 . . . Spring 2000
Grandpa at War
TO KATIE Williams '00: I just finished reading your article "Why Grandpa Went to War" in the Fall '99 issue about Prof. Donald R. Brown and his WWII interest. It seemed that remembering was part of the professor's aim for his class. I'm writing for three reasons. One, because I enjoyed your article. Two, because you are from Okemos, Michigan, and Okemos High School was one of the stellar athletic powers when I battled them as a Williamston High School athlete back in the "dark ages" (1940s).
The third reason relates to WWII. In Tontelonge, Belgium, my medical group manned an aid station in the kitchen of a home. In that home was a 10-year-old girl who used to come and visit each evening. I tried out my high school French with her, and she finally stamped her feet in disgust, put her hands on her hips and announced, "Vous parlez Francais comme la babe" (You speak French like a baby).
The sentence stayed in my mind for some reason, and three years ago, my daughter and I went to Belgium to find the "little" girl. After three hours of search and my speech—"Je parle la Francais plus mal" (I speak French very badly), and often the national responding, "Why don't you speak English?"—we found her in Arlon, Belgium, now a grandma. She and her husband took us back to Tontelonge for an afternoon of reunion and remembering with other people who were 10-year-olds during the war.
That evening my daughter and I ate in a café on McAuliffe Square. I purchased a commemorative bottle of wine from the waitress, and as we stood to leave, a young woman eating with her family asked, "Were you there?"
"I helped," I said.
"Thank you," she said.
Perhaps Professor Brown would be interested to hear that young Belgian folks remember. Maybe he knows this already.
Thanks for listening to another war memory. It's a better memory than lots of others, I think.
Richard Hagerman DDS
Wendell, Idaho |
"Grave Subjects" Disinterred
THANK YOU you for the excellent and absorbing article (Linda Robinson Walker, "Grave Subjects," Fall, 1999) on the unseemly scramble in the early days of the Medical School to obtain the cadavers necessary for training in anatomy. I was reminded of a similar essay by W.L. Godshalk in the Michigan Quarterly Review, sometime in the '70s, about the unacademic competition for the bodies even of the abandoned and outcast.
It has been over 25 years since I read it, but I still remember Godshalk's account of how the Younger Brothers, together with Frank and Jesse James and others, in 1876 foolishly announced that they would rob the bank in Northfield, Minnesota, on a particular day. When they appeared, the armed citizenry ambushed and killed three of the gang, arrested the three Youngers (who got life sentences), while the James brothers escaped.
As luck would have it, an alert and loyal alumnus (perhaps it was a faculty member) of the Medical School was passing through Northfield on that day and, after a word with the undertaker, arranged for the remains of the gang members, unloved in Northfield, to be shipped to Ann Arbor to advance the cause of medical education. One wonders how many other alums kept their Alma Mater in mind when suitable opportunities for resupply arose.
Norman T. Burns '53 AM, '67 PhD, Eng. Lang. & Lit.
Vestal, New York |
I WISH to express my appreciation for another remarkable article by Linda Robinson Walker, this time regarding the birth of the U of M Medical School. It was an illuminating and occasionally appalling work. Today, it is hard to believe that body snatching was such a necessary part of the development of modern medical procedures, and only 150 years ago. I was pleased to learn some details of George Pray's involvement in this history. It gives more substance to the family genealogy.
With regard to Merlin W. Schultz's inquiry about the relationship of Prof. Carl Pray of Eastern Michigan University to George Pray, Carl was in the lineage of George's older brother, Nathan. Thus, George was Carl's great grand uncle, I believe. There is a building at EMU named for Carl Pray.
Donald D. Dodge '48E
Dearborn, Michigan |
I WOULD like to reply to the question about the possible relationship between George Washington Pray (1825-1890), author of the Diary and Carl Pray (1870-1949), head of the history department at Eastern Michigan University. Carl Pray was the son of Esek Pray (1838-1915) and Frances Alvina Torrey (1835-1883). Esek Pray was the son of Nathan Pray (1814-1881) and Sally Ann McCormick (1815-1866). Nathan Pray was the brother of George Washington Pray. Nathan and George were the sons of Esek Pray (1790-1856 and Sally Ann Hammond (1792-1870). George, therefore, was Carl's great uncle.
