“All I can say is God bless those wonderful firefighters.”
1940-1942 Class Correspondent: Megan Clayton Knox College, Box K-210, 2 East South Street, Galesburg, IL 61401, 309-341-7476, pclayton@knox.edu
1943 We are Knox. You are, too. Whether you attended Knox for one year, two years, or graduated with honors, you are a Knox alumnus/a. You are the best reflection of Knox College and the education it provides. So, keep us informed. Tell us what you’ve been up to, if you’ve been promoted or honored, or simply say hello. Here’s how: • Contact your Class Correspondent; • If you don’t have a correspondent, e-mail, call, or “snail mail” us directly (see below); • Or have other media sources send us press releases, articles, and publicity. Please send information about births, marriages, and deaths directly to: Alumni Records Knox College, Box K-230 Galesburg, IL 61401-4999 E-mail: records@knox.edu Send all other updates, correspondence, or questions to: Pam Chozen Class Notes Editor, Knox Magazine Knox College, Box K-233 Galesburg, IL 61401-4999 E-mail: pachozen@knox.edu Please note that Class Notes may be edited for space.
46
KNOX MAGAZINE Spring 2018
At the end of last year, Wayne Hult sent greetings from Mason City, Iowa, to all his classmates. [Eds. note: We are saddened to report that Wayne passed away peacefully on January 13, 2018. Our condolences to his family and friends.] ❯ Art “Jack” Holst wrote the following to share with his classmates. It is entitled “Reflections.” “It was 78 years ago this past June that I graduated from Galesburg High School—June of 1939. It’s strange how events that don’t seem particularly important at the time turn out to be life-changers. My mother was a high school graduate. My father, who had grown up a badly abused and neglected child, had not finished seventh grade. (He later became a well-read man.) None of my family had ever been to college, but about two weeks after high school graduation, my mother said to me, ‘You’re going to college!’ I immediately told her I did not want to go to college, that we had no money, and that I did not know what I wanted to do in life. She said, ‘Get cleaned up and let’s go.’ At the registrar’s office, she informed them of the problems of finance and that I was going to college. An hour later, I was enrolled with two jobs and a loan. I assisted the janitor at Old Main. It was on that job that I vowed if I graduated and became a man with a future, I would NEVER again clean a venetian blind! I also worked in the kitchen at Seymour Hall— now the Union, then the men’s dorm—and washed dishes, cleared tables, and anything else that Elsie and Deacon wanted me to do. Elsie was head of the kitchen, and Deacon was the chief cook. Knox had a great impact on my entire life. The famous poem entitled ‘The Road Less Travelled’ by Robert Frost is certainly appropriate in every life. I did not know it then, but I do now. ROTC was kind of an automatic decision. My best friends, Leo Munson and Bob Kemp, were enrolled in it, so I followed suit. That decision did not seem important at all at the time but turned out to be one of the life-changing decisions in our lives. Bob was killed in Belgium in November 1944, and Leo was severely wounded just a few days after Bob was killed. I was one of the lucky ones. Many touched and influenced my life at Knox. Dr. Rothwell Stephens, the head of the math department, was such a talented, patient, and helpful professor, as was Dr. Harold Way in physics and Dr. Neifert in chemistry, among many others. Dean Trevor, the athletic director, was also a part in shaping my life for the better. Incidentally, he did not drive, didn’t even own a car! He was the taxi company’s numberone customer! I played on the golf team one year and learned more about the discipline that is a significant factor in success, not only in the field
of sport but in life. So now, approaching age 96, I look back with grateful heart at the things that helped shape my life. Our generation grew up during the greatest depression in history. We graduated in 1943 to become part of the biggest and most destructive war that mankind has ever seen. We have done things we never thought we would do. I have met people I never dreamed I would meet and been to places I never expected to see. I was recently interviewed on a radio show and was asked to share the things that were most influential in my life. First, as with all of us, my parents, who insisted I could do more than I ever dreamed. Secondly, growing up through the greatest depression in history was a profound lesson in family loyalty and that hard work is the glue that holds a successful life together. Third was the three and a half years’ experience as an infantry soldier in World War ll, starting as a private and ending as a captain in General Patton’s Third Army in Germany. That time had a profound influence on all of us. Here, we learned that all people have value and contribute to the success of whatever we hope to accomplish. But those four years at Knox provided the glue that held it all together. Today, the Class of 1943 may be reduced in number, but not in spirit.” ❯ Tom Howes had a narrow escape last fall but survived the Tubbs wildfire in Santa Rosa, California. He writes, “When that massive fire reached a mile from my house and l could see the huge blaze, I decided to evacuate, along with my neighbors. Unfortunately, my wife had been in the only operative hospital in Santa Rosa, so almost all of the patients in her hospital were evacuated and moved to a hospital in San Rafael. Since I am unable to walk unaided, I have help on a roundthe-clock basis. Luckily, the ladies also helped me pack me up, along with my little black cockapoo, Charlie. We went to stay with my son’s long-time friends in Novato, 30 miles south of Santa Rosa. (My son and his wife now reside in England.) Charlie stayed at the Humane Society, and my caretakers continued to provide for my care so that we were of minimal inconvenience to my generous hosts. To make a long story short, that terrible fire was eventually stopped, contained, and extinguished just a mile from my property by those wonderful and heroic firefighters. We have been back home for about three weeks. No damage to our house or grounds, and the same situation for my neighbors. All I can say is God bless those wonderful firefighters.” Class Correspondent: Megan Clayton Knox College, Box K-210, 2 East South Street, Galesburg, IL 61401, 309-341-7476, pclayton@knox.edu
1944 Keith Bratton emailed to say that he and wife Jewel now live in a retirement home. They are doing well, and Keith still drives. He says that he always planned to get back to Knox to graduate but never made it. “I attended the University of Illinois for three semesters, University of South