1963 By Rufus McClure
Lingering personal thoughts from the text derived from the postscript for 1963, essentially a short memoir. When I conceptualized this military scrapbook, I expected to conclude with the last yearbook of the military era, 1962. However, as I journeyed through those nostalgic years, I realized more fully that the military chapter did not end when the Class of 1962 tossed their caps high in the Florida sunshine. As you reflect upon your own military experience, it will come as no surprise to you that your most enduring legacy is the body of traditions which the Cadet Corps evolved and accumulated through those formative years. I like to call those collective traditions the Bolles character, which in turn animates the Bolles Spirit, in other words, The Bolles School.
As I began working on that last military yearbook, it occurred to me that the first class to assume possession of and mastermind the new prep school, 1963, were juniors when the Class of 1962 lowered Old Glory for the last time. You, the Cadet Corps, had molded them in your own image; and they were, therefore, the future leaders to whom you transmitted the already clearly-defined Bolles character. In fact, you conclude your own foreword with a message to the next class and all the classes that followed: “In June we will stand on the river campus, as classes before us (forty-six since then) and try to think of something we had, something special of our own. We will remember the headlong enthusiasm we had for Bolles and life that will stay with us and will not die.� In 2010, I can assure you that that something has not died, nor will it. That something (really that spirit) will forever linger over the majestic campus that the military contingent morphed into the Bolles School.
Those juniors to whom you handed the baton were, broadly speaking, cadets dressed out in blue blazers. Although they were no longer officially cadets, they were the same individuals you laughed and played with, the same guys you studied and marched with just a few months before. They were the same students with whom you shared the many organizations you birthed; and we all know how successfully you transmitted the once and future Bolles character, that then and now commands the allegiance of all Bolles alumni. In fact, your legacy, over time, morphed into the official motto and the official Bolles School seal; TRADITION, SERVICE, DISTINCTION.
The first yearbook of the new era was by necessity a transitional product. The foreword to the new Eagle, the last yearbook to bear that name (the new book would be named for the iconic towers, Turris) , states: “This has been the first year of the new Bolles….It has been a shared experience that has stamped and bound us as a class….The class of 1963 is proud to have been a part of both the old and the new Bolles. We feel that we have not only endured, we have prevailed.” It seems to me that this resounding assertion echoes a certain military triumph.
As you view the following pages of the yearbook, you will recognize the same teachers who taught you. You will revisit the same coaches and many of your favorite athletes. Moving on, you will discover a section, “The Old and the New,� which reflects the transition from the military to the traditional prep school.
I’ll end these thoughts with a paradoxical observation about AWOL Road, long gone, which has morphed into a lifejourney for me and symbolically for each of you. You ask: “How so?” and I reply: “Who among us has not gone AWOL at some point along the way?”
LONG LIVE THE MILITARY ETHIC!
This tower will inspire the title of the next and future yearbooks: Turris
This is a very proud moment for me, but since this is the first yearbook of the new Bolles, I’m particularly pleased.
Incidentally, all three children are proud graduates of the Bolles school.
The second and last year of Winn’s short Bolles Career.
Please note that these are the same gentlemen that guided the military, that’s you, into their fabulous future.
Zahner, middle, and Tieslow are reversed.
Zahner was a short term junior school principal who followed Johnson back north, and Tieslow replaced Hobson Martin as bursar.
As indicated on the previous page, the Senior class hit the ground running and never missed a step.
Fortunately, the Class of 1963 had been well trained during their military years, so they proceeded seamlessly and with great success. They turned out to be the perfect transition class.
This is no doubt the saddest page ever to appear in a yearbook. Richard Cawley, top, perished in Pan Am 103 over Scotland.
David Chambers, valedictorian of the class, perished in an auto accident in his second year at Princeton.
The Dano Davis Family has been very generous to the school. In fact, the gymnasium bears the family name.
Kendall Durkee returned to Bolles as a math teacher for a few years before leaving the profession for a business career.
Scott Gifford returned as an English (I think.) teacher for a few years before he too switched to another career.
