Hood College - Touchstone Yearbook (Frederick, MD)

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is now an instructor at Wellesley in the as- tronomy departmentg and Henry, Jr., who is now an Ensign in the Navy. In 1917 President Stahr was invited to be- come pastor of Christ Reformed Church in Bethlehem, Pa., and continued to hold this pastorate for almost ten years. The next move was to Hanover, Pa., where President Stahr took over the Emanuel Re- formed Church, beginning on the first Sunday in January, 1926. Here he remained until 1930 when he assumed the responsibilities as the executive secretary of the Board of Christian Education of the Reformed Church with head- quarters in Philadelphia. Nineteen hundred and twenty-six! This year marks the beginning of President Stahr's as- sociation with Hood, with his election to the Board of Trustees. Then on July 1, 1934, he assumed the position of president, having been challenged by his fellow board members to succeed Dr. Joseph Henry Apple. He has con- tinued in that position ever since. Thus we see our President as not just a member of our Convocation procession, but as educator, minister, husband, and father. Hood College sings to you . . . DEAN MAY ET'S see, what can we do about this? That's what we might hear Dean May say at any time during the day. We ve all seen her hurrying through the halls many times, 'bent on some urgent mission. She's a very busy lady, but in spite of the fact that she has a hundred and one irons in the fire at school, she still manages to run her household and look after her young daughter, Margaret. Suppose we take what might be a typical day in the life of Mrs. May. She gets up early enough in the morning to see that Mar- garet downs that last spoonful of oatmeal and wears her rubbers for slushing through the puddles. After she says good-bye to Margaret, she is confronted by many pressing household duties. Having discharged these without too much difficulty, she makes her way to Ad building. There things really begin to happen! She finds that one or two of the 30 advisers must see her about urgent problemsg three or four of the students have to see her about other ur- gent problemsg the President informs her that the speaker for the next day's public event program has a serious cold and doesn't think he can make itg Dr. Eister finds some flaw in the plan for the new faculty library, Miss Bower has to see her, immediately about the latest candidate for Honors Papers, the Re- gional Association of Deans of Wmnen and Advisers of Girls is having a meeting next week and she simply has to attend! By the time three or four o'clock comes, these proh- lems have been duly dispensed with in Mrs. May? s efficient manner. About this time, Mar- garet comes home from school and begs to go riding. The Dean, weary from her day of making decisions, smiles and agrees to her young daughter's wish. At dinner that night Mrs. May entertains a group of freshmen, aided and abetted by Margaret. That night we can well imagine

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and through, as the A No. 1 solicitor for the swimming pool fund. We see him leading us in our chapel and vesper services, we know him as our host at Thursday night and Sunday dinnersg and at Braddock picnics he's a jolly good fellowf, But here is the story behind the story behind the man who is the father of four hundred girls and more . . . Lock Haven, Pa., was the birthplace of President Stahr, on November 6, 1880. He is the oldest of four children-the other three were girls. One of the sisters is Dean of Women at Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pa., another has been teaching in the Norfolk fVa.j High School for many years, and the third sister is married and lives in Oley, Pa. As a boy, he began his formal education in a one-room school house, attended the now non-existant Oley Academy, and at 16 entered Franklin and Marshall. As an undergraduate, President Stahr served as assistant manager and then manager of the baseball team, president of the literary society, and also president of the Y. He was president of his class, and since graduation has also been alumni presi- dent, class of 1900. And to add the personal touch, his uncle, Dr. John Stahr, was presi- dent of F 66 M at the time. Upon graduation, President Stahr served as principal of a small township high school near State College, Pa. After a year in that capacity, he returned to his alma mater to teach Latin, Greek, history, German, and even a little math thrown in-all in a period of six years! But as if this program was not complete in itself, during the last three years of this period, besides teaching, President Stahr carried a full academic program at the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Church in Lancaster. He was graduated from that institution in 1908. On a graduate scholarship he did further work in Latin, Greek, and philosophy at Cornell uni- versity. He again returned to his alma mater, however, to resume teaching until he took over the pastorate of the Faith Reformed Church in Reading, Pa. Married life began for President and Mrs. Stahr on February 2, 1914 in Bookline, Mass., where they were wed at the bedside of Mrs. Stahr's mother who was an invalid during the latter years of her life. They first met when Mrs. Stahr came to Lancaster to teach at Miss Stahr's School, run by President Stahr's cou- sin. Mrs. Stahr eventually became principal of that institution, of which the present day successor is the Lancaster Country Day School. Included in the Stahr family are the three children of President and Mrs. Stahr. Sara 'api .Nu 'l if I K l '-ESQ: Ez, 3. Louise, who was graduated from Hood in 1939 and is now engaged in technical writing in Philadelphia, Mary Elizabeth, a Hood girl who transferred after a year to Wellesley and re- ceived her Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of California last summer, and

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that she turns gladly to her bed so that she can be prepared for the next busy day. This is a day that we imagine as typical in the life of our Dean. It is a day that is filled to the brim with not only her problems, but also those of many other people. But in spite of this busy schedule, Dean May has a ready smile for all those with whom she comes in contact. Her personality is so open and heart- warming that we are drawn to her when we first step into her oiiice. She seems to under- stand and want to help us in just the way we think we should be understood and helped. img 1 O Q ! r MISS PERRY 'P A E' VE all paid a visit to that little oflice fa . , EM 13 just off Ad Lobby, but we 11 bet you never realized how much of your life was centered in that room. This office knows all about you, where you came from, what you're doing, what your future hopes and dreams areg and even what kind of a person you are. Many a trembling freshman has been sum- moned here by a note typed in blue print. She is greeted at the outside oflice by Mrs. Pilgrim, Miss Perry's tall, attractive secretary. There is reassurance on her face as she points to the bench out in the hall and says, Miss Perry is busy now, but won't you be seated? When the door opens, the freshman has her first glimpse of our Director of Student Personnel. She is a charming lady who extends her hand and says, Won't you come in? Feeling be- gins to flow back into our freshman's veins as Miss Perry asks how she is getting along, and how she and her roommate like each other. At the end of her 15 minutes visit she feels almost as through she were at home talking to someone who was interested in her as a person. The mere welcoming of freshmen, however, is not the only job of the Director of Student Personnel. If each of us knew the number of jobs that went on in that office, our 20-page assignment in English lit would seem in- significant. Besides welcoming freshmen, she tries to have every student for dinner and for coffee at her home fby candle lighty after- wards. She is chairman of so many activities that it seems impossible for any one person no carry them out. We have come to think of Miss Perry as one of the persons to whom we fly whenever some seemingly gigantic problem confronts us. In spite of the fact that she knows all about us, we know very little about her. Most of us at one time have had a peek at all or some of her famous cup collection. She has some from every place she has ever visited. And did you know that she is a native of Ohio and still lives in the same house that she was born in? Resid- ing in that same town are five nephews' fmake