D E P A R T M E N T S S P O T L I G H T - The Taft School

AROUND THE PONDAdmiral Crowe Addresses SchoolThrough DuBois Speaker FellowshipOn Thursday, April 23, Admiral William J. Crowe, Jr., former chairman of the JointChiefs of Staff, spoke at Morning Meeting through the auspices of the newly-formedRear Admiral Raymond F. DuBois Fellowship.Admiral Crowe has had a distinguished career. A graduate of the Naval Academy,he took his master’s degree in education at Stanford and his Ph.D. in politicsfrom Princeton University. His military career had many points of distinction. Heserved in submarines, was a naval attaché to President Eisenhower, and a senioradvisor to the South Vietnamese Navy. As rear admiral, a commander of U. S. NavalForces in the Persian Gulf, and then commander-in chief of NATO forces in SouthernEurope, commander-in-chief of the Pacific Forces, the largest geographiccommand in the U.S. Military, and ultimately the eleventh chairman of the JointChiefs of Staff appointed by President Reagan in 1985, he served as chairman of theJoint Chiefs until October of 1989. Since then, he has been American ambassadorto the United Kingdom and chairman of the President’s Foreign Intelligence AdvisoryBoard, while managing to author the distinguished book The Line of Fire in1993. Ambassador Crowe has been decorated by twenty-six foreign nations, holdsthe Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, and the Air ForceMedal, among other great American awards.Raymond DuBois ’66 helped established the fellowship in memory of his father,Rear Admiral Raymond F. DuBois. When Ray was an undergraduate at Taft,his father, an admiral at that time in the Navy, talked to the student body about theissues before us in Viet Nam. “It was a riveting speech,” said Lance Odden, “onewhich all of us present will remember always. It is fitting that his colleague AdmiralCrowe should be the first speaker through this fellowship.” After morning meeting,Admiral Crowe met with history classes and talked with students about his experiencesduring the Cold War, and particularly his ground-breaking discussions withhis Soviet counterpart.The Meaning inMeetingChaplain Michael Spencer broughta series of speakers to school thisspring for Morning Meetings. Thefirst was Professor David Bartlett, academicdean of The Divinity Schoolat Yale University, as well as an accomplishedBiblical studies scholar,professor of preaching, and an ordainedBaptist minister. He offeredhis “Reflections on Easter” and wasaccompanied by the CollegiumMusicum. (See Endnote, p 79.)On April 30, Rabbi EricPolokoff from B’Nai Israel Synagoguein Woodbury shared histhoughts with the Taft communityon “The Meaning of Israel” in conjunctionwith the 50th anniversaryof the founding of the state of Israel.The Collegium also performed.Mrs. Joyce Willig, Connecticut’sfirst recipient of a liver transplant,spoke the following week on “OrganDonation and Transplantation:The Gift of Life.”Michael Spencer said that inthe years to come he plans to continuethe practice of invitingdistinguished speakers into ourcommunity to speak on topics pertainingto the religious, spiritual,and ethical life of the community.When possible, speakers are encouragedto extend their time atTaft to meet informally for discussionwith students or to visit classes.Ray DuBois ’66, Rear Admiral Crowe, and Lance OddenTaft Bulletin 35