University of Iowa - Hawkeye Yearbook (Iowa City, IA)

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In Memoriam fairest, richest and most enduring monument to a great and good man are the wreaths made from the garden of his heart and hung in Memory ' s hall, where the fragrance of their perfume sweetens the world behind him. Far grander and more fitting than by granite pillar or marble shaft is the memory of President Schaeffer made immortal to the students by his matchless simplicity of purpose and grace of soul which made him a winner of hearts. He is gone. Yet the results of his labor remain, as clear as crystal in the sunlight, as fixed as the stars in the sky. He had a gentleness of manner that fit him always as a garment. He was patient, kind and sympathetic, with a tolerance as broad as the afflictions of men, and a pathos as deep as the fountain of tears. Races and sex were to him a profanity: flindoo and Negro and Celt were as one; Large as mankind was his splendid humanity, Large in its record the work he has done. I remember well—and it is sacred to me—the first time I sought his aid and counsel in behalf of a student organization and saw how his great heart reached out to the most detailed interest of the student body. His hand was willing and his money ready. By an acquaintance which ripened into friendship I learned to look upon him as a typical man—most worthy for example comprehending within himself the best elements of strength and gentleness and all the majestic grace of the true scholar. He is gone. But his influence lives; lives and shall live until sweet charity forsakes the hearts of men and the sacred archives of this institution are gathered within the tomb unread forever. He was our true friend and with the poet, I say: ' Tis the way of the world: old friends pass away, And fresh faces rise in their stead; But still ' mid the din and the bustle of life We cherish fond thoughts of the dead. GEORGE WILLIAM EGAN. 15

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In Memortam editors of THE HAWKEYE have very kindly tendered me space for some brief remarks concerning President Schaeffer as I knew him personally. I have to make no apologies, fore, for writing entirely from the personal point of view. My acquaintance with Mr. Schaeffer, on account of a variety of cumstances which brought me into frequent intercourse with him, happened to be very favorable for definite appreciation of his personality. The one phase of his character I am allowed space to .speak of only one —which impressed me particularly was, in a word, his approachableness, his willingness to tolerate anybody ' s intrusion upon his time and privacy, and his successful effort to make you feel comfortable while you were inflicting the intrusion. However much he was imposed upon by loquacious advocates who thought they had something to say, he did not betray indifference, or resort to hints that you were not the most acceptable company. He did not shun iarity; rather did his manner encourage it to a degree that ularly impressed all who knew him. A few minutes ' tion sufficed to put one in easy and intimate communication with him. And then you felt that you were conversing with the real man, not the official man with guard-irons to keep you at a distance. President Schaeffer had dignity, but not the chill often mistaken for such. He never shrank from any of the severe tests which fall to the lot of college presidents and give abundant opportunity for unfavorable criticism, although he might have done so under ample cover. President Schaeffer did not have two sets of manners. The humblest man about him was received with the same tion and cordiality as the most pretentious. Rarely did a year go by that the most insignificant of his colleagues in the University did not have something for which he had President Schaeffer to thank. There was no condescension in his relations with the meanest of his fellow-men; neither was there effusiveness in the presence of those who lay claim ' to homage. His office door was open to all of us alike. Probably there is not an institution in the world where University employees as a whole enjoy such dom of consultation with the President as that existing in this University under the administration of President Schaeffer. HARRY E. KELLY. 14

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Yates Remley Gray Wells Johnson Harkness Polk Selleck Macomber Balle Safley Bloom Safford Albert Beard Howe Page Moulton Egan Speers Consigny