Sweeney: [Today I’m talking to Dean E. Vernon Peele of the School of Arts and Letters.] Dean Peele, I’d like to ask you some questions about your background. You are a native South Carolinian and your father was a Methodist minister. Did he exercise a great influence over your life? Did you ever consider entering the ministry yourself?
Peele: Yes, I am a native South Carolinian and my father was a Methodist minister. He did influence my life greatly, however he never pressured me insofar as selecting a vocation was concerned and I never considered entering the ministry myself. Having been reared as a preacher’s son, I guess I was a little over—critical of the profession, and I had seen too many in the profession who more or less appeared to me to be there because they would not be able to make a living elsewhere. Therefore I was very critical of those who entered the profession and I felt that I was far from being the proper type of person that would go into the ministry. I had the highest regard for the profession and … had I felt dedicated sufficiently I wouldn’t have hesitated to go in it, but I found from the very beginning that I was far more interested in reading, studying and such as that.
Sweeney: You took your Bachelors and Masters degree at Wofford College in South Carolina. Could you describe the atmosphere and philosophy of education there and how it differed from the Norfolk Division of William and Mary?
Peele: I finished at Wofford College in 1931, right at the end of the Depression. Wofford was a four- year institution offering the B.A. and B.S. degrees, and it was a small college, thorough and challenging, having about one thousand students. The Norfolk Division was a two-year urban college, state—supported. It was also a branch institution at that time of the College of William and Mary. The outlooks of the two colleges, while both being educational, were quite different.
Sweeney: Did you consider any careers outside of education?
Peele: Not seriously. I was reared in an environment of education and the ministry through my father and my grandfathers and my uncles. I think all of them were either teachers or preachers. My father was a member of the board of three different colleges, so from elementary school days up,_______ those are the types of general conversations I would hear around the table when we had visitors from the various colleges. Consequently, I guess I grew up being very interested in education.
Sweeney: Did you pursue any other graduate work after the Master's degree?
Peele: Yes, I went to Emory University and Duke University. I was at Duke for a summer, a winter and the following summer. Then because of heavy indebtedness, I started to teach a year or two. Following that of course with World War II coming on and I had to be out longer than I had anticipated so when I got back from there I had to try to pay off my debts.
Sweeney: Why did you choose to come to the Norfolk Division of William and Mary in 1948? Had you taught anywhere before coming to Norfolk?
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Peele: A personal friend of mine had recommended the Norfolk Division. He happened to have been in charge of the Southern Teacher’s Agency and I had known him personally for a number of years. He told me by all means to look it over before making a decision. I came to Norfolk and met President Webb and Professor MacDonald at that time. I was impressed with their program and the fact that they had a good sound institution in the developing stages and I guess it was based upon this recommendation that I had received and what I found when I came up for the interview that I decided to come here.
I had taught for over twelve or fifteen years before coming to Norfolk, I had had one year in high school and I had taught in two different junior colleges and also in two four-year colleges. Including the time I was on leave of absence for the service, I had a total of about fifteen years accumulated by 1948.
Sweeney: When you came to Norfolk, did you assume the administrative post of Assistant Director right away? Did you teach English courses then, too?
Peele: I came to Norfolk as Assistant Director under Mr. Webb, who at that time was the Director of the institution. These titles were given to us because the authorities at William and Mary seriously objected to having corresponding titles with those on their local campus. During the first year, Mr. Webb and I tried to teach in our respective fields. However, we found that it was impossible to meet the classes regularly and it was not fair to the students or to us to attempt to teach under such circumstances. Therefore we stopped and to my knowledge the President nor the deans have taught since then, until the last year or two when some of the deans have taught special courses.
Sweeney: During the 1950’s what were the greatest frustrations you experienced in your position?
Peele: I guess they were literally growing pains. We were growing steadily. The College of William and Mary did not want us to grow. Others did want the college to grow. At the same time we were having to sell the idea to the area, the local area had to be studied. We became accredited as a junior college. We developed further, we became accredited as a senior college, from the developments in the 1950’s. In this development we had to increase our faculty and we had to increase our accommodations. It was very difficult to handle because of money matters and the Legislature.
