Groton High School - Retrospect Yearbook (Groton, NY)

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MR. ROBERT J. WILSON Q JUNE 1957 27 28 TEACHER

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DEDICATIG In our town there are a few individuals who are outstanding for the influence they have had upon the people and the town, of these, Mr. Robert J. Wilson is one. His thirty years of inspired teaching have left their imprint upon the reluctant minds of two generations of Grotonians. His activities as dispenser of knowledge, vice-principal, census taker, town historian and guest speaker par excellence have made a valuable contribution to our town. It is for this devoted service that we dedicate the 1958 In Rezfrorpect tc UR. We asked Mr. Wilson to fill us in with an autobiographical sketch which follows in his own inimitable style. Groton has always been my town. I was born in a small farm house on the out- skirts around the turn of the century. In 1919 I graduated from the old Groton Academy which was THE school of its day. I left Groton for a few years to attend Syracuse University, but in 1926 I returned, armed with two degrees Csumma cum laudeb and membership in two honorary societies, Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi. And so I began my teaching career. In that first school, the principal, Frank Page and I were the only men on the faculty of approximately 20 teachers. We held our own though. I conducted classes in the beauties of Latin, the mysteries of History, essentials of English, and the revela- tions of Earth Science and Biology. You see, at that time there was no specialization of teachers in subject matter as there is now. However this experience earned me the right to a life certificate which enables me to teach any high school subject. As far back as 1928 I decided I'd like to take a little trip at Easter time. So a man by the name of F. Cameron Van Zile conducted a tour of the senior class to Washington, D. C. and New York City and I went along for the tide - even helped out for a few years here and there. During my years here in Groton I've moved around from being one of two lonely men on the faculty to being vice-principal for seven years, assistant to janitors from time immemorial, and sometime father confessor for bus drivers and failing seniors. As a member of the public library board I tried to keep the patrons from reading lurid literature for 21 years. During the summers I assisted in the State Department of Education as examiner of citizenship education papers for 22 years and I was a perma- nent member of the staff for one year. Somewhere along the way someone got the idea that I'd make a town historian of a sort. So I took on that little job and spent Sunday afternoons in deserted grave yards tracing the ancestries of Groton's citizens and attended numerous luncheons, dinners and teas to relate the town's history. In 1957 a former science teacher in Groton asked me to join his staff at Cascadilla School in Ithaca and after a great deal of consideration, I accepted this position. And as I packed my memoirs which consisted mainly of six squirt guns, two dozen rubber bands, several letters from worried parents, and 10 pair of gift cuff links, I knew that I was leaving a town that I'll always think of as My Town. yi 4

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PRINCIPAL' MESSAGE The recognition that you .are giving Our Town is commendable. It demon- strates a growth in maturity for you in recognizing that your community has played a valuable and important part in your education. Each of you will carry a portion of Groton with you wherever you may go. The combination of Our Town with other towns will continue to serve as the foundation for democracy in America. PRESIDENT HOWARD BOARD OE EDUCATIO l