by Earl J. Prignitz '53

I have many memories of my years at Earlham college, most of which revolve around the Stout Memorial Meetinghouse, where I supervised it's construction and worked 40-44 hours a week for over two years, while I took 10-11 hours of classes and preached every Sunday at Williamsburg Friends Meeting.

That project was a unique effort from start to finish. Through the efforts of President Thomas Jones Union workers, non-union workers and volunteers worked together to accomplish the building of Stout Memorial Meetinghouse. There were three of us full timers on the staff Ed Nicholson, Bob Starbuck and me to start with. Then there was an over all supervisor from Philadelphia, Walter Coppack who came out every few weeks to check on how things were going. Later on several others joined the staff, Arnold Trueblood, Ed's brother, John H. Baxter and one more and his name I have forgotten.

I well remember laying all the block for the foundation before the brick masons arrived to lay the brick walls. I remember the time when the brick masons were just about to complete there part of the job and they were taking down their scaffolding when one of the helpers had called for a hammer and someone threw it up to him and it was just out of his reach so when he tried to catch it at the peak of the Meeting room he fell to the ground. Fortunately he only received minor injuries. And constructing the main beams for the large room and the Oberle construction firm coming and lifting them in place. I certainly remember cutting all of the trim around the windows and having others putting them in place as well as the wains- coating around the rooms. I remember how students and faculty would come out and do what volunteer work that they could to push the work along. I recall Bill Fuson laying block in the retainer wall that provided the space for the heating pipes and electrical wires to be hidden from view. And yes I remember Tom Jones one Saturday morning on top of the scaffolding using a belt sander on the exposed beams in the Wymondham room. His hair became very dusty that day! I remember D Elton Trueblood on his knees fitting the stones together on the porches and laying flooring in the library. I remember the day when the old facing bench and the beams arrived from Wymondham Meetinghouse in England. Those beams were so hard they took several saw blades to cut them. I remember getting the poplar lumber from West Virginia just two weeks before the dedication of the building was scheduled. Fortunately with a lot of help the pews were assembled and ready, even if not coated. Those a few of my memories of those years in 1950-53.

To the Editor:

As always, I was pleased to receive my Winter 2006 copy of the Earlhamite. I was also very pleased to see a story about Earlham's recent perfect-score for Post-Graduate health matriculations. Congratulations to all 13 of those students! Unfortunately, your number was off, by at least 1. As a graduate of Earlham's class of 2004, I enrolled in a post-graduate health program in 2005. My program is in Nursing, unlike any of the other recent graduates. I am studying to become a masters-prepared Nurse Practitioner at the Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions (MGHIHP).

Nursing of course, has struggled with its own identity for decades, and has often taken a back-seat to Medicine, but it seemed particularly telling to have been left off Bill Harvey's list of recent graduates pursuing careers in the health field. In the future, please try to include all allied-health professions in your articles, and not just continue the legitimization of Medicine; It will bring Nursing, and other valuable health science professionals one step closer to receiving the respect they so dearly deserve.

Sincerely,

Nicolas Houghton
Class of 2004

by Tony Bing

When I attended the thirtieth reunion of the PAGS program, one of the things alums talked of was their desire to share another off-campus experience together, perhaps revisiting sites they explored as undergraduates or sites they would have wished to see. Many talked about a trip to Jerusalem, where they could see what has taken place in recent years.

I have spent much of my time since retirement continuing my passionate involvement with the Israel/Palestine conflict, coauthoring an AFSC book, “When the Rain Returns,” making several trips to work on a school for traumatized children in Bethlehem, setting up a Friends International Center in
Ramallah, picking olives, and serving on the Middle East advisorycommittee of the AFSC. I was thus more than happy to plan an Earlham Alumni trip to catch up with realities on the ground.

With the recent Palestinian elections, that political landscape has changed dramatically since I was there in October and will undoubtedly shift even more by the time we take our fifteen day trip June 25-July 8 this summer. I hope you will consider going with us, even if you have never been before. To learn more about the itinerary, the costs, the goals, contact Julie Bruns in the PAGS office, brunsju@earlham.edu .

For a detailed description of the trip, visit: http://www.earlham.edu/~pags/israel-palestine.html .