FondFarewells<strong>Wake</strong> <strong>Forest</strong> bids farewellto four illustrious professorswho spent their entire careersat the University influencingfour generations of students.18 WAKE FOREST MAGAZINE
Michael Sinclairprofessor of historyHE ROUTE FROM THE MOUN-TTAIN TOWN of Hendersonville inwestern North Carolina to Winston-Salem was serpentine in the late fifties,but it was a veritable crow’s flightcompared to the figurative route thatMichael Sinclair (’63) took from thereto here.It seems fitting, then, that the primarydestination of the journeys of themind on which the history professortook so many students over the yearswould be, for many Americans, theworld’s most inscrutable and inaccessible:China.Sinclair, who has retired fromteaching after spending nearly fourdecades on the faculty, was the firstfull-time faculty member inthe East Asian Studies programand for many years thehistory department’s onlyspecialist in China and Japan.As one who participated infaculty searches and workedwith those who came, he wasinstrumental in cultivatingthe increase in faculty andinterest in East Asia at theUniversity over the years.Sinclair wanted to go tocollege after graduating fromHendersonville High in 1958,but he didn’t have enoughmoney. So he enlisted in theAir Force. After attendingcryptology school, he wasassigned to the NationalSecurity Agency and spenttwenty-six months in the Philippines,setting aside four dollars for discretionaryspending every payday andbanking the rest.“Needless to say, I spent a lot ofmy off-duty time in the [base] library,”he says. “I also worked as an unpaidstaff member at the local Armed ForcesRadio and Television Service affiliate.I started as a disc jockey and workedmy way up to sports director, doingthe evening sports broadcast, a Saturdayspecial, and play-by-play of footballgames.” While on duty, a majorfocus of his work was China.Following his discharge in 1960,Sinclair enrolled at <strong>Wake</strong> <strong>Forest</strong>, butmoney was still in short supply, so heaccelerated his studies to graduate inthree years. He enrolled at StanfordUniversity on a Woodrow WilsonFellowship to study European history,but in his second year there, an opportunitycropped up that would sharplyalter the course of his career.“To counteract over-specialization[in academe] and encourage greaterexpertise in East Asia, the FordFoundation developed, with Stanford,a double doctorate program in eitherU.S. or European history, and Asianhistory—either Japan or China,” hesays. “I chose China, as so much moreconcentration, comparatively speaking,was being given to Japan. It was awonderful opportunity, because thebest history, as has been said, is comparativehistory.”Sinclair, whose Stanford programincluded four years of formal study ofthe exceedingly difficult Chinese language,completed his doctorate afterreturning to <strong>Wake</strong> <strong>Forest</strong> in 1968.Besides his teaching and scholarship,he did consulting and translating withlocal businesses and worked with thepublic school system in developingEast Asian programs.Sinclair, who retired from teachinglast year after being diagnosed withcardiac problems, recalls fondly themany students in whose lives he madea difference over the years. He stillmeets with students and continues hisresearch, hoping to find the time to doa lot of the writing he put off due toother commitments.—David FytenJUNE <strong>2007</strong> 19
- Page 2 and 3: F EATURESEDITORCherin C. Poovey (P
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- Page 44 and 45: P R O F I L EModest manPorter Byrum
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Mark George Makovec (’98,MAEd ’
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Harry Lee Thomas (’48), March 20,
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Carroll Wayland Weathers Jr. (’53
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David Nifong McDaniel (’77), Apri
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Because of ROTC, Wake Forestand the
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Homecoming 2007Events for Reunion C
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Double DeaconsAlton L. Absher Jr. a
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