From left, Mary Lou Evans Stanford, Buddy Fisher and SusanBeth Purifico
photo by John Shearer
Baylor School for many people is simply a school, but for a small number of others, it has also been home.
Over the years, the school has had several on-campus apartments or homes for faculty and staff members, who have supervised and helped look after the boarding students. And many of these couples have had children, who have grown up experiencing the unique environment that is the campus.
For them, their front yard has consisted of dozens of acres of fields and woods with scenic vistas of the Tennessee River and surrounding mountains. The manmade environment has not been too bad, either, with 15 or so collegiate style buildings to discover and some free recreational offerings to rival the largest YMCA in the country.
“It was unique because our neighborhood was bigger than most kids’ neighborhoods,” said SusanBeth Purifico, who lived on the then-smaller campus from 1958-72, while her father, Jack Stanford, taught and coached there. “You never lacked for a place to play.”
Because the memories are so rich, a few of the former children have decided to start having a yearly reunion. Following a small gathering in 2010 after Mrs. Purifico initiated the idea, approximately 10 or so former children who had grown up on the campus came together again recently along with their spouses and other family members.
The more recent reunion included a tailgate party during the school’s alumni weekend, a campus tour the next morning, and a gathering that night at the North Chattanooga home of former “faculty kid” and current staff member Matt Lewis and his wife, Reese.
Other former children who attended included Buddy Fisher (son of John Fisher), Laura Tatum Pearman (daughter of Bill Tatum), Mary Lou Evans Stanford and Dillard Evans (children of Sib Evans Sr.), Barry Heywood (son of Humpy Heywood), and Melody Bock Womble and Jane Bock (daughters of Doc Bock).
Former faculty members who came included Jack Stanford, Bill Cushman, Bill Tatum and Hugh Walker.
Margaret Lorraine Hitt Thompson (daughter of Jim Hitt) also hooked up with the group via speaker phone.
“It was definitely rewarding and heart-warming,” said Mrs. Purifico of the gathering. “Being with old friends and new friends and looking around and seeing Baylor and its family, it made my heart full.
“And it was fun to hear stories about our parents from the perspectives of the other faculty kids.”
While the weekend was a time to reminisce in a fun way about the past, Mrs. Purifico thinks the group can also play a serious role in the future. She hopes the gatherings perpetuate the memories and contributions of their parents to Baylor, and the group also plans to make a yearly donation to Baylor.
“Our love for Baylor was just because it was home,” said Mrs. Purifico, who ended up attending City High School because Baylor was still all male at the time she lived on the campus.
As Mrs. Purifico gathered with the others, however, she was as full of as many memories of the school as any alumna or alumnus. She recalled that Baylor was a unique environment, with the military boys and all the other parents helping look after her.
“Everybody’s parents were also everybody else’s parents,” she said.
Her mother, Jody Stanford, agreed. “Her friends from other parts of town had no clue how unique that was,” she said. “Everybody was family and our doors were open.”
Mrs. Purifico – who lived in Hunter Hall, Lupton Annex and Lupton Hall while on campus - also recalled that all the families would generally eat in the dining hall together at suppertime. The youngsters would get to know each other well by doing such activities as playing kickball afterward.
They also would be in tune with what was going on around the campus.
When the bugle would sound in the early evening, for example, Mrs. Purifico knew she had to quit practicing on the piano so as not to disturb the students.
Mary Lou Evans Stanford, who married Chad Stanford, a nephew of Jack Stanford, lived on the campus until she graduated from college in 1966. She said she enjoyed seeing the precision of the students during military drills, and noticing how many of them were good students and good athletes.
“It broke my heart when I went out and started teaching and couldn’t find anybody like that,” she said.
Despite her admiration for the male students, she did enjoy finding quiet time on the campus, and admitted that she often went into the old chapel sometimes by herself for prayer and contemplation.
Buddy Fisher was one of many faculty children who went on to become a student, graduating in 1946. His father was the commandant of cadets and later associate headmaster, so the younger Mr. Fisher, who lived in the school’s Founders Home, became acquainted with former headmaster Herb Barks Sr.
“He was so fair and on the outside so calm about handing the boys,” he said.
However, Mr. Fisher also saw the perspective of Baylor from the typical child’s view. He remembers getting home from Bright School during elementary school and rushing out to play some sport on one of the fields or in the gym.
“It was like being in paradise,” he said. “It couldn’t have been better.”
And after an afternoon of playing sports, he and his family would gather with the other Baylor families for dinner in Guerry Hall. And that was just fine with his mother, LeMyra Fisher, who never learned to cook much, Mr. Fisher recalled with a laugh.
“She never complained as long as somebody else was doing the cooking,” he said.
Jcshearer2@comcast.net