Ann,
who was your first-grade teacher?" Grace inquired.
"Mother, it's 11:30 p.m. Why do you need to know this now?"
"It's important, Ann. You need to run through these things--dates, names, events--each night. It helps keep your mind alert."
"I don't know, Mom. I'll get back to you tomorrow," Ann replied.
The next day, Grace's daughter called a friend to get the information. But she was sure her mother hadn't slept well that night.
Not remembering is unusual for Grace Conner Monteith '20, who will turn 101 years old in July. Her mental exercises must be working--along with good genes, an interest in people, and a great attitude.
Monteith has the spirit of a 50 year old and the appearance of an 80 year old. A wheelchair holds her body, but it cannot contain her vibrant personality. Her hearing and eyesight are only slightly diminished. Her aches and pains are no different from others much younger. At Stapeley in Germantown, a Quaker-based retirement community in the Philadelphia area, caregivers generally take instructions on her care from Monteith, not family members.
"My mother's very independent," Ann Martin, 75, says.
Monteith relates in detail story after story of events from her life. A Coatesville, Pa., native, Monteith entered Swarthmore in 1916 at the age of 17 in a class of 134 students that included 65 women. (Tuition, room, and board averaged $500, and the College had an endowment of slightly more than $1.6 million.) World War I was raging. The United States declared war on Germany in April, and Woodrow Wilson would be re-elected to the U.S. presidency the following November. On campus, Monteith remembers female students taking a course in automobile mechanics because many men were leaving to join the war effort. She also recalls students volunteering for the war effort by rolling bandages.
Because of a family illness, Monteith had to leave Swarthmore after her first year. In 1921, however, she received a degree in occupational therapy from the Philadelphia School of Occupational Therapy and worked for years at the Veterans Administration (VA) Hospital in Coatesville and the Pennsylvania Industrial Home for Blind Women.
"Occupational therapy was a new field back then. I felt it was a real privilege to study in that field," she says. "Not many people were doing this."
In 1923, she married Frank Monteith, whom she met while working at a VA hospital in Connecticut. Frank was at the hospital recovering from a mustard gas attack he experienced while in the Army in France. He later worked for the postal service and died at age 85 in 1978. Together, they raised their daughter and son James, who is 63.
Monteith's heritage includes a maternal Quaker grandfather, who, against his principles, joined the Union Army during the Civil War. "He felt a lot of community pressure," she says. "Later, he felt lucky that he hadn't had to shoot anyone. He felt bad about going to war. He had a conscience about it."
In 1945, she joined a Quaker meeting with her daughter. "I always had leanings toward being a Quaker. Quakers are so considerate of people, broad-minded, and tolerant," Monteith says. In her 100 years, tolerance, she says, is the greatest lesson she has learned.
"I had to be tolerant. I grew up with 12 Catholic in-laws," she says, half jokingly of her husband's side of the family. Early in their marriage, they agreed to teach their children about both of their faiths.
Today, Monteith speaks with pride of her family. Besides her two children, she has five grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren who married people of various faiths.
"There's diversity at the dinner table now," she says. "We all get along."
But it was a bus accident in 1954 that altered her life most profoundly.
"I had just gotten off the bus in Philadelphia and was crossing in front of it when it ran over my left leg," she says. Following five years of slow recovery, Monteith was up and walking, but the accident changed her lifestyle--as well as the length of her leg by a couple of inches.
"I started living a quieter life after that," Monteith says. "The skills I used on others in occupational therapy, I now used to help myself. I had to take my own medicine. I had to adjust."
But adjusting hasn't meant slowing down much. In her studio apartment, she reads books, particularly biographies, and enjoys public television. She attends events held at Stapeley and eats in the communal dining hall.
In April, she was honored by the National Park Service for her approximately 2,000 hours as a volunteer at the historic Deshler Morris House in Germantown, Pa.; the site served as a residence and office for President George Washington in 1793-94, when the nation's capital was in Philadelphia. A volunteer since 1959, Monteith may be, according to Independence National Historical Park information, the oldest active volunteer in the park service.
"Life is good now. I'm glad I'm here," Monteith says. "Until eight years ago, I lived on my own in an apartment. I'm glad I made the decision to move to Stapeley when I did. It was my decision; no one made it for me."
