Finis Origine Pendet
“For I have pressing business to attend.”* By Ama Boah ’98
I
just returned from my 15-year Exeter reunion. It was wonderful to reconnect with classmates, teammates
112
The Exeter Bulletin
S UMMER 2013
* Bertie W.H. Davis [class of 1913] senior PEAN quotation.
FRED CARLSON
Ama Boah ’98 and her brother, Kofi Boah ’96
and dorm friends.The new buildings on campus are beautiful, and their more modern architecture seems to meld seamlessly with the traditional brick with white window shutters of the past. Yet the moment that stopped me in my tracks occurred while walking out to the football stadium and playing fields with my partner, Conor. We had just finished watching the end of a softball game, and I was telling him about the time during my prep year on the varsity softball team when I had lost the ball in the sun. It landed right on my nose, which instantly started to bleed, and I had to sit in all of my afternoon classes and the dining hall with a giant ice pack on my face. I remember being very embarrassed. As Conor and I approached the bridge to cross over to the fields, I mentioned how my teammates and I used to jump off of it on the last day of practice each year. I then noticed a plaque on a rock with a dedication to Hamilton “Hammy” Bissell ’29, signifying that the bridge was now known as “Hammy’s Way.” I clutched hands over my heart and let the tears flow. I first met Hammy my prep year when I played with his granddaughter on the softball team. He would pedal his bike out to practice every day, sit on the bleachers and clap and cheer, occasionally ducking out of the way of an errant foul ball. I did not know much about Hammy and his connection to Exeter, except that he was an alumnus who had worked in the Admissions Office for many years. He was the team’s unofficial grandfather, and his classic “Hammy Bars”—giant Cadbury Fruit & Nut [Milk] Chocolate Bars— were bestowed on us as we departed from the Love Gym for away games. Hammy was a fixture during my sports practices in the fall for field hockey and in the spring for softball all four of my years at Exeter. After a field hockey practice my senior year, I sat with Hammy, as I had a question for him. During my time at Exeter, I never mentioned to anyone that my great-grandfather, Bertie Whitley Horsford Davis, had also attended Exeter, graduating in 1913. While there are many legacy families at Exeter, my familial history at the Academy differs in that my great-grandfather was one of a handful of black Exonians during those years. Despite his age difference with Hammy, my great-grandfather had lived in Boston for many years, and I always wondered if they had known each other. Bertie W.H. Davis was born in 1896 on the beautiful island of Antigua in what was then the British West Indies. He had the opportunity to attend a prestigious prep school on the island, and his demonstration of academic promise led to a scholarship that brought him to Phillips Exeter Academy. He began his lower middler year in 1910 and flourished in the nurturing academic environment of the Academy. After graduation, he went on to receive his bachelor’s degree from Harvard University in 1917; I also completed a master’s degree from the Harvard School of Public Health in 2009. During his time at Harvard, my great-grandfather would launder, press and mend the clothes of his fellow students for money. He was a talented tailor, and after completing school he ran a tailoring business in Harvard Square for a while before pursuing other business ventures. My grandfather, Bertie W.H. Davis Jr., was born and raised in Boston. He did not attend PEA; my great-grandfather was very socially active and felt it was important for his children to have a role in the move toward integration of Boston public schools.Through all of my greatgrandfather’s actions, his desire that all children—regardless of race, gender or class—have access to education was always apparent. That afternoon while sitting with Hammy, I asked him if he had known my great-grandfather, and he had. While working with the Admissions Office on initiatives to increase diversity at Exeter, Hammy had sought my great-grandfather’s help in identifying promising students of color from Boston. He discussed my great-grandfather’s commitment to education and his desire to see the Academy become coed. Hammy also mentioned that he had a Westcott vest that my great-grandfather had made for him as a gift and token of their friendship. My journey to Exeter began long before my birth. My mother would receive letters as a young girl from her grandfather talking about Exeter and how much he hoped she would be able to experience it one day. (continued on page 106) Unfortunately, when my mother was in high school in the ’60s, the school