vividreports: A "packed" letter

A few days ago, I received a large envelope from Jerry and Maggie Hochberger. It turned out to be a packet of letters - written by either me or Shirley to our parents, back in 1953-56. The Hochbergers didn't explain where they had found them, but I assume they were among the many things left to sort through when my brother, Stewart, died in 2013. I have many letters from that era in my own archive, but these were new to me. One of them, the earliest, dated April 30, 1953, is packed with a lot of information of interest me. Here is the letter:

April 30, 1953

Dear Folks,

Strange things are happening at Drury College. For example, I was elected president of the senior class. This came as something of a shock -- for I had made no campaign whatsoever. I had been away at a NISA convention at Purdue University when nominated, and when I came back, I made no effort to persuade anyone to vote for me.... all of which is, of course, very gratifying to me.

I mentioned the NISA (National Independent Student's Association) convention. It was wonderful! We took 17 from Drury in a chartered bus -- quite a trip to say the least. (Purdue is at Lafayette, Ind.) The convention had several highlights. 1) was the keynote speaker - - H. Roe Bartle of Kansas City. He spoke for an hour and twenty minutes and we were sorry when he stopped. He had a tremendous wit, a tremendous voice, and was a tremendous man - 350lbs! 2) another highlight was the Purdue Glee Club -- a real organization. The director-student relationship was a joy to see. 3) was the report of the NISA Philosophy Committee. For too long, ISA has been considered an organization of students who weren't able to get into Greek organizations. This committee struck a positive note with a sound philosophy of what an Independent believes. It is simply stated -- "Students who believe in freedom of organization, equality of opportunity, and responsibility in living." Pretty Christian, isn't it? I'll tell you more about the convention sometime (who knows when?).

This weekend is the retreat for that religious program that I have mentioned in the past. It promises to be really something. If those who are being introduced to it can catch the spirit of it, it will be the greatest thing to hit Drury.

I'll be seeing you.

Love,

Larry

There are at least four items of interest to me in this letter: my election as Senior Class President; the NISA (and the local ISA chapter); the identity of "H. Roe Bartle"; and the "religious program" referred to in the last paragraph.

My election as Senior Class President was sort of amazing. Drury's social/political life was dominated by the fraternities and sororities. I was a member of the ISA - the Independent Students Association - which was a social organization open to any student, unlike the "Greeks" which chose their members and had an elaborate initiation ritual. To be a BMOC (a "Big Man on Campus," like a Class President), it was usually presumed that you would have to be a "Greek." But I won the election, and with no campaign to boot. (I don'r remember how close the vote was). I was known to people mainly through the ISA and, even more, through my work with campus religious organizations. But that didn't necessarily make one popular. "I must have done something good," as the song says.

The local ISA was an active organization, but I would guess that most of its membership was drawn from out-of-state students. Drury had two distinct groups of students - those from Missouri (Drury was located in Springfield, MO), and those from out-of-state, New England in particular. It was founded by Congregationalists and had an historic connection with that denomination. That connection drew scores of students from Congregational churches in New England. I lived in Iowa, but I was at Drury because of its Congregational roots (my father was a Congregational minister). The fraternities drew mainly from the in-state group, and ISA mainly from out-of-state. Most of my friends were ISA members. It's interesting that today, the NISA seems to have no footprint in the digital world. I've searched it from several angles - nothing. It is not to be confused with the NSA (National Student Association) which was an organization of college student governments - a completely different organization. This makes me wonder if local ISA's just don't exist any more. By the way, I have no memory of attending the NISA convention at Purdue. Ellen and I went to Lafayette, IN a few years ago with Kathy Leo and Tom Goldschmid, to do a Hallowell workshop, and I don't think it occurred to me that I had been there before.

Unlike "NISA," which as far as Google is concerned, never existed, "H. Roe Bartle" is HUGE on-line (just as he himself was huge - he weighed 350lbs - some say as many as 400lbs.). He was a very colorful figure in Kansas City back in the 1950s. He was a well-known Boy Scout executive; he was Mayor for two terms; he was widely known as a public speaker (he got as much as $1000 for a speech!), but he is best known to this day as the one who lured the NFL team, the Chiefs, to Kansas City in 1963. And who knew this? His nickname was "Chief" - earned from his scouting work and his enthusiastic appropriation of indigenous people's culture into scouting culture (he spent two years in Wyoming and purportedly was made an honorary member of a Wind River tribe), and when the Dallas Texans came to Kansas City, they took his nickname as their own. All of which - the Boy Scouts, the use of indigenous culture in the NFL, his obesity, etc, - is highly problematic today! But not back then. Obviously, I was impressed.

The "religious program" referred to was a movement to "reform" campus religious life away from separate denominational groups toward an all-inclusive, ecumenical, 'All-Campus Fellowship." I spear-headed this movement along with a newly appointed college chaplain, Dr. Laurence Smith, was one of the leaders of the retreat mentioned where a cross-section of campus leaders, 40 in all, were in attendance to hear this idea proposed, and became "chairman of the board"when it was implemented in the fall of 1953. It did prove to be quite successful (despite my hyperbole!).