The Cincinnati Enquirer from Cincinnati, Ohio • Page 6

A6 Thursday, January 2. 1997 FROM PAGE A1 The Cincinnati Enquirer Shriver: MU icon makes, lives and teaches history 7 prided myself on knowing all my students by name and where they sat. But as their number got into the thousands, I forgot where they sat. Phillip R. Shriver Phillip Shriver Family: wife, Martha; five children.

Age: 74 Accomplishments: Miami University presidency, four books, 200 stories about history and archaeology, the 1991 Distinguished Service Award from the Ohio Academy of History, 50 years in teaching. Quote: "Historians take the long view of things. They see the country as it once was, and as it will be." room in brick Kreger Hall, wearing a gray sport coat, white shirt and red tie. Standing behind the lectern, he talked to the students courteously, deferentially. He talked of tradition.

From memory he recited the lyrics to the alma mater, "Old Miami," and told his students: "My hope is that you will learn it before you graduate." He asked them to remember Miami's landmarks, including the now-razed Fisher Hall, a mental asylum before Miami started using it for freshmen boys in the 1920s. "I am not drawing any parallel between those who left the building and those who moved in," he joked. A few guffaws cracked the silence. Sophomore Emily Feit smiled and confided: "His jokes are a bit corny, but we enjoy his intellect and his ability to teach. His classes are packed." He went on to tell them more about the halls of glory Hughes, Upham, Roudebush.

But when he came to the Shriver Center, he moved on quickly without commenting on the origin of the building's name. He did not have to, for his students knew that Phillip Shriver is an institution unto himself. What they did not know is that their professor has decided to teach yet another year before retiring, thereby adding 51 years to his father's 49 years in the classroom. To him 1997 will bring a pleasant symmetry: a century of family teaching. specialty, the history of the old Northwest Territory.

He was content to stay at Kent State. "I must admit I was not a rolling stone," he said. Then came the fateful letter from Miami's trustees, who in 1965 needed a successor for President John Millett. Mr. Shriver was not among the first group of about 50 candidates; he did not consider applying for the job.

"Then an alum put my name in the hopper," he recalled. "I received a letter asking if I'd be interested. I let it lay around for a week. Finally, my wife said, 'Tell them you'd be willing to We talked on a day of an intense storm almost a blizzard. They suggested we go to the (Columbus) Athletic Club bar.

The bartender said, 'What'll you have, young I said, 'Do you have any ice Teaching conies naturally At Miami, he again found time to teach. Some people wondered why. But the teaching seemed a part of him, and set him apart. Most university presidents do not teach, and those who do rarely return after their administration ends. Miami students affectionately called him "Uncle Phil." Sometimes he invited them into the president's home for cookies, but he did not surrender his old values to the latest fads.

Mr. Shriver's rapport with students helped him in the late '60s, CONTINUED FROM PAGE Al the Ohio Historical Society. "Fifty years in the classroom is an extraordinary achievement, but with Phil it's not the longevity but the quality of his teaching," Mr. Ness said. "He continues to be interested and interesting, and to have a zest for working with students.

He is one of those models and mentors that one feels fortunate to meet during a professional life. People like Phil just don't move through our lives every day." Students know him Generations know him as a model teacher, and he has kept an index card for each student 15,000 names and growing. "I kept the cards because, if I ever needed to write a letter, I could say something specific to individualize that student," he said. "I prided myself on knowing all my students by name and where they But as their number got into the thousands, I forgot where they To present students, he is not lanother vague campus name there's the Shriver Center student ynion but a genuine white-haired icon. Everyone seems to -know him.

Even at 74 years old, he Jean still render names, dates and figures with unimpugned authority. "He has a phenomenal memory detail," said the Rev. Joseph Hookey, a retired Oxford Presbyterian minister who took Mr. Shriv-ler's Ohio history course in the fall. "He is a wonderful storyteller who history to life and transforms the past into the living pres--ent." I Perhaps that is because Mr.

has not only taught history but lived it, from the deck of a fighter. By his senior year, however, he had already developed an interest in Ohio history. It was an interest that had grown since his grandfather gave him an Indian spear point at age 6 and his father took the family to battlefields and museums. Then one day in 1938, during his high school days, history shifted slightly while he was riding with a teacher. The man asked the obvious question: "Phil, have you ever thought about being a history teacher?" No, the boy replied, but the idea seemed interesting.

weight was lifted." Architect of Miami Mr. Shriver retired as Miami's president in 1981, and the modest teacher does not extol his administration's accomplishments: campuses at Middletown and Hamilton; a Miami center in Luxembourg; 45 new buildings; 10 new doctoral programs and doubled enrollment. But so respected is Mr. Shriver that school officials asked him to lead a committee that will recommend a new university team nickname to replace "Redskins." These days, the man who helped shape modern Miami works out of an old wooden office in Upham Hall, flanked by walls of books. The delicately knotted walls hold a photograph of his Navy ship, an eagle print, a Native American relic, and various pieces of Miami's past.

