Farewell to the Oddens Farewell to the Oddens - The Taft School

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E N D N O T E resting comfortably in his bed and thus, he was caught. The clock hands were returned the next day and for a summer, the student lived at Taft and worked for the town. Horace Taft was a firm but creative and loving man. Mr. Taft never liked to see anyone hurt. Imagine this: on Saturday nights in the 1920s, dinner was black tie and the school orchestra played. The wife of the athletic director, Jeannie Shons, then in her late twenties, was every boy’s romantic fantasy, and I can believe this because she was in her seventies when I first arrived, and she was still an astonishingly beautiful woman. One Saturday night, a graduate of the previous year returned from Yale for dinner and asked Jeannie to dance. She accepted, and they whirled amongst the tables eliciting admiration from all the boys while Jeannie earned the total disdain of faculty wives, who were shocked and envious. Afterward, when she entered Horace Taft’s living room for coffee, every wife present turned her back. Seeing this, Mr. Taft bellowed, “Jeannie, you look so beautiful tonight, I would have danced with you myself had I been a younger man.” Point made. Horace Taft was not perfect. He was not a Lincoln Republican when it came to race, for African Americans were not welcome as students in his time. In turn, he did not countenance coeducation as a viable educational principle. However, he did welcome Catholics and Jews when most boarding schools did not. He was slow to recognize the importance of science. He would be dumbfounded to find all that we offer today. He loved music, but had little interest in the visual arts and, in general, creative activities were not part of his curriculum. In each of these areas, his vision paralleled that of his generation. I also believe that he did not imagine how rich, rewarding, and creative learning might be. Of the changes of the past 35 years, our success in Advanced Placement programs, in Independent Studies, and most recently in Senior Seminars, has shown how remarkably talented and self-reliant Taft students can be. In Horace Taft’s day, there was material to be mastered, and the idea that students might generate their own courses or projects for their own search for meaning or for their own intellectual quest was unthinkable. Again, he was in sync with his era. In one area, however, he was light-years ahead. Horace Taft believed deeply in principles and in pursuing a life of ideals. A Unitarian by upbringing, he loved to debate religious issues. Once following a dinner hosted by Taft, Father Sill, the Episcopal priest who founded Kent, wrote “My Dear Horace, thank you for a wonderful dinner and a great conversation about religion. You should continue to worship in your way and we, of course, will worship in His.” Horace Taft’s way was rooted in the Judeo-Christian world. He carefully chose from the Gospel of Mark our school motto. Chapter 10:42–45, “And Jesus called [the Disciples] to him and said to them, ‘You know that those who are supposed to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be the first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’” Of course, from this paragraph, Horace Taft, chose Non ut sibi ministretur sed ut ministret. Not to be ministered unto but to minister. These words reflect the genius of Jesus’ life. Whether he was a Jewish prophet or the Christian son of God, he had the wisdom to challenge humanity to rise above its innate selfishness and to understand the paradox that it is in helping others that we help ourselves most fundamentally. We find our purpose on earth, our very being, by helping others. This was Mr. Taft’s deepest belief and it is our most important credo today. I ask you to consider who your heroes are. I suspect they are individuals of conscience who have reached out to help others. I suspect that they are not defined by the money they have made, but by the lives they have touched. Inevitably, the people we admire are the ones who have served others. In our world of rampant selfishness, of self-actualization through materialism and personal adventure, we need to remember the power of human connections, of caring for each other, and of trying to find new ways to make the world a better place. Several years ago, I asked a group of seniors who their heroes were. They cited rock and movie stars and professional athletes. There were no political figures, no intellectuals, no spiritual leaders. However, they did cite their parents and grandparents, and their teachers, coaches, and advisors. They gave witness to the power we have to help them as they shape their character and seek for meaning in their lives. I believe if we live by Horace Taft’s beliefs, we will challenge students to be better people and to live more generous lives. In the chaotic world our students live in, the simple Victorian virtues of our school have remarkable power in helping youth define themselves and their way. Recall again Horace Taft’s virtues: personal honor, hard work in every important endeavor, empathy for others, the obligation to be responsible for ourselves, the obligation to go into things and make them work, the understanding that school—and indeed life—is what we make of it, the call to help others and thereby to help ourselves. Once Horace Taft wrote to his fellow headmaster, Sherman Thacher: “Whenever I see a youngster who never thinks about anything but himself, of getting and spending money and making the easiest life possible, it is hard to see what harm I can do in upsetting any creed he claims to have. The greatest problem is how to stir our students’ determination to do the right thing.” Indeed, our calling is to serve our students by stirring their determination to do the right thing, not just here, but always. Lance Odden adapted this column from his opening address to the faculty in September. 40 Spring 2001
The Lance R. Odden SCHOLARSHIPS An endowment fund to provide financial aid to Taft students established in honor of Lance R. Odden, headmaster of The Taft School from 1972 to 2001 The board of trustees invites graduates, parents, and friends of the school to join them in honoring Lance Odden through the establishment of a permanent endowment fund to provide financial aid to a select group of talented and motivated students. The Lance R. Odden Scholarships pay tribute to Lance’s extraordinary leadership of Taft during his twenty-nine year tenure as the school’s fourth headmaster. Lance has been the central figure in the life of the school. He has put his heart and soul into seeing Taft emerge over the past three decades as one of the nation’s leading independent schools. At the same time, he has had a profound influence upon the course of education in America as president of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges and the Connecticut Association of Independent Schools, founder of the Taft Education Center, and as chairman of A Better Chance and trustee of the National Association of Independent Schools. The Lance R. Odden Scholarships will bring to Taft a select group of talented and motivated students who show promise of fulfilling Horace Taft’s and Lance Odden’s highest aspirations for young people. Each, as headmaster, saw the education of the whole person as the mission of the School. Each saw a student’s experience at Taft as crucial to the formation of lasting principles and values. Each took great delight in seeing young people build from a foundation acquired at Taft to lead productive lives as concerned and committed citizens. In establishing The Lance R. Odden Scholarships, the board of trustees believes there is no more fitting way to recognize what Lance has given to Taft and to education in America than to create a significant program that bears his name. Following his personal preference, the program will bring to Taft what he believes in most: students eager to reach for the best in themselves as they develop their character, potential, and capacity to lead. To learn more about The Lance R. Odden Scholarships or to discuss any aspect of a contribution, please contact either Jerry Romano, director of development, at 860-945-7738 or Chip Spencer, director of planned giving, at 860-945-7751. Direct e-mail to RomanoJerry@TaftSchool.org or SpencerC@TaftSchool.org or write to either at 110 Woodbury Road, Watertown, CT 06795.
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