 When Charley Ellis’ grandfather attended Exeter for one year over a century ago, it would complete his education. “In those days, if you weren’t going into teaching or the ministry, you didn’t go to college,” says Charley, a member of the class of ’55. After spending one year at the Academy, Melvin W. Ellis, Exeter class of 1901, went on to become an industrialist and the commissioner of banks for the state of Iowa. He also started an Ellis family tradition of attending PEA.
Following in Melvin’s footsteps his two sons, Raymond and Harlan “Hoot” Ellis, were both class of 1926. “Hoot was two years older than Dad, but he dropped back a year, and Dad skipped a year, so they ended up in the same class for four years at Exeter.” Charley describes the brothers as having an “unbelievably close, caring relationship. They were roommates at Exeter and then at Yale, where they were in Skull and Bones together,” says Charley. “Except for War years, they spoke with each other by phone every day of their lives.”
Asked if there was an expectation on the part of his family that he would go to Exeter, Charley is frank, “Oh, no doubt about it. In the early 1950s, we all did what was expected of us. I think my parents just naturally assumed I would go, and I did too.”
So much did Charley’s dad assume, in fact, that he never had his son submit an application for admission. “Dad and I simply got in the car one late spring morning, drove up and went to see Ezra “Pike” Rounds [dean of admissions].” Only 12 at the time, Charley still remembers Rounds saying to his father, “‘Ray, we now have exams and an application process, and all applications came in months ago.’” But then the two men got talking about the Korean War and the importance of getting kids into college before draft age, and Rounds, says Charley, “ended up suggesting that I come for the summer to see if I could swing it.”
A summer turned into four years, during which Charley remembers feeling “very lucky to be at Exeter.” Acknowledging, as do many of his contemporaries, that the Academy of the 1950s was “not a warm nest,” Ellis nonetheless discovered an environment that was “wonderfully encouraging in its own way. It was the age of the classroom giant, men like Kesler, Kerr, Saltonstall, Niebling, Gropp, Easton and Hatch—whose chalk came at you not in a gentle arc, but in a hard, straight line,” Charley recalls, laughing. However, it was Charley’s dorm master and biology teacher, Dick Mayo-Smith, who made the biggest impact. “I was not a great student at the Academy,” Charley reflects, “but Dick saw that I had potential, so when there was some question as to whether I’d be accepted to Yale, he advocated on my behalf. I still remember the letter he wrote, which he showed me. He said ‘When he’s ready, Charley will really do well and make a contribution.’ I think by sharing the letter he was letting me know I had his support, but he was also making very clear that the time had come for me to get on with it.”
 Two brothers, Barnes ’57 and Melvin ’64, followed Charley to Exeter (sister Mina went to Winsor), and a niece, Joy, graduated in 1987. Still, says Charley, one of the family’s biggest Exeter supporters never attended: his mom, Eleanor “Gwin” Ellis. “My parents lived in Marblehead, which wasn’t terribly far away, so three times every semester, Mom would drive up, retrieve me and three or four of my friends, and bring us home for a weekend of home-cooked meals.” Knowing of Gwin Ellis’ kindness and enthusiasm for Exeter, Bill Cox, former secretary of the Academy, assigned David Eisenhower ’66 [grandson of President Dwight Eisenhower] a dorm room next to Mel Ellis ’64. “And sure enough, David ended up visiting our home a number of times,” says Charley.
“One year,” he continues, “the Eisenhowers invited Mel to spend Thanksgiving with them in Maine. But when my mother later realized that this would mean that the President and Mamie would have to have Thanksgiving dinner in a restaurant, she felt that just wouldn’t do. So, she invited them to our home in Marblehead, where she created a quiet, relaxed family Thanksgiving for them. I think the super-long telephone wires that the Secret Service installed in Dad’s liquor cabinet are probably still there.”
A few years ago, in recognition of the strong family connection to the Academy and his own fine education, Charley established at Exeter three Instructorships in honor of his father, mother and uncle. English instructor Ellen Wolff, who is co-chairing the curriculum review committee, is the current Eleanor Gwin Ellis Instructor; history instructor and Exonian adviser William Jordan is the Harlan M. Ellis Instructor; and mathematics instructor Szczesny J. Kaminski is the former Raymond W. Ellis Instructor.
 Academy Instructorships, bestowed at the discretion of the principal, provide support for early- to mid-career teachers who are accomplished in their disciplines, and are usually made for multi-year terms. Instructorships may be increased by additional gifts over time, and Charley hopes eventually to transform his Instructorships into Distinguished Professorships, which are intended for tenured senior members of the faculty who have contributed in significant ways to teaching and learning at the Academy. All teaching funds are instrumental in recruiting and retaining instructors who are excited about working and living in a residential community such as Exeter’s.
Charley’s generosity toward the Academy stems from what he describes as an “emotional depth of feeling on the family level toward Exeter.” It also, he says, “keeps Mom, Dad and Hoot connected with a place they loved so very much.”
Charley’s only regret about the Academy? “That it wasn’t co-ed when my mother was a girl. She would’ve enjoyed it—and given to and gotten so much out of it.” 
The Faculty Endowment Initiative will expand professional development resources and increase the number of endowed faculty positions at Exeter. The comprehensive framework of the Initiative will enable Exeter to recruit and recognize outstanding teachers at different stages of their careers.
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