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WALTER E. DEMELLE JR. P’94 THE EDGAR M. CULLMAN ’36 CHAIR DIRECTOR OF THE EDSEL FORD MEMORIAL LIBRARY By Henry McNulty
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hen former Hotchkiss English teacher Ron Carlson first came to Lakeville in the early 1970s, he was immediately struck by one aspect of School life. “I was surprised that this school, isolated in the country, had such a vibrant library,” he says. “It was really the heart of the School.” The guiding force behind that vibrant place was Walter DeMelle, longtime Director of the Edsel Ford Memorial Library, who retired in June. For more than 40 years, the library was not only DeMelle’s kingdom; it was his passion. He expanded it, both in physical size and in number of volumes and educational opportunities offered. He led the way through the many technological changes of the past four decades. He was instrumental in developing the library-based School archives. And through it all, he was guided by the principle that a library is about much more than the books. “Libraries are social magnets,” says DeMelle. “Kids come because they want to be part of a community. That’s a big part of what this library is about; it’s part of the community. Kids don’t always come here for altruistic reasons like studying per se – though you’re always amazed how much of that happens.” Says Mike Hall ’85, now Director of Cisco Alliance North America in Ladera Ranch, CA: “With most librarians, the first word you think of isn’t ‘cool.’ But Walter DeMelle is cool.”
The Road to Hotchkiss DeMelle grew up in Natick, MA, where his father was a tool and die engineer and his mother was a dietitian. When he was a teenager, he became involved in the Episcopal Church, heading a church-related youth group in Boston and spending summers as a counselor at a church camp. “I aspired to be an Episcopal priest,” he says, “and I went to Hobart College, which was considered sort of an Episcopal school, on a pre-theological scholarship.” While in college, he grew ever closer to his wife-to-be, Susan Sullivan, whom he had known since elementary school and dated since high school. At the same time, he was having serious doubts about ordination. “I continued to work at the
church camp,” he says, “but I eventually decided that I did not want to be an Episcopal priest. I met with the bishop, and he absolutely concurred.” But if not the church, what? “I majored in English and was passionate about that,” he says. “Because of my camp work and my strong academic record, the college counseling office thought I should consider teaching.” In the fall of 1965, he joined the faculty of Hawaii Preparatory Academy, on the Big Island, in the middle of Hawaii’s ranching country. It was, to say the least, isolated. “We had no television, no radio, no source of news – we were unto ourselves,” he recalls. “The biggest day of the week was the day Time magazine arrived, because then we could catch up on things, albeit late.” Despite – or perhaps because of – the remoteness, he loved the job. “I taught English to grades 9, 10, 11, and 12,” he says. “I felt this was where I belonged.” Susan and Walter were married in August 1968, and she moved to Hawaii, both agreeing that the move would not be permanent.
Hotchkiss or Salisbury? It was at Hawaii Prep where DeMelle first worked in a school library. “I liked the sense of responsibility,” he says, “dealing with issues that came up; the combination of teaching and administration was what made ultimately a library career seem like the right thing for me, because I consider a librarian a type of teacher.” The DeMelles moved back to the mainland in 1969; he earned a degree in library science from Rutgers, then looked for a permanent post. He still spent summers working at the Episcopal camp, where the assistant director happened to be the chaplain at Salisbury School. “He wrote to me,” DeMelle says, “and said Salisbury was looking for someone to teach part-time and run the library part-time. I also saw that there was an opening at The Hotchkiss School, so I submitted an application and I interviewed at both schools.” He chose Hotchkiss, becoming the first person in the School’s history hired as a full-time faculty member who did not coach, live in a dorm, or teach. That unique status made him an especially effective adviser, faculty and former students say. “I think he was in a special position to have a great deal of S u m m e r
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