I have so much to do and so many questions coming all the time from all different directions that I generally just keep plowing forward no matter what. It’s a rare day when I go back to something I’ve already dealt with. For the last week, though, I’ve been unable to shake something I read when I was gathering the materials to write about Konnie Kolenda.
I’d been happy to find among his things a transcript of the memorial service that was held in the Rice chapel after his death. In particular, I wanted to include these remarks by his wife, which flesh out some very interesting biographical details:
Kolenda memorial service 1991 1 054
But over the last few days it’s been something else from that service that keeps coming back to me, just a small thing that Dr. Kolenda’s colleague from the Philosophy Department, Steve Crowell, opened his remarks with. I had to go back to the box and dig out the transcript to be sure I’d read it correctly.
I can’t decide what I think about this.
Bonus: Pauline Kolenda describes above how her husband pursued his philosophy studies at Rice with “his beloved professors Radoslav Tsanoff and James Street Fulton.” I found this picture tucked into an envelope–Tsanoff and Fulton are in the middle.
Extra Bonus: That looks like a Phi Beta Kappa key on Tsanoff’s vest.
Any idea of year and location of the bonus photo? 3-floor (or more) building under construction in left background.
No. Maybe Marty can tell us something about the cars. I also don’t recognize the two gentlemen on either side of the group. I thought they might be at a conference somewhere out of town but Fulton is holding a copy of the late, lamented Houston Post.
The front car is a 1951 Buick Roadmaster. The back car is an early-50s left-hand-drive Jaguar Mark VII, kind of a rarity in these parts. If this was in Houston, which I am inclined to believe, there was a huge building boom in the Texas Medical Center between 1951 and 1955. That could possibly be Methodist Hospital or MD Anderson, or St. Luke’s.
Thanks! I’m impressed but not really surprised that you could discern all that from the partial images.
An astute emailer notes that the man at left looks to be Religion Professor Niels Nielsen. I’m inclined to believe that.
I am also pretty sure that is Niels. Sidney Burrus
I agree about the Nielsen identification.
The man on the right is Hugo Cleon Black, associate professor in the philosophy, psychology and education department. Street Fulton was master of Will Rice when I was there.
Could that be the Biology building under construction as seen across Harris Gully (near the 21st century power plant)?
Dr. Fulton was Master of Will Rice when I was there. He and Mrs. Fulton were just wonderful people, stand-in grandparents for those of us far from home. I waited on Dr. Tsanoff many times at the Faculty Club. He was always courteous and respectful of the student waiters, unlike some of the other faculty who ate lunch there.
Thanks for sharing these details! I seem to remember reading somewhere (I’m not a historian) that people in eastern Europe, the area the Russians first took possession of at the beginning of the war, were actually glad to see the Germans come in. That always seemed odd to me, but I can see through his story how you might feel this way.