Butch Leavitt

A wonderful interview this morning and afternoon with Frank "Butch" Leavitt '52, alumnus, science teacher, Director of Admissions - even "faculty brat."  That last title is not true in the strictest sense, but Frank and his family lived on campus starting in the summer of '47, before the school re-opened.  When it did re-open, Frank's parents were among the few non-school families allowed to remain, so he had the experience of living on campus before enrolling and then being a student whose parents were right there.  Sounds like the faculty brat experience to me.  When the school re-opened, Frank's family moved to third floor of an Elephant annex, somehow getting his mother's Baby Grand Piano up there; the main hallway did not have rooms yet - Wlbur Durfee and crew would see to that - so there were music classes in what is now Elephant 3 using Mrs. Leavitt's piano.  Frank also reminisced about crew at Avon.  He was a student before interscholastic athletics were officially allowed, so he was coxswain for the Diogenes 1st boat (and the bow oar on Dio's 2nd boat), but their coach managed to arrange for Avon boys to race other schools from time to time.  Frank recalled that another alumnus once could not remember whether they had won a particular race, but Frank knew they had won - he remembers getting thrown in!  [Crew tradition calls for the winning crew to throw their coxswain into the water after the race.]

 Frank, who had gone on to Dartmouth, was just settling in to a career in geology when he returned to Avon to attend the funeral of General Caldwell, who had been very influential in Frank's years as a student.  After the funeral, Don Pierpont invited Frank to chat in the garden behind Don's house and asked if he would like to come and teach.  There were a number of reasons for Frank to say yes, a prime one being that his good friend Seth Mendell '52 would be teaching history at Avon, but he had been enjoying his geological work...  One wonders just how many careers took a sudden and unexpected turn in Don Pierpont's garden; if I am not mistaken, Sid Clark, too, was won over in that spot.
It was great to see Frank and spend some time with him; his passion for the school is as strong as it ever was.