A history of lessons taught

David Wilfong - A Letter from the Editor

David Wilfong - Editor

I got a sad e-mail this week, and I sorta had to write about it. So please forgive me if this one doesn’t exactly fit the curriculum.

Each week here at the Rockwall County Herald-Banner, we dish up the news for the community. We try to stay as local as possible. We leave the broader scope for the bigger boys and hope we fulfill our task well.

This is one of those times I just can’t stick to the program. The reason is partly because there is a broader regional aspect to a somewhat local story, and partly because I just don’t believe the bigger boys are going to play this one up as much I think it deserves.

Also, admittedly, partly because this story just brings back some pretty wonderful memories from my own “yesteryears.”

I’m doing this as an “opinion piece” because I really don’t have all the hard facts at my disposal to do the true story justice by press time, so forgive me while I rattle this off the best I can from the top of my head (and with a little help via e-mails).

I had a pretty unique and wonderful high school experience. Part of what made it so wonderful is that I developed some very good friendships outside the walls of my own school district.

A lot of these friends attended private schools in Dallas. Today, we’re only going to mention two of them — St. Mark’s School of Texas and the Greenhill School.

One of my “running buddies” in high school attended St. Mark’s. When the gang got together for the various things we did, there were often Greenhill students who showed up and hung out.

Partly due to their small class sizes, and partly due to the fact that four of the schools represented in our little group were either all-boys or all-girls, the students at these schools seemed to have a tendency to develop friendships across campus lines, at least much more so than my friends I went to public school with. I also think there is just something about the culture of these schools that encourages independence. I don’t know ... I just had fun.

Now I don’t much get into the public vs. private school debate. I went to public school and had a great experience. I think both have their advantages. But I have to admit that I saw some great things in the educational experiences of my friends who attended private schools.

In addition to excellent academics, there were also unusual and unique extracurricular activities and sports. Most of all there was a certain spirit and tradition that comes with attending a school where 100 percent of the students attend by choice alone (OK, for some it may have been their parents’ choice, but choice nonetheless).

I became quite familiar with St. Mark’s, and you’ve got to give kudos to a school that has a (cool) radio show, a planetarium/observatory, aviary and greenhouse.

During my newspaper career I actually covered a St. Mark’s homecoming football game. The families and alumni in attendance comprised what was basically a “voluntary school district” full of people who did what they did and gave what they gave over and above the school taxes required by law. The commitment had even become for some a family tradition.

There really is something different about it, and it’s hard to describe if you haven’t seen it.

Truthfully, though I’d met many of its students, I never set foot on the campus of the Greenhill School until after I graduated from high school and was working in newspapers. So I don’t know that school quite as well.

I covered a volleyball competition there. On the way in I got caught in the hallways when classes let out and was amazed at the sheer numbers. Granted, compared to most Dallas schools it was small. But the Greenhill School educates enough students to qualify as a small 3A district, and it’s a private school.

I also remember a story that has stuck in my brain through the years. I don’t know the date, but at one time the school had a certain security problem with some students following an incident.

The “incident” was that the school had caught fire and at least one of the buildings sustained heavy damage.

The “security problem” was that Greenhill students showed up on campus wearing tool belts and toting bricks, bound and determined to rebuild their school themselves starting that very day.

Of course, due to liability concerns the students had to be shooed away, but stop and think about it. How many schools would love to have that kind of “attitude problem” with their students?

What these two schools have in common is that they both had the hand of one Dr. Bernard L. Fulton in their creation. The first was at Texas Country Day School which eventually merged into what is now St. Mark’s School of Texas (I believe the first in Texas to rival those older all-boys prep schools on the East Coast). In 1950 he started the Greenhill School, which is coeducational, and by all accounts now a topnotch prep school as well.

He contributed to the public side of education as the Board President of the Addison Independent School District from 1940 to 1950. He also served on the board for (OK ... take a deep breath here...) The Clear Spring School in Eureka Springs, Ark., The Dallas Creative Learning Center, Southwest Academy, Canterbury School, Shelton School and Winston School.

He was a site visitor for the U.S. Department of Education's Exemplary School Program, a member of the Headmasters' Association and the Country Day School Headmasters' Association of the United States. He served as President of the Independent School Association of the Southwest.

On October 20, 1990, Bernard Fulton Day was proclaimed by Texas Gov. Bill Clements, Dallas Mayor Annette Strauss, and the St. Mark’s School of Texas, recognizing Dr. Fulton “for his dedication to the education of young people in Dallas, in Texas, and in the nation.”

Oh yes ... locally we have a school named after the guy in Heath: The Fulton School.

Dr. Fulton passed away this week, slightly less than a year away from his 100th birthday. His wife had passed away in 2007 after 73 years of marriage.

When you look at his life, it’s an awful lot for a guy who started out working in the coal mines of West Virginia.

He turned down football scholarships from Notre Dame, West Point and Princeton to stick close to home and family and play college ball at what is now the University of Charleston.

I’ve shaken the man’s hand, but I can’t say that I knew him personally. But I’ve known his handiwork from my school days all the way up to the present, even though it was only relatively recently that I knew who he was.

Through just the two schools mentioned in the beginning of this column, Dr. Fulton paved a pathway to education that has been followed by more than 7,500 graduates in Dallas County. The contribution to society made by those 7,500 students is immeasurable I can assure you.

The Fulton School’s high school program is still in its infancy, so at present their entire alumni group could hold reunions in someone’s living room, but if it’s anything like its predecessors it too will grow.

It’s been a rough week for the folks over at The Fulton School in Heath, so if you run into any of them give them a pat on the back and tell them to keep their chin up and keep on following the example that was set for them.

It was Fulton’s Head of School, Joy Greenwalt, who delivered the news to me via e-mail.

“Dr. Fulton will be remembered for his insightful quotes such as ‘Do What is Best for the Child’, and ‘If a child is in your classroom, you are not to judge whether that child belongs there or not. You are to teach the children’,” Greenwalt wrote.

“The Fulton School will greatly miss Dr. Fulton’s insight, wisdom, and leadership. His legacy will continue to live at our school as we follow his vision and educational guiding light.”

When trying to get some numbers to do this column I got an extra note e-mailed back to me from St. Mark’s Headmaster Arnold E. Holtberg saying, “Good luck with your story. Bernard Fulton was an extraordinary educator and an outstanding man.”

Not a bad sentiment to leave lingering around a campus for more than a half century after you leave.

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