During this time the College of William and Mary changed presidents. The new president, President Chandler, wanted us to remain just as we are, he thought we were a good junior college and he was opposed to any further development. But it was practically inevitable that the college would develop. And in its development we had to upgrade the faculty. We had to increase the salaries. We had to secure more PhD’s … and we had to upgrade our degrees. Some of these frustrations were impossible to avoid. One I have in mind particularly is that of upgrading the faculty. We had to bring in new faculty and they had to be PhD’s. At that time the faculty was a junior college faculty where the PhD degree was not required. It was desired and we had a few PhD’s on the campus. But when the faculty then
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realized that they were going to be practically overshadowed by the faculty coming in who had advanced degrees, there was, of course, considerable frustration and the morale began to drop. Mr. Webb and I did all that we could to maintain the high morale and we made every effort to insure the current faculty that we were not going to push them into the background, that they were going to maintain their current positions. These situations are not easy to handle, particularly when you have people of the caliber that you find on college campuses. In addition to all of this, we had the usual opposition from William and Mary. But with it all we had the feeling that we were advancing and there was some consolation in the fact that in spite of all the frustrations we were moving steadily forward.
Sweeney: Did it seem to you that the school was ready in the 1950’s to grant four-year degrees but that the state legislature was holding it back through meager grants?
Peele: Yes, I think we were ready. We did move forward in spite of the opposition, which I mentioned just before this. Some of the interesting aspects in this was that the library had to be expanded. The state legislature would not appropriate money for this. The students themselves got out into the city and they brought in over 50,000 volumes. Of course a lot of these books were useless, but at the same time, it showed an effort and an interest on the part of the students, and I think it did a lot to make the city realize that the students were behind us and that we were really developing over here, and that it was time for them to help us. The Chamber of Commerce formed a committee and they were very instrumental in helping us to get through this particular stage. There was also a Citizens Advisory Committee which had Mr. Alfriend as chairman and he headed this drive and raised some $75,000 to help us with the library and to establish ourselves more firmly for the granting of our four-year degrees.
Sweeney: Can you recall some of the more outstanding personalities at the college in your early days and any interesting anecdotes about them?
Peele: We had a number of outstanding personalities at the college, a number of people who were really dedicated to the philosophy of the college. I am taking it that when you say "outstanding personalities at the college" you mean locally and not nationally. Therefore, insofar as we were concerned locally, we had Mr. Lee Klinefelter, who was handling the Technical Institute at the time and had done a great deal of very admirable work with the Navy and with the Armed Forces during World War II. We had a Miss Paula Mallory who was our teacher in art. She was quite gifted, quite an interesting individual. I don’t recall any particular anecdotes about her, but we did regard her at the time as being very talented in the field of art.
Professor Chandler, better known as "Scrap" Chandler was here and he was a very outstanding person on our campus. He had a summer program in which he trained the children of this area. He taught them how to swim and followed them through their high school careers into colleges and those who came here and even those who went elsewhere were outstanding on the swimming teams. I think that was one of the greatest contributions that was made by anyone in the Physical Education Department through the years.
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Commodore Thompson was with us in the earlier days. He sponsored the co—op program between the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and the Norfolk Division. It was a very strong … program at that time, having the students to come to college for a length of time and then work for a length of time. They would leave the campus, on the quarter system, and go and work in some industry of their particular interest.
Dr. McClellan handled the Evening College and we had a very strong and large evening college program. At the time, President Webb and I found in visiting various types of institutes and committees in the summertime and professional organizations that our evening college was very far advanced over that which you would find in most places in the United States. Some of the organizations actually were amazed that we had anything more than a class or two in the evening. We had what was practically a full—fledged evening college program running constantly throughout the year.
Sweeney: As enrollment grew in the 1950’s what kind of pressure did this put on the school’s faculty and physical facilities?
Peele: We were completely overrun. This is the time in the early 50’s when we developed the schedule which is being used today in spite of some opposition. I frankly think that that type of schedule has served its purpose and we could possibly look at other schedules which might help us. But the value of that schedule in those days was that it used every room every hour of the day. There was not a break. The janitors had to actually come at odd hours during the evening and night to clean the buildings. They could not get into the rooms during the day.
We had- -upon examination it was shown that we had the best type of schedule or at least we were utilizing our plant to the best advantage more than any other college or university in the state. We were so crowded that during the 50’s we began to get additional buildings, the state legislature seeing that we just could not operate here with what we had. The science building was built in 1955, the tech building in ‘59, the library in 1959, the fine arts building was begun and completed in 1960. The pressure was terrific, however the students and the faculty cooperated and we worked out our problems with a minimum amount of trouble insofar as we were concerned here on the campus.
Sweeney: Did you play any role in the creation of advanced placement tests?
Peele: Yes, in fact we worked very hard to get them established. We had advanced placement tests in mathematics, in English, and in foreign languages. From there of course there came to be various modifications of these, but this was the beginning of our advanced placement program.
