Saying goodbye to Thaxter, Throckmorton, and Edmonds

by Erin Haick

With the imminent destruction of the temporary buildings – Thaxter, Throckmorton, and Edmonds – the Lewis & Clark College last Saturday took a moment to reflect on those names and the former professors behind them. A crowd of nearly one-hundred alumni gathered in Stamm Dining Room to commemorate the professors who, as many repeated, had literally built the College with their own hands.

Benjamin Thaxter, Professor of English and Biology from 1939-1952; TJ Edmonds, Professor of Business Administration from 1947-1960, and Arthur Throckmorton, Associate Professor of History from 1950-1962, clearly left their students with life-changing experiences. At the Decommissioning Ceremony, former students spoke about Ben Thaxter’s love of the outdoors, TJ Edmonds’ love the Snack Shack, and Art Throckmorton’s infectious love of history.

Benjamin Thaxter came west in 1899, stopping in Missouri for a position at Southeast Missouri State Teachers College, where he met his wife, Katherine Young. The two made a visit to Portland in 1906, and he and Katherine fell in love with the Northwest’s beauty. Released from his teaching contract in Missouri, Thaxter eventually became principal of three grade schools, including Couch, where he started the first nature study course in Portland.

Thaxter joined the faculty of LC when it was still called Albany College and located in rented buildings in downtown Portland. After the resignation of President Green following the 1945 attack on Pearl Harbor, Thaxter was asked by the board of trustees to serve as both dean of students and acting president. When Morgan Odell came in as president the next year, Thaxter stayed on and helped Albany move to the Lloyd Frank estate. Thaxter taught classes in Shakespeare and field biology, and frequently took students on cross-country hikes around the new campus.

Even after retiring in 1952, Thaxter stayed at LC as the unofficial groundsman and keeper of the Rose Garden in lower campus. Chuck Charmquist, a former student, wrote that "his deep fascination with anything outdoors coupled with a boundless energy caused him to become one of nature’s great friends and early advocates in Portland."

Arthur Throckmorton, associate professor of history, was most renowned for implementing the interdisciplinary Humanities/Western Civilization program, which he created along with Donald Balmer. He came to LC in 1950, and died twelve years later, still teaching. In the meantime, Throckmorton published one book and was active in numerous historical societies, emphasizing history as the center of all liberal arts knowledge.

Ken Owens, class of 1955, said that, upon coming to LC, "within two weeks, I knew exactly what I wanted to be – Art Throckmorton." Owens described him as "a teacher with great command in the classroom, by his presence and the intellectual strength of what he was teaching."

"When I think about TJ [Edmonds], I recall a fairly tall man in a tweed jacket and a craggy hand holding a cigarette, with ashes holding on for dear life," said Keith Burns, the ASLC president to the class of 1954.

"I’m still amazed we’re all alive after inhaling all that second-hand smoke," he joked.

Edmonds was born in Ohio, where he earned a law degree, but a passion for teaching led him to New Haven, CT, and Erie, PA, before coming to Portland during the Depression with the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. He joined the faculty in 1947 and taught for thirteen years.

Edmonds focused on the communication between people in his Business Administration field. Burns recalled, "He said, ‘Write it how you would speak to the person. Remember, in business, ‘you’ comes before the letter ‘I.’"

At a memorial service in 1960, Dr. John Anderson said, "TJ was a real man who met and experienced some of the deeper dimensions of human existence – of sorrow and mental pain, the dubeties of human relations – known to few men."

"He had a love – of life, more again of people…of individuals in all their strange varieties and uniqueness," Anderson finished.

Nichole: Making a difference

by Maggie Oyler

Senior Nichole Alexander makes things happen. Once she decides there is a need for a program - she creates it. Once she believes that Martin Luther King’s Day should be celebrated - she fights for its observance. Nichole Alexander doesn’t sit around thinking "what if…" - rather, she forces it into existence.

Nichole came to Lewis and Clark College from Los Angeles, CA. During her junior year in high school, her college counselor told her about One Voice. One Voice is a non-profit scholarship service for low income, under-represented minorities. The service helped her with her application essays, and offset the application fees. Through One Voice, she was able to apply to out of state, private colleges. After visiting the campus, and upon being accepted to the school, Nichole decided to attend LC.

"The transition to the school was difficult," Nichole related. "You learn a lot about yourself, and who you really are."

So Nichole immersed herself in BSU (Black Student Union) and became an ESS (Ethnic Student Services) intern.

The 2002-2003 school year is the second year that Nichole has served as president of BSU. This year, she spearheaded a campaign to observe Martin Luther King’s Day on campus. The holiday has never been celebrated before, and Nichole’s (among others) hard work made it possible.

"When the vote passed for it to be celebrated, it was the most awesome feeling," Nichole remembers.

But that’s just one thing on Nichole’s list of accomplishments. She also began a career development workshop for minority students.

"Students enjoyed the workshop and found it very helpful" Nichole thinks. The workshop focused on securing jobs, interview skills and networking abilities.

Nichole is also involved in the mentor/mentee program. This program pairs incoming students of minority, students originating from a small town, or students from an extremely religious background, with an older student to talk to.

"My dream is to set up a reception for minority students to talk to minority graduates of Lewis and Clark," Nicole said.

With all of this, Nicole still manages to make time for academics and will be graduating as a psychology major this spring. Her rough plan for after college is to move to Dallas, Texas, to be with her boyfriend. She wants to go on to pharmacy school, and is taking the necessary classes to be admitted.

So when does this woman ever sleep? "Don’t call me after 10pm, I try to shut down by then," Nicole remarked.

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