Mail from the Jack Scrivens fan club
From Matt Hanbey '91
I'm sorry to learn of Jack Scrivens's retirement from Reed. Jack brought sports to life. His enthusiasm was contagious. Armed with an easy charm and a quick smile, Jack inspired us to take up a new sport or find new appreciation for an old one. He wholeheartedly dedicated himself to his students. I remember him always being there-teaching class, cheering on students-whether it be a weeknight or weekend. And Jack cared about Reed. He took interest in our studies and our intellectual growth. Jack was the only person to stump me during my orals board! In all these ways Jack was a teacher in the truest sense. I know he'll be missed, and I'm happy to know Reed has named part of the sports center after him. I'll make sure I visit his old classroom the next time I'm on campus-the Jack Scrivens Courts.

From J. Christopher Hall '86
I really liked the picture of Jack Scrivens and Peter Steinberger (wonderful grin on Jack's and wonderful smirk on Peter's) in the last magazine. Best wishes to Jack for an athletically fulfilling retirement. I still jog regularly, something I started doing while at Reed; it helps to counteract my smoking, something else I started doing regularly while at Reed.

Raise money for poorer schools?
From Helen Thouless '95
Every time I receive a letter from Reed begging for more money for improvements to the facilities I become irritated. Why should I spend money on an institution that has beautiful facilities when there are so many other institutions of higher education that don't have a fraction of the advantages offered to the Reed students? Perhaps we should spend a portion of the money that we raise to improve the facilities of a college or university in a poorer country. A few years ago I went to visit a friend at his university in Guinea, West Africa. I was shocked by the conditions that these students had to study under. Despite their privations, they were serious students, eager to learn their subject and making the best of their poor situation. When I got back from this trip I was greeted by a request from Reed for money for a highly specialized physics lab that would benefit (as far as I could tell from the letter) ten students a year. The contrast in the facilities was just a bit too much for me to bear with equanimity. Some recent improvements at Reed were necessary-the new dorms, the chemistry and psychology buildings-but there becomes a point when we need to start thinking about those less fortunate than ourselves.

Articles that spark intellectual interest
From Joe Bunnett '42
Just a note to express my pleasure with the August issue. Besides a lot of good stuff such as an alumni magazine ought to carry, two articles stand out for their intellectual interest regardless of a reader's connection to Reed. They are Walter Englert's on Mary Barnard's translation of Sappho, and Chris Lydgate's on David Kehoe's approach to the cure of stuttering.

In my view, each issue of an alumni magazine should carry at least one article of substan- tial intellectual interest in its own right.

More on Reed family legacies
From Barry Brownell '43
I have two things I must do today: one is to send our pledge to the Annual Fund and the other is to report that I have read the latest Reed. Of interest was the letter from Dudley Lapham '43, a classmate of mine for four years at Reed. "Six" was well liked and a good student. The story says that his family has had nine members attend Reed. That was a reason to go over my Reed alumni directory and write down the members of my family who went to Reed. There are 11 on the list. I have seven children, one of which went to Reed. Both my father and mother attended Reed, as well as two uncles, a sister, a brother-in-law, a brother, a sister-in-law, an ex-wife, and a cousin. Our grandchildren are going to colleges now, and I hope some will find their way to Reed. So far, no luck, but I work on it all the time.


Home Page
Home Page