Sweeney: You served on a committee on sororities and fraternities in the 1950’s. Did you feel that they made a substantial contribution to college life?
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Peele: Yes, because at that time being an urban college, there was virtually no campus life at all. Students would meet their classes, tend to such duties as they had to on the campus, work in the library and the like, and then would leave. The fraternities started social life: they had dances on the campus, had many different types of entertainment, and they created something of a solidarity among groups of students. As we developed and as the college grew, we also found that a lot of weak fraternities across the country were making very strong bids to get on the campus. President Webb and I stalled them as long as we could, and tried to arrange it so that we would get the better type of fraternities and sororities for our students. I’m glad to say that it worked out to the advantage of the college and that we did manage to secure the stronger fraternities and sororities for our students.
Sweeney: Could you discuss your affiliation with the Norfolk Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution?
Peele: As we were growing, it was to the advantage of the administration of the college as well as the faculty to affiliate themselves in every way possible with the community. We joined civic clubs, patriotic clubs, various types of community organizations, and this was one of the organizations that I joined at that time. In its earlier days, it was very strong historically and I enjoyed the associations of many people who knew the Virginia history and the background of our community.
Sweeney: Dean Peele, when did your title change from Assistant Director to Dean of Instruction? What changes in duties did this involve?
Peele: As I mentioned before, the authorities at William and Mary resisted any type of academic titles at the Norfolk Division. I was given the title "Dean of Instruction" in 1956. The president of the college was previously known as Provost. His title was changed then to that of President. Insofar as duties were involved, it did not change conditions at all. We continued our work, Mr. Webb as President, and I continued as the academic dean of the college.
Sweeney: In 1958 what arrangements were made for schooling the faculty’s children during the school closings of the massive resistance period?
Peele: The college opened its doors and allowed the faculty children to be taught on the campus. The faculty were most cooperative. Dr. T. Ross Fink headed a committee to take care of the teaching of our children. Mrs. Joy Reed was very strong and very instrumental in forming this school. Professor Robert Stern was also instrumental in its organization. Many faculty wives assisted in one way or another to see that the school was run properly and they handled many of the details which enabled the faculty to assist in teaching our students.
Mr. Kovner taught mathematics, Miss Rebecca White taught biology, Mr. Whitehurst taught history, Mr. Sherwood taught chemistry, Mr. Seaborn taught English, Mr. Baum, Mr. Parker Baum who is not with us now taught general science, Mrs. Lois Husted taught English, and Mrs. Joy Reed also taught history.
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Sweeney: On the subject of accreditation, the school sought accreditation as a junior college on its own in 1951. Was the school accredited in this way, separate from the College of William and Mary, by the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools?
Peele: Yes, up until this time we had been accredited through the College of William and Mary. Now this accreditation was an independent one, examining us completely and we did receive independent accreditation as a junior college at this time. The opposition to this was quite strong at William and Mary and we also had to strengthen our library and physical facilities as I have mentioned previously. However when the examining team or commission was sent to us, we went through with flying colors and had no difficulty at all. There were no conditions stipulated that we had to change before receiving our accreditation. It was complete with the team when they left here.
Sweeney: In 1961 the school was given a separate accreditation as a four-year college. How did this come about? What effect did this accreditation have on the move toward a status independent of the William and Mary system?
Peele: This came about through hard work and politics. The effect was very pronounced insofar as William and Mary was concerned. It went a long ways toward helping us to secure our independent status. It was … deeply entangled in politics in that the University of Virginia saw that the College of William and Mary was building a large system within the State of Virginia. They did not want that. The University of Virginia was attempting to build its own system to where it would be the outstanding institution within the state. Therefore the legislators from the University of Virginia were told to break up the William and Mary system if possible. In breaking it up, it meant that they had to help us secure our independent status. The University of Virginia feared this build-up and therefore through using or by using their alumni in the state legislature, they helped us to secure our independent accreditation.
Sweeney: How thorough were these accreditation studies by the Southern Association?
Peele: They were extremely thorough and well—organized. In comparison with the method that they use today, I think it is just about the same. They seemed to have had men who were considerably older, men who had … national reputations and considerable experience in examining institutions. The chairman of the group who came in to examine us was just retiring from the national presidency of the education association.
Sweeney: Could you discuss the college’s relationship with the military during the 1950’s? Did the administrators cooperate with servicemen?