--Audree Penner
Dan
Chasins '75 has always been drawn to the automotive world. He has
always had a deep appreciation of technology and machinery. His "big
childhood activity" was playing with an Erector set, creating things
from beams, nuts, bolts, levers, and wheels. As a teenager, he
tinkered with cars a lot. "Ever since just before I could drive,"
Chasins says, "I've been up to my elbows in cars--repairing,
rebuilding, and restoring them. It's just something I really enjoy."
Searching for an explanation for his enthusiasm, he suggests: "I
think for many of my generation, the postwar generation, the
automobile represents so much about our culture, so much of what life
has been about during the postwar period--it's the sense of
innovation, freedom, and mobility that really characterize that time
period." Today, Chasins is president and chief operating officer of
Saab Cars USA, Inc., a position he has held since July 1999. He
doesn't get to tinker on behalf of Saab, so actually "turning the
wrenches" these days is limited to his brief leisure periods. "It's a
good way to relax, and I find it really therapeutic to be out in the
garage," he says.
Graduating from Swarthmore with a degree in economics, Chasins went on to obtain an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. He had entered college with a fairly good idea that he wanted to be involved in the business world. Equipped through his studies with valuable insight into both microeconomics and macroeconomics and with the practical tools and skills needed in business management, he has held positions in several global companies, including a European telecommunications firm and two automotive industry suppliers. He joined Saab in 1992 as director of marketing. "From the beginning, I hadn't consciously targeted a career in the automobile industry," he said, "but it's really quite rewarding that my interest in cars and my job responsibilities have come together like this. Sometimes, I reflect with some amazement at my good fortune to have a job that's as much fun as this."
Chasins adds, "It is something that I'm quite passionate about." He emphasizes, however, that this passion is not merely for the industry but for the company he represents. Primarily a sales and marketing entity, Saab Cars USA has the task of demand building, managing the U.S. dealer and technical support networks, and offering logistical support for the chain of distribution. The company imports about 40,000 vehicles a year from Sweden (or Finland in the case of the Saab convertible), more than half of which are sold in the Northeast; one of Chasin's goals is to expand Saab's sales in the Southeast and Southwest.
Chasins sees Saab as a unique company that stands for things he's proud to represent, not only because it produces very safe cars but also because of its longtime commitment to manufacturing environmentally friendly vehicles. "Our engine technology," says Chasins, "uses turbo-charging, a method of offering both power and efficiency out of a very small engine package."
Chasins sees the Saab philosophy as a very Scandinavian approach to the automobile market. "It's very much a form-follows-function philosophy, where there's an active effort to find the best compromise in terms of fuel efficiency, the practical needs of owners and drivers, respect for the environment, and for other people using the road."
An aspect of the job that Chasins finds particularly challenging and exciting is trying to anticipate the needs and desires of the future market. Before his current position with the company, he spent four years in Sweden working on new product development and managing some of the technical development programs for vehicles that are only now appearing on the market. "From idea generation to the product's reaching the market is about a four-year process, so you have to make some pretty good estimates and projections. It requires a certain amount of judgment and risk taking, but it's so much fun when you make a choice that eventually becomes a new product, especially if it's successful." And Chasins has experienced that success with Saab's 9-5 station wagon, which was launched last year. He was responsible for the development of the car, which has been received very well so far. "I was very fortunate to manage that product and then come back here and supervise its debut on the U.S. market. I have a bit of a feeling of paternity there. It's nice to see them out on the street."
And yet, proud as Chasins may be of his career and his paternal role in the birth of the 9-5 wagon, an aspect of his life that gives him still more pride and pleasure is his family. He and his Vassar graduate wife, Maria, have been married since 1987, and they have two daughters, Sarah, 10, and Katie, 8.
"They are a very, very important part of my life," he says. And, yes, "loyalists for the brand, for sure," The Cha-sins drive Saabs for both business and pleasure.
--Carol Brévart-Demm
In
August 1997, in a muggy classroom, Patrick Awuah '89 introduced
himself. It was our first week of business school at the University
of California-Berkeley, and I already knew Patrick's bio from the
orientation facebook: From Ghana and Swarthmore, he had previously
worked at Microsoft Corp. But I was unprepared for his next
words.
"I am going to start a university in Ghana," Patrick said. The more I learned, the stronger I felt that this was the start of a legend.
