Valley: Lebanon Valley College Magazine (Fall 2007)

2007·12 MB·

by  Lebanon Valley College

Ih~Y~!ley
Vol. 22 Number l Fall 2007
~
Features
Editor:
Dr. Tom Hanrahan
2 Mt. Gretna, A Treasure
Writers/Contributors: in the Trees
Jasmine Ammons Bucher '97
By Lauren McCartney Cusick
Lauren McCartney Cusick
Dr. Tom Hanrahan LVC and Mt. Gretna have shared cultural,
Sara Hodon '02 religious, and musical roots. Relax and enjoy
Pat Huggins
the many intertwining relationships between
Dr. Diane M. Iglesias
Pat Kaley '96 these two Pennsylvania icons.
;.: '>_$::-
Cindy Progin '04
Christie Stratos '09, Student Editor 8 A Brief History ofLVC
Dr. Susan Verhoek
and Mt. Gretna
Deborah Bullock Wescott '95
~
Anita Williams, Class Notes By Lauren McCartney Cusick
Ryan Zvorsky '09
You can never have too much ofa good thing.
Learn more about our shared history.
Designer:
12 ValleyFest: A Springtime
Tom Castanzo
Primo 106 Marketing 10 Great Expectations Campaign Tradition Continues
Communicatons, Inc.
Surpasses $50 Million By Sara Hodon '02
Production Manager: LVC students express their appreciation for Whether it is called Spring Arts,
Kelly Alsedek the more than $55 million that alumni the Cherry Blossom Festival, or its
and other fiends provided to support the current incarnation ofValleyFest,
Photography:
Kelly Alsedek recently-completed Campaign. this annual rite ofp assage for LVC
Michael Crabb students, alumni, and community
Matthew Lester, Gretna Feature members continues strong.
Send comments or address changes to:
Office of College Relations
Laughlin Hall Departments
Lebanon Valley College
101 North College Avenue 15 Valley News
Annville, PA 17003-1400
Phone: [phone] Class News & Notes
Fax: [phone]
38 In Memoriam
E-mail: [email protected]
E-mail: [email protected]
The Valley is published by Lebanon On the Cover: The home of Donald Jones at 112 Harvard Ave.
Valley College and is distributed
without charge to alumni and friends. On the Inside Cover: Richard and Charlene Regar's Campmeeting
cottage at 206 Otterbein Ave. graces the foreground. The home of Ralph
The deadline for submission of infor and Doris Todd, which fronts Third Avenue, is on the left.
mation for The Valley is approximately
Opening Photo for Mt. Gretna Story: An angel keeps watch over the
five months prior to being received
Fairy Garden in the Chautauqua at Mt. Gretna, a favorite play space for
by its readership. Class Notes news
little girls and gnomes.
received after the deadline will be
included in the next issue of the
Page 7 (bottom): Noreen Chatterton, 311 Sixth St., Campmeeting
magazine.
ft Primed on paper containing 25 percent
~;J postconsumer content.
FALL 2007

Legions of Lebanon Valley College
students have spent four years on campus, graduated,
and moved on without ever knowing the thrill of grabbing the
trapeze swing and flying over Lake Conewago before letting go
and plunging into the cool water at Mt. Gretna.
residents in need of groceries-Me. the Campmeeting area-the relaxed
Gretna itself is a secret to most LVC air of an earlier time and place prevails.
students, nestled in the Conewago Hills "We live in the woods, but people are
by thousands of acres of surrounding close by. We have the woods, we have
forest. Shaded by tall pines and oaks, the culture-this is it!" says Roberta
Mt. Gretna smells of trees, ferns, damp "Bobbie" Warshaw, who moved to Mt.
earth, and the occasional musty odor Gretna in 1998 after marrying Dr. Paul
exhaled by a vacant cottage. Like the Heise, now an LVC professor emeritus of
enchanted Brigadoon of the Scottish economics. He says he lived in Annville
Highlands, this off-the-beaten-track for years without being aware of Mt.
village comes fully alive only briefly. Gretna. "It's an escape from today's
From Memorial Day to Labor Day, world," says 'Mr. Mt. Gretna,' Jack Bitner,
this sleepy, verdant enclave becomes a historian who has been 'escaping' to
one of the most vibrant summer arts Mt. Gretna every summer since 1917,
Most LVC students have
communities in the United States, a feat when he was six weeks old.
