Letter from James Pickens Walker Jr. ('Bo') at W&L to his father, 11/25/33
Book 2, Page 129 ·1933
Transcription
A pencil letter on Southern Railway Company preprinted letterhead (Form 812, “1-13-33 600M D.B.”) with a blank line for “OFFICE OF”. The Southern Railway letterhead is presumably scrap stationery brought home by Sr., who worked for a railroad. Dated upper right in pencil:
11/25/33
Dear Puck:
Just a note to make Mom mad!
Went to a W & L alumni smoker last night — was talking to Gillam (I think his name was) — Dean of Students. Dr. Keim had just made a talk and had outlined “The Ideals of W & L” — to develop integrity — honor — self reliance — personality — character.
In my conversation with Mr. Gillam I mentioned your son (as I generally do whenever I get the opportunity). He said:
“You have just heard Dr. Keim on the Ideals of W & L. I am sure that any group of men who knew last year’s student body would name Pickens Walker among the ten men who best [caret-inserted: exemplified] the ideals of W & L as described by Dr. Keim.”
My best to the whole family
[signed:] Bo.
They told us last night that we are due a licking this afternoon — Team shot — two men fined for breaking training and three injured — That was the trouble last Saturday —
AI Notes
A single-sheet pencil letter on Southern Railway Company printed letterhead (Form 812, ‘1-13-33 600M D.B.’), dated 11/25/33, from James Pickens Walker Jr. (‘Bo’) to his father (addressed as ‘Dear Puck:’ — Puck being the family nickname for James Pickens Walker Sr.; cf. the 1953 Margaret Baumeister letter and the captioned p046 football team photo where Sr. is called ‘Jamie — Pickens Walker’). Bo had graduated from W&L by spring 1933 (the 1 Feb 1933 ODK-tap letters on pp130–131 were written in his senior year); this November 1933 letter recounts attending a W&L alumni smoker at which Frank J. Gilliam (Dean of Students, W&L 1917) praised Pickens Walker Jr. as exemplifying the ‘Ideals of W&L’ that Dr. Keim had just outlined — integrity, honor, self-reliance, personality, character. Closes with a P.S. predicting a football ‘licking’ that afternoon and noting that two men had been ‘fined for breaking training’ the previous Saturday. Signed ‘Bo.’ (matching the nickname used in the pp130–131 ODK letters). The Southern Railway scrap letterhead is presumably from Bo’s father, who worked in the rail industry. The Dean is Frank J. Gilliam, longtime W&L Dean of Students and Admissions.
The writer is James Pickens Walker Jr. (“Bo”), b. 5 Jan 1912, then a senior at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. The 1 Feb 1933 ODK-tap letter on pp130–131 (on W&L Southern Collegian letterhead) and the 5 May 1933 football roster letter on the same letterhead set complete the W&L correspondence preserved in the album. The Dean is Frank J. Gilliam (W&L class of 1917; Dean of Students and Dean of Admissions for several decades, residence “Belfield” preserved in the W&L archives). The “Dr. Keim” mentioned was almost certainly a W&L faculty member; not yet definitively identified.