Gerald W. Smith Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield

Gerald W. Smith 91
the program cormittee for the annual meting of the Western
of the years. I began to serve on some of the cormittees
ically at the offices of the Illinois Education
I fomd associations and friendships with
members in a wider circle around West
those programs. It was during
in a state offlce,
began rqy career the
g h School Athletic
the century as a managing and regulating organization for inter-school athletics
and had gown in prestige and in strength through the years. During the years
that I had been at Media and Alexis the association was reorganized and its
actfvities broadened to include all inter-school activities, music, spech and
all sorts of things as well. The board of directors for this association was a
small board, s m six or seven members elected by regions of the state and I
was elected to serve on that bomd and did begin semring on it . . .
Q.
What was this board called, Emy?
A. Board of Di~ctors, Illinois Hgh School Association.
serve on that board in 1940.
And I began to
Q. Elected 1940, Okay, good. Were there other . . .
A, Well, I think I've given a direction in which it went.
Q. . . . And this now takes us really up to World War 11, I guess, or your
involvenmt . . .
A. Yes, I think I've said enough about Alexis to give some indication. I
would say again that when I was ready to leave there I was very happy that
I had accepted the invitation to come there. I had become broadly involved in
codty affairs of all kinds, as well as in school. Ow children had
grown fromthree year old and a six month old to children in school. By the
the we left Alexis, we made many fkiendships and we have always looked upon
those yeaxs with great warmth.
Q. This winds up most of the discussion prior to Mr. Smlthfs entry into
military service during World War 11. We '11 put nothing more on this aide of
the tape at this point, so this is the end of this particular section; when I
tum the tape ovw, we will then be ready to talk about the next phase in
@my's life.
Ehd Of SIRE ONE
Q. We 're now in 1942 at the start of the interlude in your career as 'an
educator caused by World War 11. I'm sure there are some thoughts and 1 interpretations
and ideas that you'd like to have get into the record, $0 the
floor is your's, sir.
A. Yes, I spent approximately four years in the service from bky of 1842
until Masch of 1946. My service begm, in May. At box College I
four years of work in the ROE, s ~ t h h that g I didn't mention