never braved the crowds at the
it accomplishes without permanently This "treasure in the trees" may
1895 Jigger Shop Ice Cream
surrendering its serenity to hordes of remain a hidden treasure to most
Parlor before finally settling tourists. Only the nationally known, students, but others associated with
down on the shady deck to two-day Mt. Gretna Outdoor Art the College have deeply impacted Mt.
enjoy the famous Jigger Show in late August and a major crafts Gretna. LVC trustees, faculty, staff,
show that same weekend overrun the and alumni have greatly influenced Mt.
vanilla ice cream topped with
borough-with up to 20,000 visitors. Gretna's rise in the late 19th century as
butterscotch or chocolate
Throughout the rest of the summer, a resort, religious Campmeeting, and
syrup, marshmallow, whipped
when internationally acclaimed educational Chautauqua, to its decline
cream, and the legendary Jigger
performers and favorites from central during the Depression and 1940s, and
nuts-a secret recipe for over Pennsylvania are booked virtually finally its long, slow renaissance after
100 years. nonstop into the two main open-air World War II. It is during this time that
About eight miles south of campus venues-Mt. Gretna Playhouse in the many of its 500 vintage cottages began
and eight miles from anywhere say Chautauqua District or Tabernacle in to be converted to year-round homes
FALL 2007 3
and the place started to thrive again as a of-towners from New York, Philadelphia,
resort. and Washington, D.C., many of them
Behind mounds of rhododendrons commuting on weekends to enjoy the arts
on narrow, hilly streets, fully half of and culture or to lounge on Mt. Gretna's
these Victorian gingerbread, Queen ubiquitous porches, each with its unique
Anne, or Adirondack-style cottages carved filigree. Sitting in their rocking
in two of Mt. Gretna's oldest, most chairs, behind colorful banners and
historic neighborhoods-Campmeeting hanging pots of ferns and flowers, residents
and Chautauqua-are now insulated can often overhear music-impromptu or
and updated for some 1,500 full-time planned-from nearby venues.
residents. Over time, these residents have Music at Gretna has been hailed by
included many LVC trustees, faculty, Time magazine as one of the six best
administrators, alumni, and emeriti. small music festivals in the country. Some
The population swells to some 2,500 performers come straight from Lincoln
residents during the summer season, Center in New York City or Tanglewood
attracting both central Pennsylvanians who in the Berkshires to take part in the 12- sensation Midori headlined Music at
only summer here, and cosmopolitan out- week festival. This past summer, violin Gretna. The village's 80-page Calendar of
Events was filled with chamber music,
jazz, drama and musical shows, hymn
sings, and religious, cultural, and
"It was time for the
intellectual offerings.
A 10 -week Book Review Series,
College to reconnect
founded in 1983 by then-LVC history
professor Dr. Howard Applegate, and
with Mt. Gretna. " led entirely by LVC professors, adds an
important intellectual component to the
historic Chautauqua. "It was time for the
- DR. HOWARD APPlEGATE
College to reconnect with Mt. Gretna,"
Applegate says from the comfort of his
contemporary home in the sunny Timbers
neighborhood of Mt. Gretna. On a recent
Tuesday in August, over 150 people
spilled out of the rustic Greek revival Hall
of Philosophy to hear LVC's Jean-Paul
Benowitz, an adjunct history instructor,
discuss Gyles Brandreth's Philip and
Elizabeth: Portrait ofa Royal Marriage.
"In the earlier years," recalls Applegate,
now an emeritus professor, "when the
Campmeeting was in its heyday, many
Shelby Applegate '96 of the clergy who led the services there
mul Dr. Howard
were LVC grads." LVC's recently retired
Applegate
chaplain continues that tradition today.
The Rev. Dr. D. Darrell Woomer co-leads
an annual hymn sing for 1,200 people in
Campmeeting's historic 1899 Tabernacle.
This year, he also presented a series of four
talks on contemporary Christian issues for
the Chautauqua, and he has presided over
the annual New Orleans-style Sunday jazz
4
service at the open an effort two years ago to return more
air playhouse for 13 scientific and religious programming to the
years, where the Chautauqua to fulfill its historic mission
famous New Black of providing instruction in science and
Eagle Jazz Band plays religion as well as literature and the arts. As
yearly following its the June 13, 2006 Mt. Gretna Newsletter
Saturday perfOrmance. put it: "Finally, let there be no doubt: The
"It's a fun service," Campmeeting and Chautauqua programs
says Woomer, who are alive and well. Both now have cultural
is now recognized on the street as "the and scientific endeavors that rival anything
The Rev. james Corbett '63 (at left), a past
jazz reverend from Mt. Gretna." But on imagined when they started more than a
president oft he Chautauqua, is spearheading an
most other Sundays in the playhouse for century ago."
