The Retirees' Newsletter
Faculty & Librarian Retirees' Association, University of Windsor

October, 1995, Issue #14

CHARLES MURRAH WRITES ABOUT LACK OF REPLACEMENTS IN ENGLISH

Dear Bill, (22.vi.95)

I thought you wouldn't mind a few personal thoughts from a fellow retiree. First of all, I enjoyed your latest newsletter, which I read with great care. Congratulations on acquiring Joan Hackett as Associate Editor. She is one of my cherished memories, in my former connection with the School of Dramatic Art - a highly intelligent and artistically sensitive lady. It is not surprising that her amusing contribution to The Newsletter should take a dramatic form ("Bad Hair Day", June 1995). Through her expert selection of details, I could visualize the whole scene, in real life or on stage.

To get back to more mundane matters, a number of recent retirees from the English Department should be added to your mailing list. I add these names: Roderick Huang, Peter Stevens, Edward Watson and Eugene McNamara.

I realize, of course, that we all have to die, and the old must give way to the young. But what bothers me is that none of the worthies mentioned above has been replaced. [President] Ianni talks of "underfunding" and I don't know what. But I do know one thing, a university without a strong English Department is not really a university. It sinks to the level of Podunk. As I'm sure you are aware, the skillful use of one's own language is essential to the intellectual way of life. And one gets that desideratum not by parsing sentences but by reading books in which the art of language - its astounding power - is displayed.

Believe me, I don't disparage other disciplines. Sometimes, when my bank account goes awry, or my rich brother-in-law tells me how much he is getting from his investments, I wish that I had taken some additional courses in economics. They might also make me better understand what I read in the newspapers and hear in political debates...

With regards and thanks,

Charles Murrah (English).

Editor's Note:

IN A REPLY TO THE ABOVE, I wrote a note to Charles, a longtime friend, in which I asked him to pass along my greetings to John O'Farrell (History); and I mentioned the interest John and I had shared for many years in the little Church of St. Anselm and St. Cecelia, tucked away inconspicuously in the heart of London. In reply, Charles wrote the following, which many may find of interest.

Dear Bill, Canada Day, 1995

... I will certainly pass on your greetings to John O'Farrell, the next time we are in touch. I suppose you know that he wrote an interesting brochure on the history of St. Anselm and St. Cecelia, still distributed by the Church. When John's mother died, I arranged to have a Latin mass for her to be said there. I used to go to Sts. A. and C. myself until I discovered St. Ethelreda's, even more tucked away. It used to be the London Chapel of the Bishop of Ely and is the only edifice that has been reclaimed from the Anglicans by the Catholic Church since the Reformation.

Charles.

(For anyone interested, just where is St. Ethelreda's located in London?) Charles?

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