Quite an academic pedigree.
But that's not what set him apart. He was unique. He was perpetually full of fun and made every person he met feel important.
He was one of the most dynamic men I've ever known and, while I didn't know him as well as many others, I was fortunate to know him both at Wabash in Indiana and Rollins here in Florida. Nobody lit up a room like Thad Seymour. Wabash is a men's college and once you're there, you're family forever. My husband, Ken, was a graduate and, he like every Wabash man I've ever met, was beyond passionate about his school to the very end - as well as being passionate about Thad Seymour.
Thad Seymour came to Wabash during rough times in our country. Colleges students were protesting the Viet Nam war and demanding equal rights. Among other things, Thad established the Malcolm X Institute for Black Studies. It's still going strong.
He made a stab at the college going co-ed but that could not be accomplished. Even Ken who called himself a feminist (like me) wouldn't go for that. But Thad Seymour did oversee the hiring of the first female faculty members. I wasn't sure Ken and other alums could survive this - but Thad charmed them through it.
He and his wife Polly mingled with students at parties and mixers. Did he lecture them? No. He did magic tricks. Wabash was not financially stable when he arrived but he totally turned that around. He did the same thing when he arrived at Rollins. He was immensely popular with students at both schools.
One time when he was new at Rollins, Thad and Polly hosted a party in their back yard for the visiting Wabash basketball team. Faculty and students from both schools were there. What I'll always remember was what they served - a big vat of tomato soup and folded over baloney sandwiches. (It's an Indiana thing.)
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| Famous photo of Thad Seymour leading football cheer at Wabash College. |
A couple of decades later when David come down from Minnesota to visit his new girlfriend (me) I took him on a March for Obama led by Thad Seymour. (David was a republican at the time but still had a fun afternoon and he too, was totally charmed by Thad.)
After Rollins Thad began his next career. He founded Habitat for Humanity in Winter Park and Maitland and for the next 30 years or so he and Polly built houses. He was dynamic even into his 90s.
So, how did he affect my life? In the 70s Ken and I were overwhelmed with his presence at Wabash. In the 80s he overwhelmed us with his presence in Winter Park. Over the last three decades I saw him often at both Colleges and on Habitat projects. And this past fall, in 2019, my grandson, Jack, became a freshman at Wabash College. He was amazed at seeing the Malcolm X Institute for Black Studies at this small college in a tiny town in Indiana.
And, even though Thad's left us, his son and name sake, Thad Seymour, Jr. is the interim president at The University of Central Florida, the second largest university in the U.S.
So the legacy carries on.
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