Page 52 - 1948 VES Meteor

Grimes Thomas, was sued for dam- ages during an X-Ray treatment . . . Manager Joe Cherry of the Windsor Rebels was banned from organized baseball . . . playing a pitcher who used a 'double whammy" . . . John Gower and Roderick Quainton have dominated the automobile industry, buying out Ford and General Motors ... next year a new car, the Gower- Duckworth ... Charles P. Cardwell, the walking antenna, was killed in- stantly when one of his wires became shorted ..."
After the applause had died down Dr. Barton, assisted as usual by Mr. Banks, presented the prizes (see page 3) and the diplomas.
In less than one hour after the open- ing prayer came the moment when the announcement was made of the Honor Committee for the coming year: Franklin W ebster Maddux, Marshall, Virginia , head counselor;
J a m e s Ronald Marshall, St. Paul, Vir- ginia; and Emory Shannon Gray Shir- ley, Greenwood, Virginia.*
Not much remains before the ses- sion of 1947-48 is history. There are only the distribution of this magazine, the final fairwells, and the last minute packing before the peace and quiet of summer settles down and the school can lick the wounds inflicted upon it by over I 00 obstreperous youths during the year that has passed.
Unknown Soldier
For more than a quarter of a century between wars there hung in the V. E. S. library a small photograph of a young man in the uniform of World War I (see cut). Under it was a gold star, but no name. When a new boy or o new master asked about the picture, the usual answer was, "I think he was the only alumnus of the school killed in the war." A few thought he might be Adair Archer, for whom the school's most coveted medal is named; but no one. not even Bishop Jett, was able to give a positive identification. The footnote in The Meteor of October, 1945, requesting information of the
alumni, brought no results.
The picture is that of Adair Archer,
but he never attended this school. •For the second consecutive veM this is
~n ~11-Virgini~ honor committee. 4
V. E. S., newly founded in the fall of 1916, suffered no casualties in World War 1.* Adair Pleasants Archer was educated at Richmond Academy, Jefferson School, (Charlot- tesville), the University of Virginia, where he was taught by the present headmaster of V. E. S., and Harvard University.
When the Misses Stewart of Brook Hill, Henrico County, decided to preseni medals to members of the graduating classes of various Vir- ginio schools, they named the medals after alumni who had given their lives for iheir country. Young V.E.S. having no such martyr, Adair Archer was chosen as a sort of honorary
alumnus.
The Man for whom the medal wa:; named would have been a worthy recipient himself. Talented to the point of genius, he was a leader in all that he undertook . . . this in spite of continued bad health, which made it necessary for his schooling to be both spasmodic and spotty.
Archer had many talents. From early childhood he exhibited marked musical ability and a quick response to all appeals to the imagination ... poeiry; romance; beauty in books, in nature, and in art. During his teens he became very much interested in the lore of olchemy, black and white magic, and finally in psychical re-
search. He had a remarkable capacity for fraternization with human beings of all conditions. He had many friends among the Negroes about his home. Loter, in search of health, he worked as an Indian agent in Arizona and Oklohoma, where he was officially initioted as a medicine man. Only the fact that the phono- graph had not yet been developed to the extent that acceptable records could be made outside of the regular studios prevented his recording the primitive songs of his Indian friends.
War Service. Archer was a mem- ber of the Harvard R. 0. T. C., but was not commissioned because he
was under weight when he received his military diploma. Instead he be- came Y. M. C. A. secretary at Camp
*The school w"s not so fortunate in World WM II. The c~sualty list includes 28 known de~d. In ~ddition there Me two o r t h r e e o d d i t i o n o l ~lumni w h o m~y h a v e lost their lives in the service of their country.
Lee, Virginia, where, among other things, he cooched a very success- f.ul camp p~oduction of Shakespeare's
Henry V.
In January, 1918 Archer resigned
qare Rive aim in t his c
THE SCHOOL
his Y. M. C. A. job and returned to
Richmond for rest and recovery from
an illness before making another
attempt to join the army. Here he
organized the Richmond Little To Theatre League. On the very night So, of its first performance he was sum- Ble moned to Camp Devens, Massachu- An seits, for ihe Fourth R. 0. T. C. Dec Camp.
Again he was turned down for a
commission because of his physical
condition. He was promoted to
corporal, however, and sent to the
Infantry Training Center at Camp last Grant, Illinois. By September he was durit a sergeont and was recommended ever. for a commission. end
On October I, 1918, he went to
the post hospital ill with what was char,
ihen popularly known as "Spanish
influenza." This proved to be the ever precursor of pneumonia. On October now 6, saying to his father, who was be- com side him, "It is time for retreat," wei he died. will
Archer's promise as a poet and as 'II a dramatist was evident to many cour people, although it never came to havE full fruition. His life ond work has scho been evaluated by various noted duti writers, who were his friends and resp admirers. Among these are Mar- side
ADAIR ARCHER
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