When They Were Young

This is PAW’s annual “Lives” issue, a tribute to alumni we lost last year. It’s published in advance of the Service of Remembrance on Alumni Day, Feb. 20. Space limitations mean that the stories of many fascinating alumni are not told here. The 10 who are included comprise a mix of the famous and the less known, the superstars and those who contribute behind the scenes, the academics and the adventurers.

This issue also includes the final class column for the “Pride of Nassau”: the Class of 1936. A son of ’36, Tom Newsome ’63 has written the class columns for five years; in a December letter to ’36 family members, he related how the column had brought him closer to classmates and, in a way, to his own dad.

Among the 686 freshmen who arrived on campus in September 1932 were William Scheide, who became a philanthropist and collector; Paul Fentress, who competed in field hockey in the 1936 Berlin Olympics; and composer Brooks Bowman, who wrote the Triangle Club standard “East of the Sun (and West of the Moon).”

The class book focuses on college traditions and happy events; there is little sign of the Great Depression. There were two undefeated football seasons — but football did not provide the only victories. As the Herald reports: “There was also that most welcome proclamation that the Board of Trustees had reconsidered its long-time policy of compulsory chapel for all undergraduates and that henceforth no such demand would be placed on juniors and seniors.”

Class members will be among those honored at Alumni Day. A photo of the Pride of Nassau is in our From the Archives segment.