April 4, 1979
Esperanto and Eugene retire
By Beth Eakes
Eugene Thompson has seen
many changes in Cuilford Col
lege during his twenty years of
teaching. This semester finds
Thompson instructing courses
in French and Esperanto. He
has also taught Latin in year's
past.
His philosophy in the class
room is "if the student is willing
to learn, then he is willing to
help." He gave an example of
this thought in a recent inter
view which completes the Guil
fordians series of interviews on
retiring faculty members.
Thompson told of one young
man who seemed to have little
concern for his class. He made a
D in the course and later left
school to get married. Six years
later the same young man
returned to Cuilford and be
came one of Thompson's best
students.
Born in Louisville, Kentucky,
Eugene Thompson traveled to
Europe, for his first visit after
graduating from high school in
Ecology corner
What if I were twelve?
By Richard Fulton
Contemplating the near melt
down situation at the Three
Mile Island Nuclear Power Sta
tion near Harrisburg, PA and
recent disputes on campus
about the pros and cons of
nuclear power during Energy
Awareness Week, I figured this
week's story should include a
trip to the newspaper rousing
community Middletown, PA,
which is within three miles of
the radiation releasing nuclear
plant.
A innocent young lad I turned out to be, age a mere twelve
years. A wild Wednesday it was last week. My mother woke me at
the same 7:45 time as any other morning, but there was an
increased urgency in her voice this time, and the words I heard
were not comforting. She was talking about no school and that we
would have to go away for a few days. I got the feeling it was not
a planned vacation. As I turned around with my toothbrush and
towel, Mom was practically in tears as she prepared Chris' diapers
and provisions. Chris is my thirteen month old brother. We were in
the car before Mom relaxed enough to tell me what was going on.
"That new power station up the river is run on nuclear energy,
which means it creates alot of radiation, which can be very
dangerous to people like us if we are in contact with it.
I was about to ask her a question, but she looked like she was
going to say something.
"The radiation from that plant escaped somehow last night and
since they built the plant so near to us, we would be in trouble if we
stayed at home."
We both fell silent and many questions collected in my mind. The
most recurring one was: When would we come back home? I had
never slept away from home before.
We drove fifteen miles to one of the local high schools where
Mom was stopped by a policeman who asked where we lived and
five minutes worth of other questions. We spent the day talking
inside the high school gym.
When it came time to go to sleep Mom came over to ask it
everything was alright. I told her I missed my night light, but tha'
I'd be O.K. I didn't lie to my Mom very often, but actually I was
scared as anything that night, because something felt very wrong.
A dreamed filled night followed, with overwhelming feelings of
bigness and unsurmountable power. Startling myself awake, I sat
up on my bed contemplating the feelings felt in this weird dream,
last felt when I was half my present age, and wondering if this is
some kind of warning that my future is being threatened by
something very large and powerful.
1931. He studied language,
visited with a French family and
spent a great deal of time in
Brittany during his January
through September session
abroad.
Neighbors of the Thompson
family back in Lexington had
given him the name of distant
cousin to contact. Thompson
met the relatives in Paris who
were very helpful in familari
zing him with French customs
during the 1930'5.
Thompson spent part of his
summer with a family living in
Brittany. The family spoke
French and the servants spoke
Breton in which Thompson de
veloped an interest after living
with these people.
During his first trip abroad,
Eugene Thompson met a young
man who was studying for his
baccalaureat and invited him to
visit the United States. As it
turned out, Thompson's family
was investigated before the
young man arrived. It seems
that he came from an upper
Hs
Guilfordian
class family that was curious as
to why the Thompson's were so
hospitable to a foreigner.
In September of 1931 Thomp-t
son enrolled in the University of
Kentucky. Here he received his
undergraduate degree in Phi
losophy.
In 1935, after graduating,
Thompson decided to return to
France He applied through the
Institute of International Educa
tion to study at the Ecole
Normale d'lnstituteurs de Lo
ches. Upon being accepted, he
departed the United States dur
ing the summer of 1935 to study
at this highly competitive
school. He received his mas
ter's degree in French from the
University of Kentucky.
World War II found Eugene
Thompson a member of the
Civilian Public Service. He was
stationed at Buck Creek, North
Carolina where he met Cyrus
Johnson, E. Kidd Lockard and
Charlie Hendricks. Although he
was a conscientious objector,
Thompson led an exciting life
during the 40's.
