My high school was a small boarding school in New England. David Sheldon was the headmaster during my years there. He recently passed away but I wanted to share this scrap I unearthed from an old notebook.

I think it’s a snippet from a letter sent out when he was announcing his retirement. I was too young and restless to appreciate his wisdom and graciousness fully but this stuck with me enough to save it.

I have felt always that a headmaster required those traits identified as necessary for a successful Congressman:

  • the friendliness of a child,
  • the enthusiasm of a teenager,
  • the assurance of a college boy,
  • the diplomacy of a wayward husband,
  • the curiosity of a cat,
  • and the good humor of an idiot.

Those characteristics come more readily at age forty and fifty than at sixty-one and lead me to believe the School needs a fresh eye and new energy.

David F. Sheldon

Mr. Sheldon passed away at age 93 last June.