Gerald W. Smith Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield

Gerald W. Smith 67
opportunity to see sore of the people at Knox whose activities reached
into the Galesbmg comunity. I had lived with Mr. brey,
larly at our dinner meting at the Galesbwg Club I had
with people who were, of course, mng the outstanding leaders
community. Som of the older people tied to Knox College had
their families had lived there and their families were still
Those people's lives were associated both with Galesburg and with the
college and somhow or another, I think I solrt of got a feel for that kind
of thing.
Q. Maybe for the implementation of leadership. Let me reveal one of
own biases here, Gerry, which underlie the question. I keep thinking again
and again of your complete imrsion and complete assimilation into that
little community in Zeavjng with all of its matifaceted experiences; work-
ing experiences, social experiences, religLous experiences, educatianal
experiences and so on. You had it seem to me a pasp of the totality of
existence which clearly would--from rry feeling--would be an essential con-
dition for a comunity leader or a person with comnunity feeling of
responsibility would have had to experience somwhere along the line.
A. Well, of course I don't know, maybe that gave me the background and
undergriding to respond to that kind of thing, I lm not sure. I wasnl t
aware of it. (lams)
Q. No, of course not, so let's not spend anymore tim. This to me is
one of the mst interesting aspects of citizen leadership in our kind of
society, so this is why I bring it up, so please go ahead.
A. Our students at Knox, by the way, the student body of Knox was made up
of an interesting mix, like all of the liberal arts colleges, I suppose,
within two or three hundred miles of the large cities. The Chicago area
made a sipificant contribution to the student body of Knox, par%icularly
the Cook County corrmnmities outside the city made up a sizable portion of
our student body. But likewise, the student body was made up of young
people flvm mny conmnities in Illinois of the smaller type, the cornunities
of five hundred or a thousand. I suppose because of rqy background f"rom
Malden and Zearing mst of qy close associates at Knox turned out to be
people that had a rather similar experience, although they cam not from
northeast of Galesburg where I came from, but mre to the west and south-
west of Galesburg. I guess it was coincidence that John McHenry whose
father was a banker in Biggpville [IlUnois] a town of about five hundred
southwest of Galesburg, was a rnernber of class. We fomd a lifelong
friendship out of that; he himself went into banking in Peoria.
Jams McMillan, or Jim McMillan, whose father was a dentist in Macorfb ,
Illinois, was mng the close friends that I had. Jim's profession turned
out to be the Presbyterian dnistry; he is retired now and lives in Macomb.
Henry Selters, fmm Clayton, Illinois, a town between Galesburg and Wncy,
a comunity of a thousand or so, whose father was a f mr and who later
had so= business interests in the town of Clayton--Henry cam there, then
later went on to further training in the store rmagemnt for the Kresge