Letters to the Editor

Mapping the Campus

As a member of the class of '43T (architecture), I would like to commend you for the fine article on professor Huddleston in the winter issue of the UNH Magazine. It was long overdue. You might also find the following remembrances of some interest. To begin with, I did a double take when I opened to this article, not so much because of the youthful picture of Hud, but because in the background is an isometric of the campus, a drawing which I prepared in 1940-41 under the direction of professor Thomas. Fellow student Rolland Gove '43 also assisted by delineating the trees surrounding the campus. On this project I spent many hours (at the princely wage of 35 cents an hour) carefully drawing to scale the many campus buildings, using the original construction plans made available to me by Hud. The original rendering was, of course, much larger than the leaflets made from it for campus visitors during the UNH 75th Anniversary celebration in 1941. It was also displayed inside both the front and back covers of the History of the University of New Hampshire 1866-1941. There you will find the cartouche inscribed not with the updated "1946" shown in your magazine, but with "75th Anniversary 1866-1941," as it was originally designed.

Incidentally, if you look very closely at some of the trees in the rendering you will notice a line here or there that seems to be a bit out of place. That's because the initials of some of us yokels in the class of '43 are interwoven in the trees. Boys will be boys, I guess!

Our architecture faculty during my years at UNH (1939-43) were professors

Huddleston, George R. Thomas and Arnold Perreton, all quite competent in their field. But I must say I was a bit surprised with the mention that UNH produced 130 architectural graduates between 1920 and 1944. We in the class of 1943 understood, at the time, that we were the last UNH class graduating with a degree in architecture. But then, how would we know? When 1944 came around, we were all off fighting a war!

Thanks for bringing back fond memories from those wonderful years in Durham.

Art Libby '43
Littleton, Colo.

A Much-Deserved Tribute for Dr. Paul

What a wonderful tribute to the quintessential country doctor! I was so pleased to read of the incredibly generous memorial contribution made by Peter Paul honoring his father, Dr. Samuel Paul. Being raised in the small town of Troy, N.H., where Dr. Paul was the one and only doctor, he not only delivered me into this world, but he also cared for me over the years--taking out my tonsils, stitching up my injuries and once removing a very loud moth from my ear. He actually made house calls, imagine that! Boy, those were the days. ...

Barbara Starkey Wingardner '66
Yarmouthport, Mass.

Professor Daggett's Spirit Lives On

I read with great interest the recent article about G. Harris Daggett and the letters to the editor that followed. It seems that professor Daggett's "spirit" is still with those who knew him, and also, apparently, with a few of those who never had the pleasure.

I purchased professor Daggett's old summer home in Effingham, N.H., in August of 1975. At the time I was unfamiliar with the previous owners and had not heard of the professor when I attended UNH. Shortly after I moved into the summer house, however, he began to make himself known. On one hot summer day I remember seeing an elderly, white-haired gentleman pass by my two front kitchen windows, heading for the front door. He wore a white shirt and was smoking a pipe. I recall that he was quite hunchbacked. Thinking he was lost, I went to the front door and opened it. No one was in sight, and I wondered how the old gentleman could have disappeared so quickly. I walked around the house but saw no one. I mentioned this to a neighbor, who informed me that my description fit a certain professor Daggett exactly. I was told that he summered at the house for a number of years and always looked forward to the peace and quiet and solitude that he found here. Another neighbor claimed to have seen him meandering down our country dirt road, stopping to light his pipe and glancing up toward Green Mountain. However, he had passed away six years before that sighting--in 1969!

The professor made several more appearances in the following years until I sold my home in 1986. About a year after selling the property, I saw the new owners at the local grocery store. They immediately informed me that my old house had a ghost and that he smoked a pipe! They, too, had now met the professor.

And so, my friends, professor G. Harris Daggett's "spirit" lives on in many ways.

Bonnie L. Brouillette Ayer '74
Ossipee, N.H.

The story of professor Gwynne Daggett (UNH Magazine, Fall '01) and his inspiring stand for intellectual freedom made me proud to be a UNH alumnus.

The foes of freedom have been (and are) formidable--from the time of Socrates to Galileo to the victims of the McCarthy era to the present. Professor Daggett, a gallant man.

Russell E. Thompson '41
Charleston, S.C.

Older and Wiser

I particularly enjoyed the article "Older and Wiser" in the Winter '02 issue. I also went back as a senior citizen, but I decided to go for the gold, a degree. I felt it would keep me focused if I went for a degree. I always had an interest in history, perhaps because I had but one high school course. It took several years, even though UNH accepted as transfer credits many of the math and science requirements that I had from a previous college. I graduated summa cum laude in May 2000, exactly 50 years after I received my B.A. in civil engineering from the University of Michigan. It was especially satisfying because my son Pete is currently enrolled at UNH in a doctoral program in history!

Steve Leavenworth '00
Concord, N.H.

Island Adventures

The UNH Magazine brings to alumni and friends excellent articles about the contributions of faculty members and alumni to the marine sciences. I refer to the "Islands in Time" article about the Isles of Shoals in the Spring '00 issue, and to the Fall '01 article "Encounters with Leviathan."

As a UNH marine docent, I have spent much time at Appledore Island, the summer home of the Shoals Marine Lab, a teaching facility operated jointly by UNH and Cornell University, which offers courses in marine science to undergraduates from many colleges, as well as adult education courses. As a volunteer, I have been involved in different aspects of life on Appledore, but none more noteworthy than the courses I have taken. One comes away with the spirit of Shoals Marine Lab deeply imbedded in one's psyche.

Among the joys are the openness of communication between instructors and students, the hospitality and excellent food, and the opportunity to live like an undergrad again in the environment that they and we love. This is true of whatever adult education course one participates in there, be it a course on art, ornithology, history or marine mammals. Relaxing on an island lapped by the waves of a pristine sea, watching the flock of ibis coming home to roost at sundown, looking over the shoulder of a watercolorist or chatting with fellow students--it is total immersion.

Jean Ragonese '47
Freemont, N.H.