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[*149] ARTHUR NORMAN SHARP A.B., 1919; A.M., Harvard, 1920 Though his name is the first on the list, his was not the first
appointment. It was the first graduate appointment. The condition that men
must be appointed by the middle of their junior year in the College of
Liberal Arts was a late introduction in the Deed of Gift. The committee was
anxious to have the Fund aiding all grades as early as possible, and when Mr.
Sharp graduated he was appointed Fellow of the Fund for two years, from 1919
to 1921. He studied during this period at Harvard and at the Sorbonne in
Paris. His father, who came to this country from England, was "converted
to Methodism by Peter Cartwright," and as one result, Sharp tells
us: It was a busy Methodist parsonage in which I grew up. Seldom did we
sit down to table alone. The latchstring was always out. We, as children,
were early brought into contact with the high and the low, and our lives and
understanding made the richer for it. What we lost by not having our roots
firmly planted in the life of one community which could be
called home was more than offset by the breadth of experience we
acquired. I was the youngest of four. Father's health broke from overwork. He
never regained his strength and died fifteen years later after a long,
painful illness. Because of his illness, it was necessary for me to work and
pay for a large part of my education, as well as to help support our mother.
As I look back upon my early experience and think of our home life, of the
selfless service of my [*150] parents, I can only be thankful that it was my
privilege to have been born and reared in such a family. He writes that, after returning from France, he "taught for one
year at Wilbraham Academy." It was a strenuous schedule, six full hours of classes daily, three of
Latin, three of French. In the spring of 1922, I accepted a position at the
Loomis School in Windsor, Connecticut, where I remained until I was drafted
into the Armed Forces in September, 1942. I taught
French entirely until 1931 when I had a year's leave of absence to study in
Berlin. Upon my return I was made head of the Modern Language Department.
Increasing demand for German made it necessary for me to relinquish one
French course after another until all of my teaching time was devoted to
German. In a boys' preparatory school, however, teaching is but a small
fraction of one's duties. There were the French and German Clubs, the Glee Club which I helped train and which I accompanied, Bible
classes, reforestation projects, correspondence to be carried on with the
parents of my advisees, and many other duties. Summers were given up to tutoring, music and study - with the
exception of the summer of 1926 which I spent in
travel through France and England - until 1932 when, in collaboration with my
brother, I opened a summer camp-school in Rangeley, Maine. The quiet, rather cloistered existence was rudely interrupted by the
call to duty in the Army. A brief account of his experiences in the Army is given in Chapter IX. [*391] Arthur N. Sharp, the first Fellow of the Fund and for many
years a teacher, was called in early middle life into the service of his
country. He writes: At the age of forty-three I was put through infantry basic training
and could indeed be thankful that I had led an active, outdoor life. After
some trying, some very amusing experiences, I was finally assigned to the
Military Intelligence where my knowledge of German and understanding of the
German mental processes were fully exploited. [*392] I had reached the rank of technical sergeant when I was discharged in May, 1945. Immediately I was appointed to the United
States Strategic Bombing Survey and within seventy-two hours was flown to
Germany with the assimilated rank of lieutenant colonel. My work with the
Survey took me to the sadly devastated Ruhr Valley where I spent two months
interviewing the natives. The month of August took me to London where I
collaborated in the preparation of the Survey report. In September I flew back to Germany where I was appointed area chief
for Greater Hesse of the Public Opinion Survey of
the Information Control Division. The work kept me busy traveling back and
forth throughout the U. S. Zone interviewing, training personnel, until the
program finally required me to devote all my time to administrative duties.
It was an interesting but very harrowing experience which
brought me into intimate touch with the pitiful suffering of a whole people. Mr. Sharp is still doing important work in the service of the country. Source: http://www.scribd.com/doc/45411946/A-Chronicle-of-Achievement (A Chronicle of Achievement: Thirty Years
of the Professor Augustus Howe Buck Educational Fund, 1948) Interment info: http://www.southboroughhistory.org/Rural%20Cemetary%20Pages/southborough_rural_cemetery_S.htm |