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Issue: Winter 2005
Mailbag
We welcome letters from readers, although we do reserve the right to select and edit for space. Send letters to:
Mailbag, c/o USC Trojan Family Magazine, University of Southern California,
Los Angeles, CA 90089-7790, fax: (213) 821-1100, e-mail: magazines@usc.edu
125 Reminiscences
I was awed with nostalgia with President Sample’s “USC 125: Inventing the Future Since 1880” article (Autumn 2005, p. 29).
Born of immigrant parents and the first in the family to attend
college, I fell into the 12 percent category of first-timers. I
remember well playing as a youngster on the football field, which at
that time was located next to the Veterans Quonset at McClintock and
Exposition boulevards. I also remember paying 7 cents to ride the J car
and V Street cars to any location in downtown Los Angeles.
My USC opportunity came about with a football scholarship. When I
returned from the service, I was determined to complete my education,
and professor John Cooper of the physical education department had such
confidence in me that he convinced me to return on the Korean War G.I.
Bill and graduate as a Trojan.
Despite the fact that I never played one minute for the Trojans, being
a member of the 1952 National Champions and sitting on the bench at the
1953 Rose Bowl was more than enough to give me lasting memories. I
can’t think of another person or event that influenced my life more
than John Cooper.
Hank Ketels ’58, MS ’60
Nevada City, CA
I can’t believe that we are celebrating 125 years!
It seems only a short time ago that I was playing trombone in the
Trojan Band for our 50th year celebration. It was during the evening,
at Shrine Auditorium, that we sat in our chairs for some three hours
while President Von KleinSmid introduced the many speakers. We had a
very good band under the direction of Harold William Roberts, and we
played several numbers between speakers. Pleasant memories!
David Otis Kelley ’32
Albuquerque, NM
My
congratulations to USC for celebrating 125 years! I am very honored to
be a part of the Trojan Family after having graduated in 2003 at 50
years of age. I commend you and your staff for including President
Sample’s great article and for keeping us informed. It’s great to be a
Trojan!
Kimiko Ego ’03
Gardena, CA
Being
a parent of three who graduated from USC from 1977 to 1995, and also
being a residential associate, I must say in all that time of receiving
the family magazine I have never seen such a fantastic issue. My
congratulations to you and your great staff. I truly enjoyed it. Keep
up the great work.
Gilbert Papazian
Hillsborough, CA
Partners in Clout
Thank you for the wonderful article by Diane Krieger, “Judaic Treasures
of Troy” (Autumn 2005, p. 24). What a positive relationship there has
been between USC and Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.
Reading the article, I felt a deep sense of gratitude for the grand way
in which my university was interacting with HUC.
Lloyd Saatjian ’56
Santa Barbara, CA
Diane Krieger’s article in USC Trojan Family Magazine is great! It reads wonderfully and brings together the best of USC’s vision and HUC’s mission. I could not be more pleased.
We are receiving lots of compliments from people who have already read the article. Thank you again for a terrific job.
Lewis M. Barth
Los Angeles, CA
Rabbi Barth is dean of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.
I see that you are up to your usual high standards with the article on HUC in the recent USC Trojan Family Magazine.
It is very informative, interesting and good. I felt honored and moved
to read my name in connection to Josh Holo, but even if it would not
have been there, I would have loved and felt good about the article. I
bet that the folks at HUC were very pleased.
Susan Laemmle
Dean of Religious Life
Campus
Just
a note of thanks for such a wonderfully researched and written article
about the “Judaic Treasures of Troy.” You really presented a great
historical piece and a nice broad sweep of many of the participants and
beneficiaries of the wonderful HUC/USC partnership.
Matt Davidson
Jerusalem, Israel
Holistic Caretaker
Today I received my copy of the Autumn 2005 USC Trojan Family Magazine
and was glad to see the article about Dr. Francine Kaufman’s work on
diabetes education, prevention and treatment in children (“Defying
Diabesity,” p. 54). The article also makes mention of Dr. Anne Peters’s
work with adults, as well as her new book, Conquering Diabetes
(Shelf Life, p. 20). What the articles failed to mention, however, is
what a wonderful, caring and supportive doctor Dr. Peters is.
I
became a patient of Dr. Peters well over a year ago. It was a happy
coincidence that brought me to the USC Westside Center for Diabetes. At
that time my diabetes was out of control, and things were getting
worse. Intellectually, I knew what the long-term risks were if I did
not try harder to control my diabetes – all I had to do was look at my
own mother and see how diabetes has slowly ravaged her. But even though
the evidence was clear, I was still in deep denial about my condition.
Dr. Peters looked at my test results and simply told me, “You’re too
smart to be this dumb about your health. Work with me and I can give
you 10 to 20 additional years of healthy living.” No one had talked to
me like that before, and it worked.
