Hannaford is simply a good person and a great mentor. He is quiet, gentle and kind. He and his wife, Neola, became personal friends of mine and my wife, Pam (Kurz Goode ’66), and have served as role models for us in life — as teachers, partners, parents and friends. They are both so deserving of this scholarship in their name,” Goode says. “Spud and Neola are warm, generous people, and it’s my pleasure to call them friends,” says Babcock. “They are truly the ‘Best of Show.’ ” r