Perky Tales 5

Perky Tales

Volume 5 Dress for success!

My Father had a refinement that I have never attained. His dress and personal care were accoutrements to his fine manner of living. He wore a coat and tie so effortlessly. During my years at Perkiomen I was in a growth spurt that turned my collars into tourniquets. Wearing your tie with the collar undone was like walking around with your tongue hanging out. Probably was, too, in my case, for I stopped buttoning altogether and accepted my slovenliness with good humor. No, I didn’t matriculate in the fashion department anymore than in the academic arena. The parts of School life that I appreciated had to do with Activities and Extracurricular Events. And six days a week, no, no, make that seven days, we put on the ceremonial robes at School. I equated a tie with sudden death every time I had to bend over.

That was what my mentor, Anthony Zuercher, called them, coats and ties, referring to canonical terminology. I had trended away from that fashion. I was his engineer in training, still a jack of all trades; I learned to use tools instead of ties to get this or that task done. A working Engineer won’t wear a tie around his equipment. Not in the business I was in at least. No tie for me! Blue collar, that’s what you’d describe to me, if you met me on the street. Clean, patched up, and appears to be in good working order. But lacking in the sartorial elements, save cheap, didn’t stop me from doing what I wanted to do. And I was grateful to Perky for that demeanor, too. Self Reliance wasn’t tied to cloths or books but was fostered by the community we became every fall.

Mentoring was a theme for me after my days at Perkiomen. It was available from the teachers in the 1960’s and I formed many friendships on the road to but never found a special bond you sometimes find with an older person. Not to say the School didn’t offer this but just not for me. This possibility is an advantage of a small student body and a wise group of educators. The teachers were approachable, some lived on campus, and I believe many a boy drew buckets of knowledge from the adults who lived in our world. For true mentoring to take place the setting must also be amenable to peace and harmony as well. Life on Seminary Avenue was like that thanks to its straight arrow approach towards the positive.

False expectations were exposed early on. What hadn’t been weeded out by the admissions process wilted on the vine in the face of the Group Ethic, pervaded with the foundation of hope. The synergy of the dynamic student body was made possible by students who were diverse in many other respects; race, culture, with a nice International element for Culture with a capitol “C” as well. Eddie from Iran was a good person and that was the baseline expectation from all of us by the Trustees. Creating a harmonious Administration and Student Body in the 60’s was a feat that was accomplished with a little help from an underlying keel of knowledge. The school was like catamaran in that analogy with two sources but only one really used. The Swenkfelder Library seemed to be our enigma. The Carnegie Library was where the work got done. Dr. Jack Rothenberger was a pastor of Central Swenkfelder Church and a teacher who never explained anything about the sect that I can remember (and I’m a Christian, too!) but kept eliciting questions from you about what you believed. Straight from the heart, he was able to draw you along with him on the path to your own success.

We had quite a number of boys who were expelled while I dressed for success for three years. The Headmaster was fair and just and these decisions, while never easy, were quick and to the point. So Mr. Housman let a few strays in, like Keck, Jones and me, two out of three isn’t bad. The Dean of Admissions lived across the street from the Headmaster. He was a man whose physical disabilities were overshadowed by his fierce intellect. His challenge to the Headmaster was to keep them all. But that never happened because there were boys who got caught and were asked to leave. They commanded their own destinies and I liked to think old Housman put them into the student body for gumption. Never really bad boys, psychopaths didn’t make it in the front door, they nevertheless decided that Perky wasn’t their cup of tea. Bringing in boys who could benefit from mentors was another Ralph Housman talent.

Dr. Roberts led us all except when his wife was leading me in the barbershop quartet that I sang lead for. You can bet what I wore when I got back to my Family house…whew!