effort to return more scimtific and religious
the last 16 years, it has been Mary Ellen LVC trustees, alumni, faculty, staff, and
programming to the Chautauqua and is well
Kinch '49 who has played the piano emeriti traditionally have provided a huge
known in town for the model railroad that nms
for services. Kinch also started the free amount of support to an astounding range
through the yard ofh is cottage, The Evergreen
Sunday mini-concerts on the steps of the of events and institutions at Mt. Gretna
(above). Charles "Chuck" Allwein '64 (cmter,
Hall of Philosophy. from its beginnings to the present day.
below) purchased the fomous jigger Shop in his Another LVC graduate, The Rev. This article can touch only a few of them.
junior year at LVC and is still the proprietor. He James Corbett '63, a Stroll around Mr. Gretna and
was recently joined by (from kft) Ryan Zvorsky past president of you will find LVC alumnus
'09, Shaykne Scheib '07, and Rachel Mingle '09 the Chautauqua, Charles "Chuck" Allwein
for some oft he shop's frozeu treats. spearheaded '64, who bought The
Jigger Shop while still a junior at LVC, In the mid-1990s,
and who now, 44 years later, also serves as Erdman points out,
Gretna Borough president. Just up the hill, former LVC President
Chemistry Lecturer Cynthia Johnston '87 Dr. John Synodinos
staffs the box office at the Gretna Playhouse. H'96 and then-College
The majestic Hotel Conewi11go (1909-1940)
Across Route 117, LVC adjunct music Dean Dr. William McGill performed very boasted spacious verandas to take in commanding
instructor and Mt. Gretna resident Andy successfully at the Mt. Gretna Playhouse views oft he lake. There were chefi from New York,
Roberts plays the piano at the Timbers in the rwo-man play Mr. Emerson and servants in rmifonn, a gra11d staircase, and
afflutmt visitors. Guests rode the nan·ow-gauge
Dinner Theatre, where he is the creative Henry. The Chautauqua has continued
railroad, foreground, to the depot, park, or lake.
director. He showcases the music of with play readings every summer since.
composers like Cole Porter, George The play about Ralph Waldo Emerson and connect. She and a handful of other Mt.
Gershwin, and Irving Berlin in song-and Henry David Thoreau was written by Dr. Gretna artists are often chosen to take part
dance revues with titles such as Get Happy! Arthur Ford '59, now a professor emeritus in it each spring.
while he leads an all-LVC trio from the of English. This year, Applegate opened her garden
piano, with Ryan Baltz '08 on bass and Jim Erdman, whose career as a professional for Mt. Gretna's garden tour, but in the
Dave Lazorcik '80 on drums. Roberts musician has given him access to major strong tradition of neighborliness at Mt.
learned how to create these shows from artists, has secured musicians for both Gretna, her front yard garden is always
the late Rodney Miller '77, who served Mt. Gretna and the College. For instance, open to visitors. She leaves rwo pairs of
as the Timbers creative director for rwo classical guitarist Berta Rojas, after garden shears for passersby, one at her art
decades. appearing at Gretna a few seasons ago, was studio door and one at her front door. "I
Most of the work done by those at the College this fall to give a concert tell people to pick Bowers all the time
with LVC ties is donated. "We're all and master classes. Erdman also served otherwise I will have to deadhead them."
volunteers-it's a community of volunteers," on the Mt. Gretna Borough Council for a LVC trustee and adjunct business
says Kathie Erdman, wife ofLVC music dozen years, half of them as president. instructor Lynn Phillips '68 and Corbett
adjunct Jim Erdman, and a co-founder, Deborah Hurst '84 heads up the opened their homes for this year's annual
with Kinch, of the Chautauqua's ever volunteers at Gretna's postage-stamp house tour, which raises some $10,000
popular Cicada Festival. That's a weeklong, library, and with her husband, Jeff, annually to support Music at Gretna.
family-friendly concert series in August, donated the diversity library in LVC's Phillips, who lives in the Conewago Hills
with tickets priced at an affordable $8. Miller Chapel. She also serves as secretary section of town, enjoys a splendid view of
of the Mt. Gretna Lake Conewago. Corbett is a trailblazer in
Historical Society. the Chautauqua for being the first, nine
Applegate's wife, years ago, to set up a garden train in his
Shelby Applegate '96, is front yard. There are now four of them
a well-known local artist scattered around Mt. Gretna.
who for years has been a Biology professors Drs. Paul Wolf and
major contributor to the Susan Verhoek from LVC not only bring
Mt. Gretna Outdoor Art their classes to Mt. Gretna to explore the
Show, both behind the great diversity in the ecology of the area,
scenes, serving on the Mt. but Verhoek also conducts summer nature
Gretna Arts Council, the walks for the Chautauqua, continuing a
organizing force behind long tradition of LVC-supplied naturalists.
