Thomas Farrell Sharp ’58

In 1954 Tom Sharp came east from Tulsa, not knowing exactly where Princeton was.

He leavened the Princeton community with selfconscious southwesternism, reminding us that we were selfdelusional to think beauty and truth were found only in the east. But he also discovered a new dimension, joined Tower Club, studied in the special program in the humanities (concentrating in Spanish), and quoted Garcia Lorca's poetry as he learned to play guitar in the classic Spanish style.

Upon graduation, Tom decided to stay in the east. He married, raised three children, taught at LoomisChaffee, earned an MA at Middlebury, and in 1972, moved to Lawrenceville School to head the foreign language department. Director of the New Jersey Scholars Program, he won two NEH grants for study in Spanish and music. As a posthumous tribute, Lawrenceville named an interdisciplinary prize for him.

Tom's artistic energies became more evident. His early Tulsa experience in sculpting became an avocation in painting; lugging materials wherever academia took him, he received prizes for his acrylics. Later in life, he began to play the piano.

Tom died Mar. 29, 1998, of lung and bone cancer. To his wife, Sandra, and his family, the class extends its sympathies and its sense of sharing in the loss of this unique individual.

The Class of 1958