Peele: In the 1950’s the relationship with the military was very good. In fact we had an artillery unit on the campus in the earlier days. We were not large enough to have a separate unit for ourselves, therefore twice a week a group of military- -a group of servicemen came down from William and Mary and conducted the classes on our campus. Academically speaking, we did all that we could for the young men returning from the service. There was an adjustment period they had to go through. We established separate classes for these men. We started a credit for military services of certain kinds. We encouraged
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these men to attend summer school. The teachers tutored them and helped them to make their readjustments. Some of the men had been through extremely adverse situations in the service. In turn, this helped us with our summer school and our evening college. The administration, almost to a person, cooperated in every way possible in helping these men readjust themselves and continue with their work in colleges. In this college as well as other colleges.
Sweeney: In 1963 you served on a six—man graduate council which prepared curriculum proposals for the state council's consideration. How did you choose the areas of English, History, Elementary Education and Business Administration as the areas in which to begin the masters program?
Peele: They were chosen on the basis of several factors. The strength of a given department, student interest in securing advanced graduate degree--or at least graduate degrees, the number of faculty within the department and the number of PhD’s in the department. A balance of the faculty so that if some faculty members were teaching in the graduate field, they would not be injuring the quality of education for the undergraduates. And also the ability to secure and supply more teachers in the given areas.
Sweeney: Could you describe the function of the seven-member Academic Council set up in 1963, and what were the major issues that you dealt with?
Peele: The Academic Council in 1963 was possibly a forerunner of our present Council of Academic Deans. The primary purpose of this council was to keep the President informed of academic--of the academic progress on the campus. The major issues were primarily the academic standards, curriculum, the development of the college, and the attempt to maintain a type of quality education without going too far out into the fringe areas, which would have been so easy at this time when we were in such a stage of development.
Sweeney: I have seen you referred to as [Dean of the Faculty in the early 1960’s. Was this another name for Dean of Instruction? Was the position renamed or were the duties changed?]
Peele: The Dean of the Faculty was synonymous with the Dean of Instruction. It seems that there was a brief period of time when the title "Dean of the Faculty" was officially used. I cannot recall the actual details insofar as these changes were made, but there were a number of ‘em through the 50’s and 60’s. The duties were the same no matter what you want to call the position.
Sweeney: You served on the Faculty Honors Committee in the l960s. Could you describe the Old Dominion College Honors Program as to its goals, its benefits, how it worked, and why it no longer exists?
Peele: The Honors Committee in the l960s was an early method of recognizing superior students. At that time we tried to take outstanding juniors and seniors and give them at least nine semester hours of credit under what might be termed a tutorial program, or individual instruction. It worked very well, the students were interested in it. The faculty were enthusiastic about the idea, however they found very quickly that
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it was quite a burden on them to handle these students, and we were not in a position financially to give additional credit and salary for this work. Therefore it began to dwindle because we just could not afford it financially. The program was and did render a great service at that time, however it does not exist today primarily because we have found more practical means of encouraging the outstanding students in individual study. We started with the 497-498 numbers which here, of course, as you know are individual studies under the given faculty member. Then we also added to that the 195, 2-, 3- and 495’s, which means certain classes for experimental purposes are to study temporary projects or fields of interest for the student which might be current at any particular given date. These methods which we are now using seem to take the place of the honors program. We still have the honors program available in some departments, however very few students seem to be interested in it when they can get the same type of work in the 487-498 program.
Sweeney: During the 1950s and 1960s was it difficult to recruit and keep good professors?
Peele: No we had very little difficulty with matters of this kind, We did not have as large a turnover, therefore we did not have to find as many professors. The turnover was remarkably low and the morale of our faculty seemed to have been very high.
Sweeney: Why were comprehensive examinations eliminated in 1964?
Peele: They were eliminated because they were placing too big a burden on the students. You might ask a question on that as to just what do I mean. Well, the faculty had become a little overly enthusiastic about these examinations. Some of the examinations very closely resembled those for master's degrees. The faculty would have not only written examinations for these comprehensives, but they would also add to that oral examinations which would last several hours at a time. And the students were really being burdened to the extent that they were almost dreading to come up to the time of graduation. Therefore, in the interest of all concerned, we dropped the comprehensive examinations.
Sweeney: As Dean of Instruction did you play any role in the change from the quarter system back to the semester system?