Mt. Gretna's cultural One of the first may have been Dr.
offerings, and for many Samuel H. Derickson 1902, H'25, who
years at the show with her was a biology professor for 47 years before
mixed media art. She sees retiring in 1950. In his 1990 book, Mt.
Lebanon Valley College's Gretna, A Coleman Legacy, Bitner writes
Annual Juried Art Show "When we look back on the Mt. Gretna
as a way the thriving of the early 20th century, we perceive it
arts communities in Mt. as an utterly charming, simple and naive
Gretna and the College era. It was a time when picnics and nature
walks in the woods were popular, and at Gretna's natural beauty again. They can see these natural wonders. But Gretna's
Mt. Gretna there were those who were hike or bike the peaceful12.5 miles on natural beauty, its close community ties,
well qualified to conduct them, such as the Lebanon Valley Rail-Trail, all that is its charming architecture, and its exciting
professors Derickson and Hoffsommer of left of the Cornwall to Lebanon Railroad summer season are deeply appreciated by
the Campmeeting grounds." that led to the founding of this resort over its yearlong residents. "When I retired
Nowadays, all Mt. Gretna's activity 120 years ago. Nature lovers can also trek from the Marine Band," Erdman says,
starts to unfold three weeks after LVC through the woods to see the spectacular where he routinely played for presidents
students have left for the year. And view from the 66-foot tower at the highest at the White House, "the director said,
Gretna's summer season is over just a week ridge, Governor Dick. On a clear day, they 'You're going to miss this!' I loved my
after the students return to the Valley. In can overlook five surrounding counties: career, but moving to Mt. Gretna and
September, Mt. Gretna slips back into Lebanon, Lancaster, Dauphin, Berks, and teaching at the College have made my
the quiet of the surrounding wilderness, York. Residents can take in the beautiful Marine Band career almost secondary. I
buffered against encroaching development fall foliage reflected off the picture-perfect came back to my roots," says the Lebanon
from virtually every direction by its forests, 17 -acre lake, and finally, when spring County native, "and I'm thrilled."
owned and managed by the Pennsylvania comes again, enjoy the glorious display of
Game Commission and Governor Dick rhododendrons, mountain laurel, azaleas, Lauren McCartney Cusick is director
of media relations at Lebanon Valley
Park (officially the Clarence Schock nearly 30 species of ferns, and some 100
College. Deborah Bullock Wescott '95 also
Memorial Park). different wildflowers. contributed to this story.
Residents who are weary of the influx Only a handful ofLVC students,
of thousands of art and craft show visitors mostly on field trips for botany class
at the end of each August can now treasure or a few enterprising hikers, will ever
Kathie Erdman (left)
and Mary Ellen
Kinch '49 founded
Mt. Gretna's Cicada
FestivaL
A BRIEF HISTORY OF LVC
I
n the olden days, the only the College, made that visit to see Coleman Gretna every fall. They boarded the train
convenient way to reach Mt. about Campmeeting. Coleman was then at Annville in the morning with their picnic
Gretna was by train. The resort one of the five wealthiest men in the United baskets full of food and came back in the
was founded by iron magnate States. His fortune, listed as $30 million in evening loaded with chestnuts. That was
Robert Coleman in 1883 as a way 1899, outstripped J.P. Morgan's, Marshall when the mountains were dotted with
to generate traffic on his new Cornwall Field's, and F.W. Vanderbilt's. beautiful chestnut trees, before they were
to-Lebanon railroad, which connected his Dohner was presiding elder of the killed by the chestnut blight." That blight
vast iron-making enterprises in Colebrook Campmeeting's first annual meeting, and began locally around 1904, and by 1920,
and Cornwall to the main line of the LVC mathematic professor John Evans the chestnut tree had been wiped out in
Pennsylvania Railroad in Lebanon. But Lehman 1874 was put in charge of the Pennsylvania.
