DEDICATION CEREMONIES
JAMES RICHARD ELSTER MEMORIAL COURT
In the high school auditorium at 1:30 P.M. on Sunday, October 8, 1972
Presiding
Daniel P. Knueppel
Principal, Tenafly High School
Opening Prayer
Rabbi Irwin M. Blank
Temple Sinai of Bergen County
Flag Salute
Led by Daniel P. Knueppel
"Continuity" by Judith Peck
Sculptor
Presentation
Samuel K. Elster
Acknowledgment
E. Kirby Warren
Vice President Board of Education
Introduction of Speaker
John B. Geissinger
Superintendent of Schools
Address
John William Ward
President, Amherst College
Closing Prayer
The Reverend Henry Powers
Church of the Atonement
The Court...
Walk together, talk together, 0 ye peoples of the earth: then and only then shall ye have peace.
Inscribed upon the plague at the James Richard Elster Memorial Court, these words appropriately describe the educational function of this courtyard at Tenafly High School.
An area under the open sky, surrounded by halls of learning, and dedicated in memory of a former Tenafly student, the James Richard Elster Memorial Court is further enhanced by the presence of "continuity" in the form of a sculpture by Judith Peck that depicts man and child engaged in dialogue.
Continuity in our educational process involves communication by the passing of knowledge gained by experience from the older to the younger by the sharing of research undertaken by both older and younger to find new knowledge, and by the expression of established as well as untested ideas which may yet help all mankind to better understand themselves.
Here our young minds may gather to explore their thoughts; here faculty and students may meet to discuss issues and share experiences; here courses may be offered to stimulate the young to greater vision; here interests may be triggered for their greater fulfillment at our nearby Resource [Library Media] Center.
This, the James Richard Elster Memorial Court, is ultimately a place of beauty, a restful area where human interact on or quiet meditation may help all who use t to grow from better understanding of themselves to greater appreciation of one another.
May our Tenafly High School make the most of the opportunities this pleasant courtyard offers and thereby reach others by example in the experiences of i is beyond its confines.
James Richard Elster...
An involved student with a commitment to his fellow man, Jim Elster lived his life it the spirit of the American Field Service. He walked. with and talked to people of many cultures and persuasions.
The American Field Service deeply influenced Jim's life, During his year as Tenaflv’s AFS representative to Chile, he created relationships that continue to exist today between his natural and adoptive families. In addition, he was exposed to a world, he hadn't known before. Touched by the poverty and poor living conditions of large numbers of Chilean people, he determined to enter the field of public health medicine.
With that in mind Jim began premedical studies at Amherst College in the fall of 1967. His awareness and his skills sharpened, he used h s newly acquired bilingual abilities in a volunteer program in nearby Northern Massachusetts teaching English to Spanish-speaking people.
Medicine was still high on his priorities when in the summer of 1969 he worked at the Marine Biological Laboratory Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Jim wrote a paper, later published, on the research he had done in cancer enzymology that summer.
A student in the Tenafly Public Schools since first grade, Jim had an outstanding scholastic record. At the high school, the six foot-five inch youngster played on the basketball team and became involved with AFS.
When he died two weeks after his twenty first birthday in a class at Amherst, the work he had done and the dreams he had nourished were not forgotten. Remembering his involvement with people and his commitment to medicine, scholarships were created in his name. A summer fellowship for research projects in biology established at Amherst has already been awarded twice.
The AFS Memorial Scholarship Fund, however, best symbolizes the philosophy Jim had come to live by. It was meant to do so. Designed for inner city youngsters, the program offers “these young people the year of study abroad that had such an impact on Jim, that they may learn from his examples and from the beauty of his life that people throughout the world share common goals…and that we may learn all to walk together and talk together in peace.”
"Continuity"...
Reflected in the windows of the surrounding building, Continuity is a gentle reminder that shared experience forges a link between the generations. The eight foot bronze sculpture, with its flow of lines, one into another, reinforces the concept of continuity in its structure. "When young and old interact," says sculptor Judith Peck, "knowledge passes between them, causing change and continuance to occur."
Judith Peck . . .
Judith Peck's sculptures have been on exhibit at the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of Art, the Detroit Institute, New York City a National Academy and the New Jersey State Museum in Trenton. The Ghetto Fighters Museum in Israel and the Yale University Museum house her works in their permanent collections. An eight foot sculpture entitled Holocaust stands on the grounds of Ramapo State College. Her awards include first prize in the sculpture division of the Now Jersey State Exhibition and the J. Sanford S31tus award at the Art Students League.
On the faculty of Ramapo College, Mrs. Peck has been deeply involved in adult education in many of the communities a' the area author of three books, she received her training at the Maryland Institute in Baltimore, the Art Students League and the Sculpture Center in Now York City and the Meisterschule fur Handwerke, Kaiserslautern, Germany.
John William Ward ...
President of Amherst College since 1971, John William Ward joined its faculty in 1964 as professor of History and American Studies. Author of Red, While and Blue: Men, Books and Ideas in American Culture, published in 1969, Mr. Ward has written and edited several other works as well. His articles have appeared in a number of journals including American Quarterly, American Scholar, Virginia Quarterly Review, Yale Review and Western Humanities Review.
Chosen by Phi Beta Kappa in 1970-71 to serve as one of their "distinguished visiting scholars" to various campuses, Professor Ward has also been awarded fellowships by ACLS, the Guggenheim Foundation and the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. In 1967-68, he served as Fulbright Lecturer to U.K. (University of Reading).
Mr. Ward received his A.B. from Harvard College and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota.
This court was built through public subscription in memory of
James Richard Elster
BOARD OF EDUCATION
Samuel K. Elster
President
E. Kirby Warren
Vice President |