With Dr. Peters’ help and the help of her wonderful staff, I am well on
my way to healthier living. Dr. Peters has even put me on a new
diabetes drug that, together with diet and exercise, helps me keep my
blood glucose down to healthy levels.
My diabetes will never go away, and I will have to be careful about my
health for the rest of my life. But, thanks to Dr. Peters, I will be
able to forestall, and perhaps completely avoid, some of the serious
consequences that my mother now faces.
I am glad that the alumni magazine chose to highlight Dr. Peters’ work.
I just wanted your readers to know that Dr. Peters is more than “just”
a doctor, more than “just” a researcher and more than “just” a medical
writer. She is the best friend a diabetic can hope to have.
Ernesto J. Acosta JD ’81
Ventura, CA
Eagle-eyed Readers
I was reading and enjoying this excellent magazine and particularly
enjoying Christine Shade’s piece on memories when, on page 63, my
pleasure sharply took a detour to disappointment (“Magazine Memories,”
Autumn 2005, p. 60).
I hope that the school principals to whom she refers are better at word
use and/or spelling than the writer who related that “two out of three
judges, dentists and school principles were Trojans.”
Trudy Sibley
Northridge, CA
I
hate to be picayune-ish, but on the page 11 Bookstore ad, right at the
very bottom, extreme right column, “Item J. 125th Keytag for $7.95,” I
am sure, is meant to be “brass with cardinal imprint,” not “cadinal” imprint.
A much more critical typo/error is on page 64, again extreme right
column, second paragraph, second sentence of a very interesting
“Magazine Memories” article by Christine E. Shade. As a former chief
counsel for development under the “father of modern fundraising at USC,
Thomas P. Nickell Jr.,” I and USC would be remiss if there is not some
correction made properly noting that the “Toward Century II Campaign”
was not a paltry “$2.5 million” but, of course, more than $265 million.
And an excess of $300 million was actually raised in that campaign.
David L. Paluska ’68, JD ’71
Los Angeles, CA
We
thank our two readers for their proofreading proficiencies. David
Paluska is of course correct in saying that the original fundraising
goal for the Toward Century II Campaign was $265 million. We apologize
for the errors.
Trojan Memories
How could a needy Depression-era orphan with learning difficulties
fantasize about making it to USC? The reality: persistence, with
disappointments, created much luck in meeting the “right” people who
helped me throughout this difficult journey.
In the winter of 1935, I hopped a freight train from Indianapolis. Good
fortune led me to labor jobs around Los Angeles at $10 weekly, a
respectable wage.
Enrollment time at USC was a shocking surprise. I was rejected because
of being in the lowest 10 percent in my high school class, all this
time harboring the thought that a high school diploma was an automatic
step to college.
What now? After an hour or so, I went to the advisor. She suggested I
enroll at tuition-free Los Angeles Junior College and bring my grades
up, thus qualifying to enter USC.
One year later, and enrollment time came again. As the long line to the
comptroller’s station grew shorter, my dreams were drowning in the
reality that my tuition of several hundred dollars had to be paid at
that time. But how, with $2 and a few cents in my pocket?
When there were but five or six ahead of me, I heard the gentle voice
of a young lady ahead of me in line say, “Mr. Chatburn, my check hasn’t
come from home yet.” Mr. Chatburn replied, “That’s okay, I’ll stamp
your bill ‘deferred’; bring it in when it comes.” Luck again: I too
soon had a “deferred” receipt in my pocket.
I then dashed across the street to the employment office in the Student
Union. I nervously told the director, Mulvey White, that I had to have
all the work I could get, relating the conversation with Mr. Chatburn.
He blasted off the loudest roar and couldn’t stop! When he finally
quieted, I implored Mr. White to promise that he wouldn’t tell. “Of
course not,” he said, after another and quieter laughing period. “Now
let’s see what we have: janitor’s job, working in a restaurant, night
work at an express company, and the greatest: an usher at Trojan
football games at the stadium.” He’d go on to inform me of my job
selections for the next three years.
I turned up short a one-hour unit to graduate in 1941, which I made up
by correspondence on the way to war in North Africa. And then, behold,
an unexpected package during American Field Service ambulance duty with
the British 8th Army in North Africa: a USC Class of 1942 diploma,
framed in leather. A dream fulfilled in the midst of a raging sand
storm – most dramatic, and how appropriate.
John A. Eyed ’42
Nashville, TN
The Final Word
I would like to clarify this football “dispute” once and for all
(Mailbag, Autumn 2005, p. 8). If you check the USC media guide or an
almanac, you would see that the 1938 Trojan football team played
previously unscored-upon Duke in the 1939 Rose Bowl, winning 7-3. The
1939 team won a share of the national championship and beat a likewise
unscored-upon Tennessee team in the 1940 Rose Bowl, 14-0.