He was involved with the
construction of the Blue Ridge
Parkway. Thompson also fought
forest fires and inspected areas
for erosion in California during
the summer of 1943.
It was during World War II
that Thompson lost contact with
his French companions.
Between 1946-50 Eugene
Thompson taught at the Univer
sity of Kansas City. In 1950,
after leaving UKC, Thompson
enrolled in graduate studies at
Duke University.
Here at Guilford Thompson
teaches Esperanto. The lang
uage is designed for internatio
nal communication and will not
be offered after Thompson's
Serious student
So, April is the cruelest
month the Poet tells us. Well,
when old father Chronos ga
thered all his children together
and told Jan to look both ways
before crossing those indeter
minable passages we wondered
what might happen to the
sanctity of his daughter the
twelfth.
Pardon, old fathers,
Spring sprung out of a just
month like April reminds me too
much of Daisy Duck and the
nymphs she waddled along
behind her. Can't we have a
little sanctuary from all this
oppressing blackness, hands
and all?
To speak of serendipitous
events is blasphemy in hallowed
halls such as these where words
have cracked under the strain of
supporting too many others in
some unnatural erasable bond.
I've often wondered if we put on
their power before they drop us
out into the real world -- it's a
long way down from the top of
the tower.
Speaking of towers, I wonder
if we shall ever tower above
&W,ti\ • -." i Sn 'r**fflW>f 1
Thompson reflects on his years at Guilford
departure. According to an
August 16th 1972 article in the
Christian Science Monitor
(which Thompson shared dur
ing his interview) Esperanto is
growing in America. It is now
being taught in an ever-growing
number of schools and universi
ties.
In 1967 Thompson went to
France for a visit. He studied in
Paris at the Alliance Francaise,
one of the world's best langu
age institutions, teaching
French to all foreigners.
Courses are taught at various
levels and Thompson feels that
he benefited greatly in this
environment while at the same
time improving his French stu
dies. He received a degree
entitled Diplome Superieur
d'Etrudes Francaise Moaernes
after completing his studies at
the Alliance.
Thompson believes that there
is no best method to teach a
foreign language. He considers
class attendance and daily work
to be very important.
At the Alliance Francaise
Thompson met Marie Hameau,
a world famous language in
structor. He has used a text
written by Madame Hameau in
others or simply vanish into
some self-constructed phallus
reared in the back-country of
Ireland a fitting demise for
the demented.
Merlin himself must have
gathered the stones together for
that old and windy thing and he
probably drove down the street
to the flashing neon "Sato's
Swords" to find the perfect
piece to decorate. At any rate, I
doubt the tower would ever
cower beneath a spring shower
w
■ 9
Superman in drag attempts a
Binford rescue.
page four
his own classroom.
Stamp collecting has been a
hobby for Eugene Thompson
during his career at Guilford
He now walks for his arthritis
and exercises to relieve the
pain. He also enjoys mowing
the grass in his spare time.
During the interview Thompson
exhibited some of his exercises
which he performs religiously.
Other outside interests in
clude geneology, church history
and international relations. He
has also been involved in the
American Friends Service Com
mittee.
Retirement for Eugene
Thompson means many busy
activities. He will spend time
with his wife Lucille whom he
met at the University of Ken
tucky. He also plans to keep up
with his languages, help in the
garden and possibly travel.
Thompson feels a sadness in
retiring from Guilford because
it means an end to his Esperan
to program. He feels that it is
important for a Quaker school to
encourage international under
standing by offering courses in
this language.
-- nay, it would only make us
pine the more for what we
hadn't had in years.
There is some stuff I will not
eat (though to say that line I had
to eat a word) and I find it much
less convincing to speak of
ambiguity of structure. It's a
crazy gammon we must play or
eat to talk of slabs of stone or
that of meat and where all such
beginnings come from as if they
were conceived in infant form to
be born(e) by us into the world
and labored over in the unna
tural light of library night.
I feel a little lame to talk of
Spring when others have hob
bled around dancing their de
scriptions out of sheperds'
flutes. So by the waters of
Sewerage I sat down and wept
for I knew hnot how to sing
Spring in a land so oft well
sung.
And with summer practically
a comin' in I wondered if 'e, 'e
wouldn't mind me dancing
along the water's edge a bit or
even plunging in, stopping first
(of course) to remove my outer
Continued on page five