The Lobrano family tradition lives on. Our world-class swimming facilities bear the Family name.
Robert Quantz was the last of three brothers to leave both their fingerprints and their footprints on their alma mater.
Jay Stein has remained close to the school through the years, and the school has benefited greatly from his philanthropy. In fact, the fine arts building bears his name.
It’s always sad to memorialize a fallen cadet.
Gregory Blackmer, second row left, retuned to Bolles as a very successful English teacher for several years before switching to the world of finance.
Ellis Zahra has remained close to the school. He was chairman of the board of trustees, and his children are also Bolles alumni.
Time to bid farewell to the teaching faculty and coaches.
Robert Hubbard, middle, one of the most popular and inspirational teachers ever.
Colonel Ball, above, proves that history never stops: it just keeps on plodding along.
Mario Gaztambide, top right, 1958, was the second of four Puerto Rican brothers to graduate, has returned to teach Spanish and supervise a dorm hall. He was a great success at both.
David Chambers, for whom an award is presented to the valedictorian of every class, was mentioned earlier.
If they were still in uniform, they would all be cadet officers commanding the cadet corps.
As the school abandoned the military designation for the dorm halls, those halls were renamed for deceased faculty members, starting with Bradley. The other three follow.
The Alpha Society has not just endured. It has prevailed and today is one of the outstanding chapters in the nation. Bill Hochheim masterminded more brain power than anyone else in Bolles history.
Scott Gifford returned to teach English for a few years and then abandoned the profession.
Earl Farris returned to FSU for his doctorate and then became head of humanities at the Jacksonville Junior College, where he remained until his recent retirement.
Damon Miller was valedictorian of the first class of the new order. He has remained a very loyal alum and has contributed in a variety of ways.
There is ‘Doc’ the barber again, forever faithful.
As indicated earlier, Jay Stein has been very good to the school as he has pursued his remarkable business career, which we like to think started here at Bolles as business manager for the yearbook!
The Rosenblum brothers have remained close to the school, and the Bolles School remains a prominent client.
I’ll conclude this retrospective by echoing Thomas Wolf’s famous title: “Of Time and the River,” the story of the first chapter of The Bolles School. It is now time to close the circle and return to where we began. The first play ever staged at the School was “Journey’s End,” a particularly appropriate last word as we reach our own journey’s end.
However, every ending presages a new beginning, so I invite your attention now to TRANSITION, gift of the Class of 1957, which I consider the perfect segue to the new Bolles which emerged from its military legacy. As you observe the picture, note that the military is represented by the standing cadet who is handing off the flag to a seated boy dressed in the proverbial blue blazer. Seated opposite him is a girl, who completes the transition. That girl has now morphed into Caroline Barlow, Class of 2007, who has just been appointed, April 2010, Brigade Commander for the fall semester, 2011, at the Naval Academy.
BOLLES News release… After earning valedictorian honors, an appointment to the United States Naval Academy, a state title with the girls’ cross country team, among several other achievements in her time at Bolles, alumna Caroline Barlow ’07 continues to achieve success at the collegiate level. Barlow, finishing her third year at the Naval Academy, has been selected as Brigade Commander for the upcoming fall semester. Brigade Commander is the highest leadership position at the Naval Academy, leading the 4,400 member Brigade of Midshipmen during formal parades and when the Brigade marches into Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium for home football games. Barlow underwent rigorous interviews with Navy and Marine officers to earn the position.
Barlow ’07 Selected as “Brigade Commander”
An Oceanography honors major at the Naval Academy, Barlow was also recently selected to attend the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Undergraduate Leadership Workshop. Barlow will represent one of twenty college students selected from across the country to attend NCAR’s 2010 workshop in Boulder, Colorado, June 14-18.
I think it is time now for all of us “once upon a timers” to come to attention and render a 2010 salute to Commander Barlow.
Never doubt that Old Glory still proudly “waves over the land of the free and the home of the brave,� thanks to the undying loyalty and generosity of the Skinner family.