A question that remains even after all this time is to what extent did TPR involve herself in the operation of the school. It is abundantly clear that some people both inside and outside the community were under the impression that TPR was guilty of excessive meddling in the affairs of the school and that her meddling was responsible for the departure of three provosts and two entire faculties, the last of which led to the school's closing in 1944. The Hartford Courant, after all, listed the "attitude of Mrs. Riddle" in its headline announcing the 1930 faculty departure, and Cal Magruder '46 reports that most of the community thought a conflict between TPR and Brook Stabler had brought about the closing.
Finding actual evidence of TPR's meddling, however, proves to be more elusive. We do know she went to some lengths to instruct the school's telephone operator as to the correct pronunciation of "Avon," and we do know she insisted on an administrative structure that proved unpopular with both Provosts and candidates for Provost. [The problem was the existence of a person - first Master of Detail and then Aide to the Provost - with primary responsibility for the non-academic aspects of the school.] On the other hand, we also know that she and John Wallace Riddle traveled to Europe for most of the school's first year of operation, largely to be out of Provost Froelicher's way, and that TPR was not on campus on a regular basis once the school opened. Indeed, Cal Magruder remembers meeting her only once during his two years at school.
This is why I am intrigued by a note in the December 3, 1935 issue of the Weekly News-letter about a meeting of the "Board of Correlation" that had take place in the prior week. The Board had decided to reject the Comptroller's suggestion that community service boys might do clerical work; the Board's thinking was that it was better for the boys, who had been in class all morning, to be outdoors as much as possible in the afternoon and that having boys do clerical work would mean removing them from the helpful work they were already doing. It seems like a routine and reasonable decision, but I find it intriguing because with its usual thoroughness the Weekly News-letter lists all the members of the Board of Correlation: Mrs. Riddle, Dr. Kammerer, Commander Hunter (Aide), and four other men. This is the first time I have come across the Board of Correlation, but any committee that includes the Founder (and benefactor) and the two top administrators is necessarily a committee of consequence.
