Founder's Day Award Recipient
Remarks by Fred E. Pittman'51
Awarded at the Founder’s Day assembly on May 16, 2003
“Good morning fellow students, young and not entirely young.
“When Harold Brown, Director of Alumni/ae Affairs called me with the news that I had
been chosen to receive the Founder’s Day Award I told him that I was certain
the Awards Committee had mixed up names. I asked him if he would double check this and
assured him that when it was found that a mistake had been made I would quietly step
aside. During this first and the following conversation I had with Harold he insisted
that no mistake had been made. He also told me that I would be given 4 or 5 minutes
to ‘say a few words’ at the time of the award ceremony. This led me to remind Harold
that I am from the Deep South and that my wife Joan, a Western Pennsylvania Yankee with
Gettysburg connections, says that it takes more than 4 to 5 minutes for most
Southerners to say ‘Hello!’ Later you can thank Harold that he held the line at 9 to 10
minutes! And I am determined to show Joan that under stress I can be brief. Her last bit
of advice to me was that I read Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address to get in the ‘brevity is the
essence of wit’ mode.
“Harold suggested that I might tell the story of how a poor kid from the Delta town of
Cleveland, Mississippi found his way to Phillips Exeter Academy. This part
of my story begins with what was an unexpected opportunity to avoid work. My high school
English teacher Effie Glasgow, the toughest and best of all the teachers in our school,
offered to ‘forgive’ two of our weekly essays if we would attend four book review/lectures being
given by the Rabbi at the synagogue in Cleveland. She said that he was a very
intelligent and thoughtful man who would teach us something. Mrs. Glasgow was one of two
of my high school teachers who were trying to find some way for me to go to college
away from Mississippi. At about the same time the other teacher, who taught Latin
and was in charge of dramatic productions, suggested that I enter an oratorical contest
sponsored by the local American Legion chapter. The prize was a $1000 scholarship.
“The speech had to be on some topic that dealt with communism. I did not know much
about communism and had just begun to do research for the speech when I attended
the first book review/lecture at the Synagogue given by Rabbi Shapiro. The book
reviewed was about communism as a religion and was written by a famous rabbi. The
lecture was well done and most interesting. After the lecture I thought that if I could
meet the Rabbi perhaps he could give me some suggestions about how to convert some ideas
I running around in my head into a speech. I called the Rabbi and he agreed to see
me the next day following Hebrew School. After we chatted for a few minutes about what I
had in mind he left the room briefly and returned with a pad and pencil. As he handed
these to me he said I should write down ten points that I thought should be made in the
speech. He said he would be back in half an hour. When he returned he read the ten points,
tore the page off the pad and returned both to me. He then told me to read the first point
aloud and begin to write in detail what I wanted to say about it. As I wrote he asked
me to read aloud. We would stop writing, have a short discussion and then resume the
writing. Three hours later the speech was finished and we went to the local hang out
for coffee and apple pie, his treat. While there Rabbi Shapiro asked me what I planned
to do after finishing high school. I told him that I wanted to go to college but didn’t
have the money. I said that it was most likely I would attend the local teacher’s
college. He responded with the question, ‘How would you like to go to Yale?’ I asked
him, ‘What is that?’ He explained that it was a college in New Haven, CT and that he was
a graduate. He said that Yale provided scholarships for needy students and that I should
apply. He also suggested I apply to Harvard, Princeton, the University of Chicago,
the University of Pennsylvania and Rice because ‘…they all have good scholarship programs.’ He helped
me get the application forms and fill them out.
“When my English teacher learned what was happening she arranged for me to meet another Yale graduate who practiced
law in a tiny town near Oxford, MS. Lomax Lamb suggested that I consider going to
a boarding school for a year. After I learned that boarding schools were not the same
as military academies where really weird kids with big problems were sent I decided to apply. He
suggested Exeter and Andover. So in May of my senior year of high school
I applied. First I received an acceptance letter from Yale, but with regrets that all of their
scholarship funds had been given away. Yale suggested that I borrow the
money for the first semester with the expectation that scholarship funds would be ‘freed
up’ at midyear. Shortly afterwards Exeter accepted me with a not entirely adequate scholarship.
I responded with much thanks for the offer but said that I could come only
if the school could assure me I would be able to find work that would allow me to earn
at least $500 during the school year. A prompt reply indicated ‘no problem’ and I accepted.
Soon after mailing the letter I got an acceptance letter from Andover with the
offer of a substantially larger scholarship. After some agonizing over the situation
I decided that since I had given my word that I would go to Exeter I would decline the Andover
offer. Oh loyal Exeter alums let me assure you that I have NEVER doubted that I
made the right decision!!