Patrick arrived at Berkeley with a compelling story. In 1985, he left Ghana with $50 and a full scholarship to Swarthmore. Four years and a double major later, Patrick began work at Microsoft. His hard work enabled him to purchase a house for his parents in Ghana and support his sister's education.
It was after his son was born in 1995, however, that Patrick's true mission began. "I became acutely concerned about events in Africa," he reflected, before continuing in West African tones. "It became clear to me that I needed to return to Ghana to contribute to economic development there, and, more specifically, to help improve Ghana's educational system."
Ghana's higher education system has been suffering. In 1933, a British diplomat spoke with ominous prescience that, "There is a grave danger … of the Africans' zeal for education being neglected and ignored." Sadly, these words remain true. In 1997, 80,000 Ghanaian students took the University Entrance Examination, 26,000 passed, but only 8,000 were admitted--that is, onto a two-year waiting list. Once enrolled, students face an outdated education system designed to train civil servants rather than develop critical thinkers and business leaders.
While
working at Microsoft, Patrick struggled with his decision. His vision
was to start a university, but he knew severe challenges could doom
it: political instability, the challenge of raising millions of
dollars and attracting talented professors, and tuition costs. More
personally, how would his wife, Rebecca, feel about moving to Ghana?
Was he wise to walk away from headhunters promising Internet
start-ups and stock options? As many of us rationalize, why not amass
wealth now and pursue dreams later? But not Patrick.
Moved by Goethe's words: "Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now," Patrick made his decision. He left Microsoft and enrolled at Berkeley's business school.
Patrick's Berkeley classmates embraced his mission. In 1998, three of them joined Patrick in surveying more than 3,000 students and parents in Ghana to characterize student demand and calculate tuition and scholarship needs. They found encouraging results.
Over time, a business plan emerged for a nonprofit, $11 million residential college for 400 students--dedicated, Patrick explains, to nurture "a new generation of entrepreneurial and ethical leaders." Starting in the fall of 2002, students will study liberal arts, computer science, and business administration. Goethe's words inspired the school's name, Ashesi University, which means "beginning" in Akan.
Ashesi gathered momentum. Patrick cultivated a board of trustees and established the Ashesi University Foundation with Berkeley colleague Nina Marini (who--in a testament to Ashesi's nondiscrimination policy--is a Haverford graduate). To date, $1.5 million has been raised already, and Ashesi has lured Dr. Yaw Nyarko, director of graduate studies in economics at New York University, to be acting dean. Furthermore, the Ghanaian deputy minister of education endorsed Ashesi.
My Berkeley classmates are proud of Patrick's efforts, but I feel especially proud because I see Swarthmore patterns within this beautiful weaving. Four Swarthmore professors--Timothy Burke, assistant professor of history; Erik Cheever, associate professor of engineering; Raymond Hopkins, Richter Professor of Political Science; and Fred Orthlieb, professor of engineering and the Isaiah V. Williamson Chair of Civil and Mechanical Engineering--and Swarthmore graduate Clifton Kussmaul '89 have developed a liberal arts curriculum to recreate the Swarthmore experience at Ashesi. Patrick hopes to engage the Swarthmore community--in everything from teacher recruiting efforts and technology consultation to staffing visiting professorships and raising scholarship funds.
Patrick's mission echoes the Swarthmore legends of James Michener '29 and Eugene Lang '38. Michener was lifted up by a Swarthmore scholarship, developed as a successful author, and generously gave back to the College to help others. Lang transferred his business success into starting "I Have a Dream," a nationally recognized program that helps children stay in school, and into lifelong support for higher education, including his alma mater.
Lang and Michener are hallowed legends at Swarthmore because, as much as anyone, they personify Swarthmore's intention to instill the values of action, vision, and community into its students. Patrick has chosen the same inspired path and--if he can achieve it--will help hundreds and ultimately thousands of Ghanaian students and families--and bring great inspiration and pride to Swarthmore.
--Michael Dennis '93
See the Ashesi University Web site at http://www.ashesi.org, which describes its mission and progress.
ALUMNI DIGEST / BACK PAGES/ BOOKS BY ALUMNI / COLLECTION / EDITOR'S NOTE / FEATURES /
IN MY LIFE/ LETTERS / PROFILES / ARCHIVE / TALK BACK
Swarthmore College, March 2000. All rights reserved.