Like most graduates of St. Peter High School of a certain age, we took freshman English from William Harvey, or Mr. Harvey as we all called the formally attired bachelor schoolteacher. In his class, we learned about mythology, read "Tale of Two Cities" and other classics, and best of all, learned to memorize poetry.
Or else: Poets' Corner temporarily awaited any of us who failed to recite Frost, Yeats or Housman correctly. This early training prepared me for the more brutal recitations of poesy at the Ozarks Famous Writers School under the bellowing watch of the late Jim Whitehead (actually a pussy cat for all his southern bluster).
Thus, it's delightful to find a story in the St Peter Herald about this early mentor: Mr. Harvey humbled to be inducted into Hall. It's St. Peter High's first class to be inducted into the hall of fame.
Congress recently passed legislation that included the 21st Century G.I. Bill. The Herald explains how Mr. Harvey (and St. Peter) benefited from the original bill:
Mr. Harvey grew up on a farm in the Spencer, Iowa, area and after completing his own high school studies in 1942 he went into the Merchant Marine and U.S. Army where he served in World War II in such places as North Africa, Sicily, New Guinea, the Marshall Islands and through the Panama Canal six times.
He was then discharged in 1946 and began farming with his brother Jim but was eventually recalled to serve in the Korean War with the Army.
"When I got out of the service for good at age 31, I was urged by the VA (Veteran's Administration) not to return to farming," Harvey said. "Instead, they said I should take advantage of the GI Bill and go to college."
That career advice by the VA turned out to be a blessing for students here in St. Peter.
Harvey began attending Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D., in 1955 and graduated with a degree in English and a minor in history. It was through that school's placement office that he learned of the opening at St. Peter and through a friend who also interviewed here, he decided to pursue the position.
It was great to have a role model like that in a small town--a war veteran and Golden Gloves winner who stood up for literature, especially poesy, and proper grammar. We still remember the thrill of learning about ancient Greece when we were assigned Theseus for our research paper in the mythology unit. Minotaurs! Labyrinths! Great stuff.
The article mentions that Mr. Harvey, who retired in 1993, still enjoys his cabin up near Chisholm. And that recalled a poem we'd memorized (then sought out and learned to love the music of the poet's other works). And here it is, as lovely now as when we were in ninth-grade:
The Lake Isle of Innisfree
by William Butler YeatsI will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.
Enjoy the lake, everybody.
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