Peele: As I regard it, I played a very vital role, in fact I was in the midst of the matter all the way through. As you may have heard in the earlier days, we had both the semester system and the quarter system running concurrently on our campus. And in a discussion of this matter at one of our summer national organizational meetings, when I told the group what we were doing the answer from the chairman of the group was that such a method as that was literally inhuman. I agree with him quite heartily. We dropped the two-system idea and went to the quarter system for several years. However, in an area like this and with so many of our students then transferring to senior colleges who were on the semester system, it became too confusing for our student body. Therefore, for we went back to the semester system.
Sweeney: In the mid-60s the School of Arts and Sciences was created. Did your new duties as Dean of Arts and Sciences broaden or curtail your responsibilities?
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Peele: The new duties insofar as the School of Arts and Sciences was concerned, changed my responsibilities. I now had charge of just the School of Arts and Sciences. It was a new organization. And it felt that I had something more tangible with which to work than handling the entire broad scope of the college.
Sweeney: As Dean of Arts and Sciences did you find it difficult to represent the interests of so many diverse departments?
Peele: No, because we worked with the departmental chairmen and they made their recommendations and the papers … or the projects were sent through to the particular institutes or the granting organizations in Washington or New York. It was the volume that made the matter so heavy.
Sweeney: What reasons were given for dividing the School of Arts and Sciences into two schools? Did you agree with this move?
Peele: I not only agreed with the move of dividing the School of Arts and Sciences into the School of Sciences and the School of Arts and Letters, but I was the one that advocated it and kept pushing the idea until it was done. The reason for it was that when I had practically three fourths of the faculty in my school, the other schools had anywhere from seventeen to twenty—five faculty members. Yet when matters came up in the Council of Deans, I had only one vote and the others had one vote. And I kept pointing this out to the Provost that if I was going to represent as many faculty as I had, that something had to be done. And finally it was agreed that we would divide the school into the School of Sciences and then the other into the School of Arts and Letters.
Sweeney: In the first few years of the existence of the School of Arts and Letters, did the fact that the departments were housed at various points on the campus make it difficult for the faculty to have any cohesiveness, or sense of community?
Peele: Perhaps to some extent, but as you know faculty members, they don’t mix too easily, particularly beyond the scope of their own departments. But the mixing was in a passive manner and the fact that they were on various parts of the campus didn’t make too much difference. Now from the standpoint of the administration, it did, because we were constantly having to make the contacts all over the campus and it would have been much better to have had the groups together in schools.
Sweeney: Has the new Arts and Letters building brought the faculty together in more than just the physical sense?
Peele: Somewhat. For academic purposes I would say that it is great, but you must still realize that the Art Department as well as the Music Department are still out of this building. Arts and music are still in a building across the campus called the Fine Arts Building.
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Sweeney: In the late l960s many college deans were about the most sorely beset professionals in our society. Did you have much trouble with student disruption, free speech issues, or the rise of left—wing militancy in the School of Arts and Letters?
Peele: We didn’t have any undue trouble or difficulty during this period. We were very apprehensive at times, but we found that our students were the type that asked questions and tried to weigh matters, to discuss things freely with the faculty. There were a few demonstrations on the campus and I think if anything, everyone was more interested in the demonstrations than what they were __________ the demonstrations. The faculty was quite mature in its outlook upon such matters. We didn’t have any major disturbances among them. The students, as you know them today we have them from the late teenagers up through middle age and I think the maturity of our faculty was such that many of the problems of the time were discussed quite freely and openly. However I differ with many people who think that our student body and our faculty were apathetic at the time. I think that it was more a matter of maturity and weighing problems for what they were worth. They brought up many issues with us. The administration was ready to accept the issues or at least accept the problems for discussional purposes. They met with the students. I think it was handled, both from the standpoint of the students and the faculty and the administration, quite well.
Sweeney: Could you give your assessment of the leadership that Lewis Webb gave to the college over the years?
Peele: To give a brief summarization of his leadership I would say that it was very outstanding. Mr. Webb kept the focus of the college, he kept it in mind, he kept it before the faculty. He worked hard twenty—four hours a day. He kept it going regardless of the opposition that he received. He wanted the college for the community, yet he had to at first sell the community on the idea and show them what the college was, and what it could do for them. He did this.
William and Mary regarded the Norfolk Division as a holding operation down here primarily to keep out other colleges and universities. It did not want the college to grow. Mr. Webb saw that the college had to grow, and he saw what was inevitable and he fought for it day after day. A fight in spite of opposition from the faculty as well as administration in Williamsburg. In the early stages he saw what the college was bound to become later on and rejoined what was then called the American Association of Urban Universities. This was back in the early 5Os and we attended these meetings at Buffalo, Cincinnati, and various other places. He worked out the program and together we set up the curriculum in the interest of, the demand of the immediate area. Our students went on to other colleges and universities then of course since we were a junior college, and we maintained a strong program so that they could go on without any difficulties. Our students in going to William and Mary for instance were outstanding, and the College of William and Mary had to place a percentage limitation on the Phi Beta Kappa group from the Norfolk Division. We had so many students up there who could qualify that they said that only x percentage could come in each year.
