Spring 2004 - Becker College

used as dormitories or offices.
In 1952 the trustees purchased the Sibley Mansion on
Route 9 in Leicester. (It is now a restaurant, the
Spencer Country Inn.) It was a 20-room house on 37
acres and provided a residence for the president as well
as some student housing. Ultimately, the number of
returning servicemen shrank and enrollment diminished.
At that point the
trustees made a daring
decision. They determined
to establish
Leicester Junior College as
a top ranking school by
bringing in a new president
with outstanding
skills and experience.
They chose Dr. Paul R.
Swan, a graduate of Clark
University, who had been
on the staff of Worcester
Polytechnic Institute for 30
years. He took office in
1954 and immediately
began to make a differ-
President Paul R. Swan
1954-1965
ence. Enrollment grew
substantially because he
took an active part in
admissions, traveling extensively and writing volumes of
letters.
Once again, student life was lively. The college had
its own ski tow and a variety of clubs catered to many
interests. There was the rifle club, a dance band, camera
club, drama club, a photo lab and the usual sports.
An international relations club was organized to accommodate
the many students from foreign countries. A
few years later saw the addition of a debating club and a
sports car club.
Spring Weekend in 1954 was a three-day series of
events both on and off campus. The Saturday night
dance was held at the Franklin Manor in West Boylston.
According to the school newspaper, The Ledger, there
seemed to have been an unusually large number of
interesting corsage boxes
on hand, just the right size
for a bottle!
Professor Arthur
Clayton arrived on campus
in 1955 and, over the next
13 years, made an indelible
impression. He was an
outstanding teacher of economics
and a devoted
sports enthusiast; selfappointed
record keeper,
rooter and cheerleader.
He never missed a basketball
game home or away
and his spirited support of
the Minutemen inspired
both players and spectators.
Mr. Clayton was an
Englishman with a colorful
personality who was subject
Professor Arthur Clayton
was a fixture at Leicester
Junior for 13 years.
to dramatic mood swings. His white hair also underwent
frequent changes to various shades of red!
Professor Clayton, “Artie” was a bachelor who had no
family in America. He lived on campus as the proctor
in Coombs House, now LeRoux’s Market, and was
devoted to “my boys” and the college. Spring would
officially begin on campus when students hoisted his
bicycle to the top of the flag pole. His colleagues knew
how disappointed he was one year when that didn’t happen.
The suddenness of his death on March 19, 1968
stunned the entire college community. The saddened
college soon learned that he had bequeathed his entire
estate of $30,000 to the school. Because of his enthusiasm
for sports, the trustees decided to use the gift for
the start of a gymnasium fund. When the gym was constructed
in 1973, his ashes were buried in the wall of the
building and his portrait was hung in the lobby.
A much needed library was built on the site of the
Winslow Mansion in 1963 and named the Swan Library
in honor of the president. It is a beautiful Georgianstyle
brick structure and, at the time it was dedicated,
the sunken garden remained directly to the left of the
building. The following May, Mrs. Robert H. Goddard,
widow of Professor Goddard of rocket fame, spoke to a
group assembled in the library. She showed a color film
of late rocket development, a gift to her from Dr.
Werner von Braun.
The sixties was a decade of loss as well as progress.
Dr. Elliott P. Joslin, Class of 1886, died in January of
1962. Dr. Joslin was a pioneer in the clinical use of
insulin and founded the Joslin Clinic in Boston as well
as camps in Charlton and Oxford for diabetic children.
After graduating from Leicester Academy, he continued
his education at Yale and Harvard Medical School. A
staunch supporter of his alma mater, he always maintained
that he owed all he was to the Academy. He reinforced
this belief in the commencement address he
delivered in 1956, seventy years after his own graduation.
When Dr. Swan retired in 1965 the school had grown
considerably and was financially strong. Dr. Henry
Borger, a Dean at Clark University, took over. He began
to consolidate the campus by selling the Sibley Farm
that had served as the president’s home since 1960 and
making the Swan Tavern his residence. Then he began
to build.
(to be continued)
Leicester Junior College students in 1941
BECKER BRIDGES / 9