Northwood University - Northwood Yearbook (Midland, MI)

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ginning”, he recalls, “with two buildings: The Smith Building and the home of Ammi W. Wright, a wealthy man in early Alma.” Together with his statements of Arthur E. Turner and R. Gary Stauf- fer laying tile floors in these old buildings, he remembers them work- ing late at night the day before the first registration to finish a small snack bar in the Wright Building, which he said that Mr. Turner felt was a necessity for any college. Early Northwood had such extracurricular activities as a basketball team (coached by Gary Stauffer), a singing ensemble (directed by Dean Stauffer,) fraternities, sororities, a ski club, and “big parties with live bands and elaborate decorations.” “What do | like about Northwood? | like the small size, the small classes, the close relationship between instructor and student. | like the dynamic and progressive leadership of President Turner and Vice- President Stauffer, the confidence the provosts have had in me, the feeling that | am helping someone recover and or uncover their po- tential.” He feels that perhaps the best ten years of his life have been spent at Northwood. Despite age differences, he feels a good rapport with his students and gets to know them quite well through the themes they write. “| get to see inside them,” he adds. “I consider them all to be more good than bad, and more honest than adults when it comes to admitting faults and weaknesses”. He adds, “Young people see the ills and hypocrisies of present day society and seriously want to do something about it.” Parm Mayer gives the following words to young writers: “Have rhi- noceros hide instead of skin. Rejection slips hurt! Acceptance in any field is difficult, he claims, but acceptance is very satisfying. Revise, revise, revise .. . the secret of writing is rewriting.” “Never give up,” Mayer concludes. “| have had poems and stories accepted after 30 and 40 submissions.” “Poems grow from seeds,” claims this most famous author and writer, “seeds which are imbedded deep inside you. But not until you've worked the ground over and over again.” Upon leaving his small office on the second floor of Alma’s Northwood building, we asked Northwood'’s distinguished man of many words his opinion of the greatest word in the English language: “The word is love. As poet W. H. Auden said, ‘Unless we love one another, we die.” 91

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NN aan First Row: Robin Allport, Sharon Lindline, Holly Harshaw, Suzanne Quinn, Lynn Jo Thumin, Mrs. Madeline Wash- burn, Joyce Hall, Jodi Loose, Susan Duggan, Susan Marts, Sue Chenoweth. Second Row: John Zaenglein, Gerry Book Drive Heads Tenth Anniversary Activity Thatcher, Mark Warner, Tom Dufresne, Dr. Theodore Vosburgh, Grant Smith, Bill Hollington, Tom Pirwitz, Ka- zuo Matsubara. 93