Coleman, a committed philanthropist, also music. One hundred years later, LVC faculty In 1920, still in the heyday of the
wanted to provide a pleasant picnic area. and administrators were still leaders: The Chautauqua, Lebanon Valley College
Mt. Gretna was immediately recognized Rev. Dr. Carl Y. Ehrhart '40, a philosophy built on the educational tradition of both
as an ideal spot along the way for a train professor and a longtime vice president institutions by launching its first summer
station and recreational area. and dean of LVC, was chairman of the 1992 school at Mt. Gretna. Two-credit courses
In 1884, Coleman cleared a place Bible program committee, and LVC scholar cost $12, and students boarded at one of
for a park in Mt. Gretna, named by a and librarian Dr. Donald Fields '24 was the hotels, now all gone-the majestic 125-
railroad executive's wife for the Scottish gratefully acknowledged for maintaining the room Hotel Conewago with its castellated
resort of Gretna Green. A year later, archives of the Evangelical United Brethren towers and magnificent view of the lake,
Coleman dammed the creek to form that served as the basis of Campmeeting's the more modest Chautauqua Inn, or
Lake Conewago. Coleman also cleared 1992 centennial booklet. the Kauffman Hotel. The College's 1921
120 adjacent acres for the Pennsylvania Dohner was also on the committee catalogue promised, "The environment, the
National Guard, which in 1885 began a 50- that initiated plans for the Chautauqua, social life of the resort, the opportunities for
year summer encampment before moving which in the days before summer schools healthful recreation, as well as for quiet and
to Fort Indiantown Gap in 1933. Four years at colleges and universities, served as a effective study make this an ideal location
later, he added a narrow-gauge railroad to means of continuing education, and even for a Summer School."
the area's highest peak, Governor Dick, received a subsidy from the state. After But only two years later, the summer
and to the Pennsylvania National Guard graduating from LVC in 1878, Dohner school was relocated to Annville, and LVC's
encampment area. Within a few years, earned his divinity degree from the catalogue of 1923 touted the virtues of
Mt. Gretna was one of the most popular Chautauqua School of Theology in New its own campus instead: "Lebanon Valley
recreation spots in the entire state, and York. College is fortunate in being unusually
welcomed thousands of "railroad-captive" Mt. Gretna's Chautauqua district well equipped with buildings for its various
guests each summer. streets reflected the Chautauqua's zest needs, including attractive, modern
In 1892, Coleman leased two nearby for learning-they are named for the Ivies: residence halls for men and women ... and
parcels of land on either side of an old Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc., and even other splendid buildings."
wagon trail called The Pinch (now Pinch for central Pennsylvania universities such As summer schools became more
Road). One 30-acre parcel went to as Lehigh and Muhlenberg. But despite common at colleges and universities, where
Campmeeting for summer Bible study. It Mt. Gretna's far deeper ties to LVC, neither college credits could be earned, the appeal
was members of the United Brethren in Dohner-nor anyone else-saw to it that of non-credit courses at Chautauquas
Christ Church-an evangelical sect that is a street was named for Lebanon Valley waned all across the country. No doubt
now part of the United Methodist Church College, an oversight that did not hinder LVC's Summer School in Annville indirectly
who approached Coleman with the idea Mt. Gretna's success. hastened the decline of the Chautauqua
of founding a summer Campmeeting at "The Chautauqua-the grandest at Mt. Gretna. At the same time, the
Mt.Gretna. The other, slightly larger tract system of comprehensive education ever Model T Ford gave families mobility for
was leased for a Chautauqua campus, conceived and operated, has at Mount vacations, and many preferred the ocean.
founded as part of a movement sweeping Gretna, one of the best, most widely The Great Depression and the relocation
the country that was dedicated to bringing known, summer schools and assemblies of the Pennsylvania National Guard to Fort
culture and education to everyone, not just the Pennsylvania Chautauqua," wrote an Indiantown Gap in 1933 also contributed to
the elite. Hundreds of Chautauquas were early admirer of the resort in a railroad a drop in programming at the Chautauqua
fashioned after an educational experiment brochure quoted in Bitner's book. during the late 1930s and 1940s. Today,
in out-of-school, vacation learning on Lake The late Edna J. Carmean, wife of the Mt. Gretna is considered a "revival"
Chautauqua, N.Y. late Dr. D. Clark Carmean H'95, a longtime Chautauqua-only a handful have operated
Lebanon Valley College was also dean of admission at the College, wrote in continuously.
founded by the United Brethren Christ her book, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania
Church, so it's not surprising that Dr. A History, "During the 1890s, the students LVC Registrar Pat Kaley '96 contributed
Daniel D. Lowery and The Rev. H.B. and faculty of Lebanon Valley College research for this history.
Dohner 1878, who were both trustees of held an annual 'Chestnut Picnic' at Mt.
8 THE VALLEY