This last development should be no surprise to the Trojan faithful, as
2004 was the year that USC finally recognized the 1939 team as national
champions and presented the survivors with their rings at a halftime
celebration. For those counting, this was our fourth of 11 football
national championships.
Ward D. Skinner ’77
Northridge, CA
Notice Board
Researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of USC have begun a landmark
study to determine which women are best protected against heart disease
with 17B-estradiol (the estrogen identical to women’s own estrogen).
Dr. Howard N. Hodis is leading a five-year, $9.8 million Early versus
Late Intervention Trial with Estradiol (ELITE), funded by the National
Institute of Aging, one of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Hodis
is enrolling 504 women in the study: half will take Estradiol and half
a placebo. ELITE is not a study of Premarin and Provera, which were
used in many of the previous studies that you may have heard about.
Study participants must be postmenopausal and free of heart disease and
diabetes. To learn more about the benefits of participating in ELITE,
please call (866) 240-1489.
Howard N. Hodis, M.D.
Harry J. Bauer and Dorothy Bauer Rawlins Professor of Cardiology
Campus
Do
you have a story about a person or moment at USC that changed your
life? A chance encounter with your future spouse? Cheering the Trojans
to victory in the Rose Bowl?
In celebration of USC’s 125th
anniversary, we are compiling a living history of USC as seen through
your eyes. Help us build this unique Trojan Family Album by going to http://alumni.usc.edu/scrapbook and sharing your USC story.
Judith Blumenthal MBA ’84, PhD ’88
Associate Vice President, Alumni Relations
Campus
The
USC Black Alumni Association is presently seeking information about all
black USC alumni, especially earlier ones, to include in a special
125th celebration publication. Please call (213) 740-8342 if you have
information, memorabilia or photographs you’d like to contribute.
Lura Ball ’79
Director, USC Black Alumni Association
Campus
We
need your assistance in preserving the heritage of our university. The
USC University Archives exist to collect, preserve and make available
records having permanent value in documenting the history and growth of
the university: its administrative offices, the academic departments
and USC-related organizations, as well as the activities of faculty,
staff and students. Books (including faculty publications)’
manuscripts, USC periodicals and newspapers, posters, photographic
images, disc and tape recordings and other archival items are available
for research under supervised conditions.
USC’s vital community
can be of enormous assistance in assuring the preservation of the
institutional memory of our school. Alumni and all members of the
Trojan Family may have a great amount of material documenting their
role in the ongoing story of USC. Gifts of papers, pictures, letters,
programs, student publications, any item contributing to documentation
of the history of USC, will be greatly appreciated and carefully
preserved.
Please contact me at (213) 743-2435 or czachary@usc.edu, or visit us at www.usc. edu/arc/libraries/uscarchives.
Claude Zachary
USC University Archivist
Campus
The
Last Word - Autumn 2005 Answers
The Pig in Pop Culture
Was it a case of casting pearls before swine or just trying to make a
silk purse from a sow’s ear? Whichever way you look at it, the response
to our pig-themed puzzle was disappointing. We received only 74
responses, well below our average. Perhaps this neglect is due to a
mistake in our contest rules. The deadline for submissions was Sept.
15, not Nov. 15 as published. Profuse apologies to those who
accidentally submitted late entries. Before you start huffing and
puffing, we should also mention our generosity in scoring possible
answers to clue 10. We’ll let puzzler Dolores Greenberg explain: “There
seems to be a good deal of confusion as to who actually created Porky
Pig. Even Warner Brothers provides conflicting information. It appears
that cartoonist Bob Clampett had a lot to do with developing the
character. Friz Freleng is credited by some sources, and Chuck Jones
gets credit from others. In fairness, Porky was probably a
collaborative effort. I gave him to Tex Avery on the basis of your
“Texas-born” clue, as Clampett was born in San Diego, Jones in Spoken
and Friz in Kansas City, Mo.” We counted as correct any of the
aforementioned creators.
Among 41 correct entries, our five lucky winners of Borders gift
certificates are: Dolores Greenberg, Joni Schoon ’86, Miriam Vorwald,
Marie E. Burgoyne EdD ’68 and Elmer Yoshido. See the answers below.
Turning from swine to the sublime, we invite you to attempt a quiz
we call “Timeless Beauty.”
1. Babe, from Babe
2. Arnold, from “Green Acres”
3. Pigpen, from ”Peanuts,” by Charles M. Schultz
4. Miss Piggy, from “The Muppets,” by Jim Henson
5. Piggy & Lord of the Flies, from Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
6. Hamm, from Toy Story
7. “Cinghiale” or “Il Porcellino,” by Pietro Tacca
8. Old Major, Napolean & Snowball, from Animal Farm, by George Orwell
9. “Piggies,” by The Beatles
10. Porky Pig, by Tex Avery
11. Wilbur, from Charlotte’s Web, by E.B. White
9. “The Three Little Pigs”
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