Furman Magazine. Volume 34, Issue 1 - Full Issue

Furman Magazine Volume 34 Issue 1 Summer 1990 Article 1 6-1-1990 Furman Magazine. Volume 34, Issue 1 - Full Issue Furman University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarexchange.furman.edu/furman-magazine Recommended Citation University, Furman (1990) "Furman Magazine. Volume 34, Issue 1 - Full Issue," Furman Magazine: Vol. 34 : Iss. 1 , Article 1. Available at: https://scholarexchange.furman.edu/furman-magazine/vol34/iss1/1 This Complete Volume is made available online by Journals, part of the Furman University Scholar Exchange (FUSE). It has been accepted for inclusion in Furman Magazine by an authorized FUSE administrator. For terms of use, please refer to the FUSE Institutional Repository Guidelines. For more information, please contact . UNIVERSITY SUMMER 1990 VOLUME 34 NUMBER 1 The Furman Magazine is published by Furman University, Greenville, S.C. 29613 and printed by Provence Printing, Inc. Copyright© Furman University 1990 Editor: Marguerite Hays Contributing Writers: Vince Moore, Jim Stewart, Terry Walters Photographer: David Crosby Design: Beth Tankersley Tankersley Schroeder Graphic Design Consultant: Tom Hays ALUMNI BOARD OF DIRECTORS: David G. Ellison '72, president; Robert H. Lutz, Jr. '71, president-elect; R. O'Neil Rabon, Jr. '81, vice-president; Harold F. Gallivan III '69, secretary; Robert L.Thompson, Jr. '60, past president; Joyce Burris Bagwell '54; Mary Barr Behlke '59; Gordon L. Blackwell '60; Breck S. Bolton '83; Karen Olsen Edwards '69; Beth Hicks Fisher '79; Claire W. Geddie '64; Sarah W. Herring '66; Trescott N . Hinton '39; Martha Lattimore Hughes '70; Mark Kosher '76; Carol Capell Newsom '66; Paul B. N ix, Jr. '77; Henry L. Parr, Jr. '73; John Peters '43; Robert Pinson '61; J. C. Plowden '48; Chartee M . Plyler '59; Wayne A. Prince '81; Alice D. Pugh '60; Wayne D. Reid '68; Keith A . Shelton '58; Susan Thomson Shi '71; D. Loy Stewart '76; Linda A. Tuck '66. Ex-Officio: John E, Johns '47, president, Furman University; Jerry E. McGee, vice president for development; Don Fowler, director of development; Mary Brown Ries '79, director of alumni programs; Dana E. Evans '88, alumni programs field representa tive; William J. Lavery, faculty liaison; Carla Ingrando '91, president, Association of Furman Students; Paul Purvis '91, president, Senior Class; Larry Lee '91 past president, As sociation of Furman Students; Scott Kester '90, past president, Senior Class Furman University offers equal opportunity in its employment, admissions and education activities in compliance with Title IX and other civil rights laws. CONTENTS A Scholar and a Gentleman by ]im Stewart 2 As author, scholar and mentor, George Tindall has made a major contribution to the study of American history. Catch a Rising Star by ]im Stewart 8 Davidson College professor David Shi seems to operate at a different speed than the rest of us. 14 The Fall the Wall Came Down by Eric Bax While studying in Eastern Europe last fall, Furman senior Eric Bax witnessed the dissolution of the Communist party and the collapse of the Berlin Wall. 20 A Man of Many Parts by Marguerite Hays As one who loves music, drama, literature and teaching, John Crabtree has found the perfect kind of life. A Radical Reunion Four 1969 graduates met at Furman last fall to discuss the issues that have shaped their lives. One of them, writer/professor Jack Sullivan, looks back at Furman in the sixties. COVER: Working in his garden gives Vice President and Dean John Crabtree almost as much pleasure as teaching Shakespeare. See article on page 20. Photo by David Crosby. 26 A SCHOLAR AND A GENTLE BY JIM STEWART Among friends and colleagues his name is synonymous with Southern gentility. Among historians he's known eorge Brown Tindall likes to use the word "serendipity" when referring to the chance events or twists of fate that often shape one's destiny. The term seems to app ly to various moments in his life - or perhaps he has just been well-prepared to step through the doors that have opened. Whatever the case, fortune certainly was on his side one spring day in 1 946 when, fresh from a lengthy stint in the Air Force, he was a somewhat discontented graduate student in English at the University of North Carolina. Tindall had majored in English at Furman, but his brief experience in graduate school, where he found himself more interested in current events than literature, had made him realize that his true calling might lie elsewhere. In the midst of his restlessness he happened to run into Isaac Copeland, who had been a librarian at Furman dur ing Tindall's undergraduate days and was now also a graduate student. Copeland, who later became director of the South ern Historical Collection at North Caro lina, listened to Tindall's concerns and took him to meet Fletcher Green of the UNC history department. When Tindall returned to Chapel Hill for the second semester of summer school, his new bride and Furman classmate, Blossom McGarrity, was enrolled in the English program - and he was a graduate student in history. "I barely qualified for admission in history, but the dean was sympathetic because he had changed his major, too," he says. Tindall's meeting with Copeland G 2 for his contributions to the study of the South and the nation. proved to be far more than a chance encounter with an old friend. It wound up launching the career of one of the nation's most distinguished historians. As author, scholar and mentor, George Tindall has made a major contribution to the study of American history, and especially Southern history. He may have retired this spring as Kenan Professor of History at North Carolina, but his legacy will live on in his writings and in his former students, many of whom now teach history in colleges throughout the country. Tindall's impact is evident on a more personal level as well. Among friends and colleagues his name is a synonym for charm, warmth and Southern gentility, and he is known for taking a deep interest in all aspects of his students' lives. Says A.V. Huff of the Furman history department, "George has always been a kind of perfect illustration of the gentleman scholar. He's very open, approachable, helpful and encouraging - almost a perfect model for a graduate teacher." Huffs perceptions are echoed by Tindall's former students. Gary Freeze, a professor at Erskine College, calls Tindall "a grand personal figure" and tells of his own excitement when, as an undergradu ate at UNC, he enrolled in his first of many Tindall courses. Into the classroom marched the bow-tied president of the Southern Historical Association - and eager young Mr. Freeze promptly knocked the master's p ipe off a desk, scattering debris everywhere. "I was mor tified," says Freeze, "but that was when I first came face-to-face with his gracious ness and humanity. It's stuck with me." And when Tindall says of his graduate students, "You sort of take them on for life," his words ring true (...truncated)