Ideals Implanted Here

OVS Trustee and Search Committee Chair Nicholas Thacher reflects on the process of selecting a new school leader, and a validation of core values discovered along the way

By Nicholas Thacher (L60)

Forgive me if I begin this official report from the OVS Head of School Search Committee self-referentially with an introductory paean to Wallace Burr, who served as the school’s Head from 1942-1971. When I was enrolled at OVS in the 1950s, the school consisted, first and foremost, of Mr. Burr. Patrician, impossibly tall to a second grader, he seemed to increase in stature as I grew — so he remained, perpetually, elevated, silver-haired, towering over me and my classmates, even when we reached the exalted status of eighth grade.

Don’t get me wrong: although we were awed by his commanding stature and status as Headmaster of our dusty little school campus fretted with live oaks, his commanding demeanor was softened by his humorous asides, the particular way he leaned down to share an encouraging word or a pat on the back, his legendary tall tales of the trials and tribulations of the Boney Bean tribe he invented for our entertainment on overnight camping trips to the Sespe Wilderness.

Rumors circled him like California condors, immense, awesome. A paddle supposedly hung on the wall of his office. He was reputed to have once killed a gopher with a bow and arrow in an archery class on the lower field. If you were overheard using the F word, he would summon you into his office and administer a teaspoonful of cayenne pepper. He was in charge of everything; he heard and saw everything. We listened carefully when he wound up on the elevated stage at our daily assemblies and offered us didactic, hortatory advice:

“Nothing less than your best!” A slow circling glance around the assembly. “Nothing less than your best!”

Or, if we were about to depart on a field trip to a local dairy or the faraway Ramona Pageant or the Santa Barbara Mission: “Always remember, you’re a walking billboard for your school!” It was sort of a funny image, but no one smiled.

We knew Mr. Burr had unparalleled eyesight. He scrutinized us from his perch on the stage as we stood and released our reedy choral voices with the lyrics of the OVS school song:

In a valley surrounded by mountains Lies a school we will long recall, Where the citrus grows and prospers

And the oaks stand stately and tall. In California sunshine, We too like the oaks will grow, Ever reaching skyward

The upper air to know.

As the years add understanding

To ideals implanted here, Loyal sons and loyal daughters Will sing your praises clear. OVS in a valley of sunshine, OVS in nature’s nest.

Ever reaching skyward, We pledge to you our best!

“Words and music by Elizabeth Wittausch,” it said in our OVS songbook. But Mrs. Wittausch was long gone from the school by the time I arrived as a second grader. “Ideals implanted here”— remember that phrase; it became central in our OVS Head Search Committee’s deliberations as we wrestled with the challenge of seeking new leadership and directions while retaining the core values on which Edward Yeomans had launched the school a century ago. Mrs. Wittausch, were she still with us, might have been proud.

One final word about Wallace Burr. He also inspected us as, each day before we sat down to lunch in the spartan dining hall, we stood behind our chairs and recited the standing grace he himself had composed:

As we gather together to eat this food grown in many parts of the world

And brought to us by the efforts of countless thousands of people, Let us remember the interdependence of all people of the world.

Let us ask God for understanding and love amongst ourselves and all others of the world

Remembering always that regardless of race, creed, or other differences We are one people.

Mr. Burr had written this didactic grace, we knew. It contained some challenging words (“Interdependence” springs to mind) and equally challenging concepts. Yet as I look back more than six decades, it strikes me as an extraordinarily prescient, thrilling,