Yankton College - Okihe Yearbook (Yankton, SD)

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'IU 1 Wt 'ln w .-'untill' I, .Q,,,....-p--'-- if 4 UM fl M... All Wllwff - ,if Hl..1WVnf' ,.,...n-use J. Eoremorb NVQ: the Class of 1921 greet the Faculty, ,-Xluumi, Students and lfrieutls of Yauktou College through this the sixth publication of the Okihe. XYL' realize its limitations, and we know that they will uot he completely over-lookecl lay you. Hut we ask you to hear with our mistakes for we like all humans are prone to error. If you Iiufl something' that amuses you, laugh: if you are tlispleasecl send your t-omplaiuts to our sueeessorsg if you liappeu to he hit pass it off as a joke, for all that is saitl hears malice towarrls uoue. Ile merciful to us for we have clone our lmest. 'l'lllC 1021 Ulilllli BOARD.

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ln the fourth annual catalog of Yankton College, that for the year 1885-6, and again in that for the following year, appears the name of George Harrison Durand, of Huron, as a student. Thus early in the history of the College did Professor Durand lay the foundation for that deep interest in the institution and that affectionate admiration for Dr. XVard, the former of which has so strongly marked all his later life, while the latter found expression in his finely conceived biography of Dr. VVard. During the immediately succeeding years he was engaged in business pursuits but at length resumed his studies at Oberlin, graduating in the year 1898 with the degree of B.Ph. Three of the following years he spent at Harvard, securing the degrees of BA. and MA., serving also as Instructor in English at Oberlin for one year. :Xt the close of his post graduate study he accepted a call to the chair of English at Yankton. At this time occurred his marriage to Miss Lillian Fisher, a fellow-student of the early days at Yankton. For the work of the English professorship Mr. Durand possessed unusually fine qualifications. As a foundation for the thorough training received at Oberlin and Harvard he was endowed by nature with a capacity for clear and logical thinking and, besides, a keen sense for the beautiful and artistic, not in literature alone, but also in every form of expression of man's aesthetic appreciation of nature and life. This combination of natural and acquired gifts, supplemented by the power of lucid and flexible exposition in both oral and written speech, has made him an exceptionally stimulating and inspiring teacher of English. A note- worthy illustration of the vital nature of his instruction is the long-standing custom at Yankton of the annual presentation of a Shakespeare play, in earlier years upon an extemporized out-door stage, in more recent times in the beautiful Garden Terrace Theater , which owes its existence to Professor Durand's enthusiasm for the drama. Needless to say, his pupils have the feeling that they are brought into contact not merely with the form but also with the inner spirit and essence of literary masterpieces. In 1908-09 Professor Durand, accompanied by Mrs. Durand and his son Harrison, enjoyed the delightful experience of a year of European travel and study, spending the time mainly at the Universities of Munich and Oxford. In 1911, receiving the unsolicited honor of a call to an associate professorship of Eng- lish at Oberlin, he accepted but at the end of the first year, though he could have re- tained the position permanently, he decided to return to Yankton-a strong proof of the depth of his interest in Yankton College. On his return he resumed the du- ties of the English chair and was also appointed Vice President of the Institution, aiding President VVarren in promoting its financial interests. The fact that Yankton alumni and former students retain an unusually warm concern for the welfare of the College is largely due to the sympathetic contact that Professor Durand main- tains with them both personally and through the alumni quarterly, The Yanktonais, for the existence of which he is mainly responsible. Long may his fruitful labors continue in behalf of the institution to the interests of which he has been so loyally devoted! W. j. McMurtry. 5

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