Margaret Bronson '66
Plymouth, Michigan |
WHILE I was delighted to see some honor given to Dr. Zina Pitcher in Michigan Today, I am disappointed in the negative slant given his medical credentials. Since Dr. Pitcher was also a distinguished botanist (as were many physicians of his day—often out of necessity), I have been looking into his life for many years.
What is the basis for your author's claim that "he had no medical degree"? According to my sources, he received his MD from Middlebury College (Vermont) in 1822, and was immediately appointed assistant surgeon in the US Army by President Monroe. On Friday July 13, 1832, he was promoted to full surgeon by President Jackson. During eight of his years in Army service, he was stationed in Michigan (Fort Saginaw, Fort Brady and Fort Gratiot). He resigned his commission in 1836 and came to Detroit to practice medicine.
Dr. Pitcher published over 40 scientific papers. He was president of the Michigan State Medical Society when the AMA met in Detroit in 1856 and elected him its 10th president. He was appointed a U-M Regent in 1837 and was reappointed by the governor (no matter of which party) until 1852, when the post became elective (presumably he chose not to run for office). University catalogs of early faculty and officers list him as "MD."
Not only was Pitcher chairman of the Regents committee that brought in a favorable report about establishment of a medical department, but he also then served on its faculty, and was professor emeritus of obstetrics at the time of his death in 1872. Probably only Dr. William Beaumont equaled Dr. Zina Pitcher in distinction among 19th-century Michigan physicians.
Linda Robinson Walker replies: Zina Pitcher attended medical school at Castleton in Vermont but has no degree from there. I assumed that that meant his 1822 degree from Middlebury was an undergraduate degree. But Edward Voss is right. Middlebury College officials confirm that, for various legal reasons, it was Middlebury that conferred the medical degree, even though Pitcher may never have set foot on Middlebury soil. Castleton is still a state school, about 40 miles from Middlebury.
WHILE YOUR story on securing cadavers for use in the early days of the Medical Department lauds Dr. Zina Pitcher for his endeavors in establishing the Department, it does not delve into the darker side of Dr. Pitcher–his grave-robbing activities.
Though circumstantial, evidence uncovered by Bernard C. Peters links Pitcher to grave robbing in Sault Ste. Marie in the mid-1820s. (See Peters's article in the fall 1997 Michigan Historical Review). Peters strongly suggests that Pitcher was particularly taking skulls from a Chippewa burial ground and sending them to a Philadelphia phrenologist for study. Peters reveals that Pitcher (at the time a US Army surgeon) continued the practice after being transferred to Fort Gibson in what was then the Indian Territory and is now Oklahoma.
Such activities were accepted as "scientific" practice in the 1800s; nevertheless, they should not be omitted from the history of those who had the foresight to establish a medical school at the University of Michigan.
Elizabeth Kulp
Fort Worth, Texas |
1946, Anyone?
IN RESPONSE to the letter of Paul Fromm '51E in our Fall 1999 issue, in which Fromm traced the origin of the "Go Blue!" cheer to his encouragement of the U-M hockey team in 1949, Charles J. Moss '51 of Midland, Michigan, reminds readers of his own Fall 1998 letter to Michigan Today. We excerpt it below–Ed.
"…I originated the cheer during Michigan's 1947 baseball season. At that time, M-Club members would sit together at various athletic events to support the members of other Varsity teams. …I began cheering 'Go Blue!' and 'Let's Go Blue!' as an alternative to the lengthier cheers such as 'locomotives' in use at the time. The brief 'Go Blue!' and 'Let's Go Blue!' could be cheered while batters came to the plate without disrupting the flow of the game. Other members of our M-Club section picked up the cheers, and we had quite a loud supportive group. Next Fall, I continued the cheer in support of the 1947 National Champion football team. And during the 1947-48 basketball season, our M-Club cheering section rooted the team to Michigan's first Big 10 basketball championship in many years with lots of 'Let's Go Blues!'
"I have been a football season ticket holder since 1965, and during that time I have felt a sense of pride each time I've heard the Michigan fans cheer the 'Let's Go Blue!' I first cheered in the Spring of 1947."