“At Exeter I found a spirit of democracy and fairness that was not in my experience before
and has been hard to come by since. Students were judged by what they were and did,
not by who their parents were or by how much money they had. At Exeter I discovered
that black kids could be much smarter than white kids. I began to realize what
a loss it had been to me to be in a society that prevented white kids, black kids and
oriental kids to get to know one another. Yes, there were a number of Chinese families in and
around Cleveland. The Chinese kids attended their own private school because they
were not allowed to attend the all white public school. At Exeter I began to recognize
what prejudice is and began the process of trying to understand its roots. This
is not to say that the Exeter of my day was as open and free as it is today. And is there anyone
here who can say with certainty that prejudice is no longer a major problem for America?
“My first three months at Exeter provided the greatest challenges I have ever faced.
My A-plus grades from Mississippi melted in a D-plus, a couple of C-minuses and a life
saving B-plus in a two-years in one beginning course in German. Thank you Herr Gropp!
You may have saved my life. I did contemplate suicide for one day after the first
marking period. My dorm advisor, Mr. William Jones, told me that my B-plus
was the highest grade in the German course and that I should not be concerned about
the other grades. He said that I was showing improvement in all the subjects and that
I should keep up the good work and to worry. I had no further thoughts about suicide
but found it very difficult to stop worrying. At Exeter there was toughness and gentleness,
challenge and understanding and certainly caring and love. Some students thought that
there was too much of the first of these. I hope that this has not changed. Exeter gave
me an unusual opportunity to grow personally. Being here exposed me to wonderful
minds that were bursting with talent and challenging ideas. It was here that I began to
love learning and to want to help others to have the opportunity to learn. The Reverend John
H. Scott, a little known black civil rights leader from Louisiana said it so beautifully: ‘When
you stop learning, it’s like being a dead fish. Dead fish go down the stream, wherever
the water takes them. Live fish can go up against the current.’
“When time came to apply to college I sent in a new application to Yale. They had
accepted me the year before but had given out all of the scholarship funds
before I applied. I learned that most of my classmates had applied to several colleges
because they feared they would not get their first choice. I panicked and sought
the advice of Mr. Williams, Exeter’s college advisor. He heard my story and said that
he thought that it would probably be a good idea to apply to at least one more school in case
things didn’t work out with Yale. He suggested that a good ‘back up’ would
be Harvard! When Hammy Bissel learned what I was doing he called me into his office and asked me to
make up my mind where I wanted to go. I assured him that I wanted to go to Yale and he
insisted that I did not need a ‘back up.’ My how times have changed!
And off I went to New Haven.
“But that's another story.... Now I would like to say a few words about the Mississippi/South
Carolina Trust for the benefit of Phillips Exeter Academy. Back in the 1980s I learned that the
Academy had no students from Mississippi and relatively few from South Carolina. I approached
Principal Kendra O’Donnell with the idea of creating a non-profit supporting organization to
provide Exeter with scholarship funds for students from the two states. Kendra referred me to our
Treasurer, Jef Fellows for his review and opinions. Jef did what was needed to obtain additional
review and Trustee approval of this new approach to providing scholarship support. Without his and
Kendra’s support I am certain the Trust would not have been born. And Jef kindly offered to
serve on the Board of Trustees of the Trust as the Academy’s representative.
“The person who provided the inspiration and critical help in setting up the Trust and who,
through outstanding management of my investments made possible its initial funding, is
my Yale schoolmate and loyal friend Richard Gilder, Founding Partner of Gilder, Gagnon, Howe and Company of
New York City. Dick Gilder is a graduate of what is now Northfield Mount Herman whose founder Dwight L. Moody
gave up a career in business to save souls and to establish schools that would provide a first
rate secondary education for young people, regardless of race, religion or economic circumstances.
Incidentally, his school became co-ed in 1971, a year prior to Exeter’s enlightenment. After
getting degrees in history and law at Yale, Dick did a career switch and became a
stockbroker’s stockbroker and a creative philanthropist whose efforts improve
and enlighten the lives of millions. His gentle generous hands have touched Central
Park, the Morgan Library, the American Museum of Natural History’s Rose Center and
Planetarium, and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s in New York City. Rick Shubart,
Chairman of the History Department can give you the details of Dick’s contribution to
the preservation, study, writing and teaching of American history. This listing
is by no means complete. To know Richard Gilder is to know non sibi at its very best.
It is because of Dick’s superb management of the assets of the Mississippi/South
Carolina Trust that the funds have been available to provide the scholarships and other
support to the Academy.
“Finding and encouraging needy applicants to apply to Exeter has been the work of a
number of people. But the powerhouse for this work has been and continues to
be Paul Rick Mahoney who leads the Scholarship Program in the Admissions Office. Without
Rick’s devotion and persistence we would not have found the wonderful students
who have come up to Exeter, received much and given much to the school.
“Finally, I would like to acknowledge the other members of the MS/SC Board of
Trustees, all of whom have served without complaint since the inception of the Trust:
Hodding Carter, III Class of 1953 of Miami, FL, Timothy Pittman, Class of 1982
of Washington, DC, and John Hassel, Parent of Charleston, SC.
“Thank you my dear friends who have made this effort a success. Will you please stand
and be recognized for your enormous share of the 2003 Founder's Day Award.
And most importantly, Thank you, Exeter.”
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