A Gentle Grill Master
I was saddened to read in WM Fall 2017 that Professor David Wilson had passed away. Professor Maharry’s remembrance was beautiful and brought back many fond memories of this gentle yet brilliant soul. His comment about Professor Wilson being the most “un-Type-A personality” made me burst out laughing.
I first met Prof. Wilson at the freshman math picnic in 1985. He saw me enter the picnic and promptly put me in charge of the burgers, but I was a vegetarian and had no clue how to make a burger! After seeing me fumble a few patties, he walked up to me, put his arm on my shoulder, and showed me how it was done.
I would go on to take many courses with him, including one where I attended zero classes. His probability and statistics class clashed with a required econ class, so I went to him to explain my predicament. In typical Prof. Wilson style, he said that it was not a hassle and he would be happy to get me up to speed on the class after hours and that I could take the exam in my dorm room.
When I teach I try to mimic the beautiful spirit this wonderful man exuded—gentle, kind, trusting, and genuinely interested in the welfare of the student.
ARUN MURALIDHAR ’88
Great Falls, VA
Always Have, Always Will
President Hess’s “From Center Hall” in the WM Fall 2017 issue made me think about when I was teaching elementary school full time while taking evening and summer courses at Indiana University to tie down my licensure and my master’s degree.
I had to take a children’s literature course that was only offered during the daytime and not in the summer. The course instructor allowed me to “attend” by listening to recordings of his lectures. When it came time for the midterm exam, he asked me if I still honored the Gentleman’s Rule. I answered affirmatively and was able to take both exams at home, solely upon my agreement to follow the time limit and the “no open book” rule.
Our system, at least in the late 1960s, was apparently well known in Bloomington and, even better, deemed applicable to solve issues of time and place.
RICK HELM ’67
Warsaw, IN
Subject: Best E-mail Ever
When we send out “The Big Question” for each issue, the first responses we get are always the “out of office” messages. This one was so different we just had to share it.
Hi, I’ve gone away. I expect to return January 29th. It’s customary to say I’ll have limited/ irregular Internet connections and time to read/respond to/delete your e-mail until then. In this case, it’s true. If I don’t return, please avenge my death. If you need counsel, please contact ______________. Don’t forget: I’m telepathic. If you think of something funny, you’re welcome. And if you’re thinking what I’m thinking, ask for my therapist’s number.
PETER DURANT ’70
Pittsford, NY
Worthy of the Fridge
Professor Bill Placher ’70 had a way of making his words stick. A short retort from Placher still shapes the way Steve Woods ’93 feels about himself. And Ben Wagner ’02 literally made Placher’s words stick … to the refrigerator.
“Academically, there were so many heavyweights there,” Woods told WM in a recent interview. “But Bill Placher, who was my advisor, was just brilliant.”
“My freshman tutorial was Christian Classics,” Wagner wrote in letter to WM last year. “It was taught by Bill Placher. He had had my father as a pupil in the mid-1970s, and I was beyond blessed to have him as an instructor, an initial advisor, and a dearly trusted friend.
“My first writing assignment was over Augustine’s Confessions. I had not read the entire book, but I was relatively familiar with the content given my Roman Catholic upbringing and the in-class discussions.
“The finished draft I produced scored a respectable A-, but far more fulfilling than the final grade was Professor Placher’s concluding comments: Strong writing, Ben. Good start to the course. By the way, you write far better than your father did when he was your age. I traveled home that following weekend and proudly stuck it with a magnet to the kitchen fridge.”
Woods’ teachable moment came during a faculty dinner at the Phi Delt house.
“I was chatting with Professor Placher and, after something I said, he responded, ‘Steve. Don’t bullshit a bullshitter.’ And he was a very proper person!
“When a grownup swears around you …” Woods paused. “Well—it was like he lowered the veil a little bit and I saw a glimpse into adulthood. It wasn’t so much what he said but in how I felt at that moment as a senior.”