I HAVE been associated, in one way or another, as student, instructor, research associate, with eight colleges and universities across the lower 48 states. As a result I receive numerous publications from them. Michigan Today is in my opinion by far the best college or university publication for alumni that I see. It is really top quality.
Ralph G. Wells '61 PhD
Newark, Ohio |
'Bluebirds on Our Shoulders'
I AM a graduate (Violin Performance) of U-M and would appreciate it if you would pass along a message to John Ivanko. I want to tell him how much my daughter (an ardent birder) and I enjoyed his bluebird article in the Fall '99 issue. The pictures really were the icing on the cake for my 9-year-old. It's not the type of article I'd expect in your publication, which made it more of a delightful surprise for us.
Rochelle Abramson '73
Encino, California |
THANK YOU for including "Bluebirds On Our Shoulders." I was pleased to learn about the program that is helping to restore bluebird habitats and populations. I come from a family of bird lovers, and it's reassuring to know that others are actively working to make this species stronger.
Dr. Susan Barber '65
Los Angeles |
Spy Letters
I READ most of the Fall issue last night, and I wanted to just say that it was "Well Done." I have not paid much attention to it in the past, but from now on will read it more. Also tell the women at the library that I like the spy letters. ("Spy Letters of the American Revolution" is a U-M Clements Library's website–Ed.)
Harry T. Watts '51 Law
E-Mail |
U-M must be digging into the archives with mailing lists, as I have corrected the MANY mailings that arrive here–several years ago.
Krystal Holland
Kalamazoo, Michigan
|
We apologize to you and the many other readers who receive University mailings with erroneous and/or irritating designations on the labels. Michigan Today receives the lists from another department, which compiles and updates the addresses, and occasionally dredges up outdated or incorrect information for reasons that seem difficult to explain. Please send us corrections and we will forward them—Ed.
Bilingual Education
I AM writing in response to the letter of Donald Reeves '59, of Rancho Palos Verdes, California, published in the Fall 1999 issue. I beg to differ with Mr. Reeves. The issue is not speaking English. The issue is how to best educate all students no matter their color.
I taught Spanish for Spanish-speakers for nearly seven years in a public high school in California. I am not a native Spanish-speaker, however; I am African American. I was told by several of the counselors at the school that the students who took Spanish for Spanish-speakers did markedly better in their regular English classes and other coursework taught in English than those who did not take the Spanish-language class.
I do not doubt that many people of Spanish-language heritage feel that English immersion was beneficial. In fact, English immersion should be termed English submersion because all students with other than English as their native language in this country must learn to speak English whether they want to or not.
My concern is with the quality of education that students of color receive in public schools. I have spoken to a number of Hispanics who feel that they were tricked into voting for the Anti-Bilingual Education Initiative in California, which was championed, by the way, by multimillionaire businessman Ron Unz, who knows nothing about education and far less about bilingual education. The dropout and failure rates of Hispanic students as a result of this initiative have been catastrophic.
I also take exception to what Mr. Reeves states in his last paragraph "… but inferences of angry racism about people who have a different point of view are not worthy of U-M." I do not believe that my tone was angry, and furthermore his statement only seems to reinforce what I stated then—that racism and discrimination are still grave problems in the USA despite the fact that many people choose to pretend they are not.
The problem, Mr. Reeves, is not the enhancement of students' English; rather it is how students are educated that makes a difference. Why is it that education has such a low value in this country among parents, business people, professionals and students? Why is the dropout rate so high for students of color? These are not issues that will be solved by teaching students to speak English (which they already know how to do), but rather the ability of teachers to reach all students in their classrooms through exemplary teaching. There are many people of color who speak "correct English" and are still denied opportunities because of the color of their skin.
Vickie Ellison '81
Columbus, Ohio |
Seedtime
We thrust the seed into
The ready earth, intent
Upon the miracle
Each generation knows
Beyond remembering.
Now in our turn, each spring
We break the soil and sow
As if compelled, naive
As mystics are about the earth
And its engendering
We harvest twice at last
(Tired gleaners in the rimed
And dusty fields): the crop
We saved with hoe and scythe,
And memories of spring.
Edgar L. McCormick '50 PhD of Kent, Ohio, is a professor emeritus of English at Kent State University. "Seedtime" is from his collection After Equinox, Old Forge Press, Kent, Ohio, 1985.
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