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spring 2013 | st. Lawrence Universit y Magazine
King
Let ters
Letters
Another King from the house of steuart
The winter edition had an extra dose of delight
when I read the “Myths and Traditions” article
and recognized the king in the Winter Carni-
val photo on page 26: my father, H. Newcomb
Steuart '51. My sister Holly '77 and I think you
picked a great king. Dad loved St. Lawrence and
was an active alum his entire life. He started at
Harvard on a football scholarship and, after a
post-war Navy stint, transferred in 1948. He used
to say he was "the only St. Lawrence grad who
'
prepped' at Harvard." St. Lawrence claimed a
special place in his heart, and in his daughters'.
He'd be tickled to know he was part of the issue
on traditions!
Bonnie Steuart Taylor '77 | Vienna, Virginia
Rug hall Recalled
When I was a freshman living in Sykes in the fall
of 1975, popular rumor had it that the upper-
floor hall, nicknamed "Rug Hall," sported wall-
to-wall carpeting in place of linoleum because
previous residents had plugged the spaces beneath
all the room doors and proceeded to flood the
hall while keeping the window at the end of the
hall open overnight in particularly frigid weather,
resulting in a frozen surface on which they played
ice hockey, on skates, until it melted and caused
permanent damage to the floor and ceiling below,
prompting the administration to install carpeting
as a deterrent against future "Frosh Frozen Fours."
Fact, or folklore?
Jerry Chiplock ’79 | Saginaw, Michigan
Readers who can shed more light on “Rug Hall”
are encouraged to contact the editor at nburdick@
stlawu.edu.
eBay Comes t hrough Again
The winter edition’s article by Tom French, “SLU
on eBay,” was really timely. Our son Andrew
DeHaas ’01 recently bought a new house, and we
were looking for a gift for his home office. Since
he was co-captain of the men’s lacrosse teams in
2000
and 2001, something related to his good
times on the athletics fields seemed in order. A
life-sized cardboard cut-out of him in his uniform
would not have gotten rave reviews, so a search on
eBay was undertaken.
Being familiar with the Murad Tobacco Com-
pany’s college silks, I searched for a St. Lawrence
one, and was pleased to purchase it for less than
$10. Then I searched in the “old postcard” sec-
tion, and found a pre-1920 card of the athletics
fields. The postcard was in remarkably good
condition and cost around $3.
Linda matted and framed this pair of Saints
memorabilia items, and they now hang next
to our son’s diploma. They remind us of great
memories, freezing on the sidelines in March
notwithstanding, of coming to lacrosse games in
Canton.
George DeHaas P’01 | Manlius, New York
f irst Last Lectures
Your St. Lawrence timeline (Winter 2013, p. 16)
states that the first "Last Lecture" by an Owen D.
Young Outstanding Faculty Award winner was
held in 2002. Actually—though without any
special award attached to it—the idea goes back
over 50 years.
In the early 1960s, the "Last Lecture" series was
inaugurated to highlight distinguished faculty.
My father, Dr. Harry Reiff, gave the second such
lecture, on March 10, 1963, in the University
Center auditorium. His topic, as might be
expected for the chair of the history and govern-
ment department, was the making of the
U.S. Constitution in 1787, and its character and
legacy; it was entitled "If Men Were Angels." For
an audio CD, email
reiff@fredonia.edu
.
Daniel D. Reiff | Fredonia, New York
CleanWater from the sun
Browsing through the fall 2012 St. Lawrence
University magazine, my eyes fell on the extensive
Africa stories, and I pondered the clean water
issue. An invention for small-scale cleansing of
water with solar energy is worth including in aid.
It has won several awards:
http://solarcooking.
wikia.com/wiki/Solvatten and
www.solvatten.se.
Eva Nyström ’72 | Lund, Sweden