Ripon College - Crimson Yearbook (Ripon, WI)

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Dr. Grace Goodrich To many students and alumni Dean Grace Goodrich is the center of the Ripon College family. She is the per- son to whom students, faculty and townspeople come for consolation and congratualtion. No one is too socially insignificant or scholastically faltering to be denied Dr. Goodrich s interested attentio.»] and no one is too well placed in social and academic circles not to feel the need of her friendly counsel. Individuals and groups drop into her living room to talk politics or to listen to Beethoven or just to bask in firelight and unstrained companionship. 1 can't deside anything until I see Dr. Grace.' her alumni friends still say. Dr. Goodrich will help us.' is the pan- acea for any ill that besets sorority, townswomen's club, or faculty commit- tee. Problems related not only to the intricacies of Latin and Greek gram- mar but also to campus love affairs, philosophical premises, moonlight pic- nics. modern art— in short, everything touching the life of any Riponite, past or present—are referred to her for so- lution. '1 always feel that I am my best self with Dr. Grace.' an alumnus once said. She seems to expect me to be cheerful and tolerant and sincere and I find my- self trying to be. Hundreds of alumni will agree. It is not that Dean Goodrich is conscious of her influence or even wants it. She smiles at her friends' shortcomings and loves the delinquents the more and she lets her acquaintances chuckle and scold by turns over her misadvanlayes. Even in the sacred confines of the libra- ry she will recount with genuine enjoy- ment some incident in which she was the ridiculous figure. Miss Goodrich has no need for false dignity. Students who study with Dr. Good- rich do not learn only Greek and Latin. These languages are not mazes of strange sounds and orphan endings: they become keys to the thought and life of highly cultivated peoples. Classi- cal students form a foundation for the appreciation of all literature, they be- come aware of the best in human expe- rience through the works of men who have the wisdom of all ages. Dr. Good- rich s students, though they do not al- ways know it. acquire a finer yardstick by which to measure their desires and attainments. They have the best that education can offer. There are many faculty members whom students respect and admire. There are a few whom students lov».. Dean Goodrich stands first in the group of teachers whom Ripon students re- vere and love.

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Erna Bagemihl Miss Erna Bagemihl likes ro tell about the time she walked down Ri- pons mam street in her hiking clothes and overheard one woman observe to several others. She teaches at the col- lege.' and in the tone of one telling an incredible fact. People need occasionally to be re- minded that she teaches for (except when the occasion demands dignity) she seems like one of the students. She is not really a teacher” for the infor- mation she imparts is not superimposed upon the defenseless student but is ab- sorbed by him in his contact with her. Her approach to English literature is based on the background that the class - ics and historical studies give. Her appreciation of literature is a part of her and she makes it a part of the stu- dent by that too rare pedagogical de- vice—inspiration. Parties and picnics are never com- plete without her. It’s she who sees that everyone gets there, remembers rhe salt, and leads the crowd in every- thing from charades to roller skating. She’s such fun.” is said again and again so sincerely that no one minds its triteness. Her living room, or bet- ter still her kitchen, is the finest place for chicken sandwiches and the discus- sions of Life (with a capital L) which accompany them. When Miss Bagemihl’s friends scold her because she doesn't write essays or publish the learned paper she's sup posed to be revising, she says. I haven': lime. Her acquaintances must agree. She guides scores of freshmen yearly from Zane Grey to Dostoivsky. from themes to light essays. She deals with the good and bad points of each student's English. She inculcates in other students a love for the classics of English literature. Between classes and conferences she finds time to urge a freshman who wants to he a lawyer to go out for debate: she helps a pen- niless sophomore to get a job; she en- courages an unemployed alumnus to regain his confidence. No student ever feels she is too busy to attend to his particular problem. Once to the amusement of that day and this, someone called Miss Bage- mihl phlegmatic. Though she may be calm enough outwardly, the sheer joy of combat she displays when roused by wrongs done to some student or faculty member is awe-inspiring to watch. The fervor of her German an- cestors who migrated to escape reli- gious persecution, still lives in their red haired descendant. Miss Bagemihl. like Dr. Goodrich, and Dr. Evans, and Dr. Webster, is a Ripon graduate. She has brought to her Alma Mater enthusiasm for its fine traditions and faith in the future which she is helping to build for it.

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Dr. Jesse Fox Taintor lirif htfr fan than '.saves hj autumn ttys A. Or the Crimson rose of June beside; Fadeless, stainless shall our Crimson show Kifaon’s hearts with loyal love aglow. We have tried at Ripon. as other colleges have tried for themselves to discov- er whether the many and varied experiences of the college life- its failures, suc- cesses. errors of judgment, struggles, out reaching may not also be crystallized into a single word that shall suggest the unifying constant element in its life. In these later days someone has happily fallen upon the epithet “the intimate college as best defining that element. . . . The phrase does suggest the very essence of the thing which was present with this college in its beginning and has been a constant factor in its life to the present day. . . . The intimate college should mean, and I think it does mean here, one in which the human relations between faculty and students always overshadow the academic relations. . . . The essential thing is to serve the highest interest of the student. . . This is true in any college, but as one reads the history of Ripon College, it becomes increasingly clear that this has been the purpose to which it has steadfastly held. Excerpt from “History of Ripon College.” JESSE FOX TAINTOR. A Word of Tribute to JESSE FOX T AINTOR There has passed from our Ripon community a man of marked influence. Prof. Taintor has been for many years, and by a wide circle, a man beloved. The Taintor home has ever been a cen- ter of hospitality and charm, and The Professor. was the radiant and genial host, for he regarded the community in terms of the home. In any group in which he might have been expected to be present, there was a sense of some- thing really missed when he was ab- sent. His was not the popularity of in- dulgent good will. He was often quite critical and independent. He had likes and dislikes, but loved through both. As Professor of English Literature, he had an art of creating in his pupils a breadth of interest, and above all. that so rare and essential sense of ap- preciation and admiration which is the parent of a continued life interest in lit- erature. He had a unique style. Style is often defined as personality. Emer- son says. “We teach what we are. not involuntarily, but involuntarily. It was very much so with Prof. Taintor. He looked and acted and imparted the part. If the student brought to the class any spark of interest, he fanned this spark into a flame. He taught his students to love to read. His was not the dry-as-dust manner of critical anal- sis. Old grads are today enjoying their evenings in good reading because of him. His pupils studied to satisfy a hunger of soul, and not merely to meet an academic requirement. We all loved him. Fie loved Ripon College, and the people of Ripon. He was an outstanding citizen of no mean city. Harvard college has a phrase of high praise. They say of a man, “He has —2(