I cannot state just exactly how to word the continuous leadership, but through the years it did not falter. He kept the objectives of the college, the philosophy of the--educational ideas of the college always at the forefront, and we pushed
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for them. We went from a branch institution to a full—fledged junior college, then to a full-fledged senior college, then an independent senior college, then into master's degrees, and then to breaking the college into five different schools, which shows you the progress through the years. And he laid the groundwork for what was inevitable. That was: it was to become a university. That was the next step and when he resigned and the current president, President Bugg came in, he took up the reins and we are progressing continuously from where we began back in the early 30s and 40s.
Sweeney: What have been the most serious problems that the School of Arts and Letters has faced since its creation in 1966? Is declining enrollment a major concern today?
Peele: The most serious problems I suppose that we are facing would be involved with the readjustment of our curriculum since we have new degree requirements. The adjustment reaches into the faculty, as well as our programs of study and we are trying to readjust and to take care of as many faculty involved in this change and trying to see what we can do to offer additional programs or additional courses of interest for the students.
Our situation with the faculty was lamentable at times, at first at least. But, now it seems to be leveling out, and I believe that we with a little consideration from the administration will have our faculty stabilized within the next year. Some of the departments are actually beginning to pick up again. The matter of declining enrollment has been a major concern- -had been a major concern, but from what I am reading at the recent reports, particularly those of the last week or two, it seems that some of our departments are actually increasing in size once more. One of these particularly is the History Department. It seems to be actually growing now, instead of decreasing. But I think in another year these problems will be able to be solved and we will be very well stabilized.
Sweeney: Looking back, could you reflect on your career at Old Dominion — what have been the most pleasant aspects and the greatest frustrations or disappointments?
Peele: I suppose among the most pleasant aspects of this work has been watching very closely the development of the institution. That is, coming from a branch institution giving a few classes on the first and second year levels to the fact that we are now a university offering advanced graduate programs on the masters and the doctors level.
Disappointments would be rather hard to specify other than, I might say off hand, that the limited increases in the budget from year to year have always been frustrating and disappointing. We could have done much more in Norfolk if we could have had a larger budget in our earlier stages. However, I think that is improving now and I hope that in the next few years, our budget will be comparable to the other universities in the state.
Sweeney: Could you describe how you intend to spend your retirement years after you leave the position of Dean next year? Have you been active in any civic or religious endeavors over the years?
Peele: For a long time I didn’t know whether I would ever reach the age of retirement. I’ve had one or two brushes with my heart plus some other matters and with the pressures I just couldn’t see that I would ever get to the age of sixty—five.
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But it looks as if now I do have a fighting chance for it, so I think I’m going to try to stick it out. Upon retirement I hope to continue my general activities in the city and in the interest of the university. I have always been a member of a civic club and after coming to Norfolk under our policies back in the early 50’s or late 40’s, President Webb wanted everyone to be members of different civic clubs in the city. The Cosmopolitan Club was the one which I joined and I have thoroughly enjoyed it, I have found a very exceptional group of executives in this organization and it has taught me quite a bit through the years. I was- -I had the privilege of being President of the Cosmopolitan Foundation of Norfolk for a number of years and then on the board for an additional number of years. This foundation was something of a charitable organization in that it furnished or that it paid for work for people who had deformities such as facial deformities, cleft palates, deformed ears, drawn eyes and things of such nature. We also furnished hospital beds for people who could not afford them, rolling chairs for people who couldn’t pay for them and things of that nature. This organization is still going on as one of the activities of the Cosmopolitan Club and I am vitally interested in it.
In addition to the civic club interests, I have been a member of the Larchmont Methodist Church in this vicinity for a number of years, serving on its Board of Stewards. I was Chairman of the Board for a period of time, and I am now on the Board of Trustees for the church and I have also had the pleasure and privilege of being on a number of state boards of education for the Virginia Methodist Conference. And I was on the Board of Directors for the Methodist Pensions Inc. for a number of years. These things are of great interest to me and I hope I will be able to continue these endeavors over the years.
Sweeney: Thank you very much, Dean Peele. |