He teaches a course in Ohio history and another called History of Miami, which is useful institutional memory in a place where turnover is the goal. Late in the fall semester, Mr. Shriver entered a sparse lecture act. At. 9 p.m.

I said, 'Read it to them one more time. That's They didn't move. The Highway Patrol booked them individually 155 of them." Grandfatherly campus police officers helped escort the students to a school bus, which promptly failed to start. Somebody had removed the distributor. Then, right there in academia, a riot started.

"Deputies came in, some with dogs and Mr. Shriver recalled. "They had sons and brothers and cousins who had been wounded and killed in Vietnam. They faced a bunch of students who were exempt from the draft. We had a melee.

It was a bad scene students were pursued across campus by dogs and others were Maced in trees. I liken it to what happens when your house is on fire. Firefighters take an ax and break through your door. You may wish they had used a key, but Today, such discord can only be imagined on Miami's picturesque campus. "Students are students again," he said.

"It's as if a great Off to war when strange new sounds and some hippies proliferated across HEAR DISTINGUISHED LAW PROFESSOR, AUTHOR, AND LECTURER the campus. Despite intense politi cal pressure, Mr. Shriver managed to steer Miami through the dark ness of the Vietnam conflict, when demonstrations disrupted the cam THE MOST AFFORDABLE 2 WEEK ESCORTED TOUR VISITING 4 GORGEOUS ISLANDS ATA LEISURELY PACE pus and provoked stress heart at tacks in a number of university 1649 from DR. F. LaGARD SMITH SPEAK ON "WHY 'GAY RIGHTS' ARE WRONG" 77ie Deadly Homosexual Assault on Family and Religious Values, and on the Moral Foundations of Western Civilization.

The Relentless Gay-Lesbian Effort to Instill Acceptance of, and Support for the Homosexual Life Style Into the Public Schools, Beginning at the Elementary Level. The Desperate Attempt to Justify Immoral Behavior and to Force Society to Give Up its Right to Discriminate Between Right and Wrong. FRIDAY, JANUARY 3, 7:30 RM. CINCINNATI UNION TERMINAL MUSEUM CENTER 1301 WESTERN AVENUE, CINCINNATI, OHIO ADMISSION IS FREE, BUT A CONTRIBUTION WILL BE SOLICITED PAID ADVERTISEMENT PAID FOR BY GARRARD STREET CHURCH OF CHRIST Guaranteed Lowest Price! Guaranteed Weekly Departures on SCHEDULED AIRLINES from most maLor U.S. cities.

NO CHARTERS. NO FINANCIAL RISKS. Includes roundtrip and interisland airfare a Native Hawaiian escort flying with you from island to island, fine resort hotels and transfers, lots of sight-seeing plus morel After graduating in 1940, Mr. Shriver took a four-year scholarship to Yale and worked in a steel mill to support himself, all the while thinking of the teacher's suggestion. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, he entered a Yale naval officer training program and became its regimental commander.

He graduated early 1943 to join the Navy as a lieutenant on the USS Murray. He participated in 19 engagements, including Iwo Jima and the Marshall Islands. At Okinawa, a bomb almost sank the destroyer. On the sea his eyes searched for Japanese planes and his heart longed for Martha Nye, a Bellevue, Ohio, native whom he had met during college. They married in 1944, and she encouraged him to meet his educational goals.

Immediately after his discharge in 1946, he entered Harvard University for a master's degree, and later went to Columbia University for a doctorate. Mrs. Shriver has not left his side. In 1947, he arrived at Kent State University to teach history full time a dream job, but not one with impressive pay. To support his five children, he sometimes worked as a part-time credit investigator, postal worker and house painter.

Even after his appointment as a college dean in the early 1960s, he never stopped teaching and writing. He was happy pursuing his CALL FOR BROCHURE 772-6002 OPFN SUNDAY PP DO. 1-800-888-8204 War II destroyer to the lawn jpf Miami's besieged ROTC building during the Vietnam War. To him, ihistory is our story, so he took lyears in the 1980s to serve as president of the Ohio Historical Society and chairman of the Ohio Bicentennial Commission for the rNorthwest Ordinance. All over the state, his reputation has earned Mr.

Shriver the respect student and parent, historian and layman, said Wayne Embry, president of the university trustees and 'president of the Cleveland Cavaliers. "He is what education is all Mr. Embry said. Phillip Raymond Shriver practically grew up in a school. He was born Aug.

16, 1922, in Cleveland, where his father was chairman of the South High social studies department. At John Adams High, Phillip became president of his class and the student council. He played clarinet in the band and was his class valedictorian. In those days he also picked berries and sold eggs, and considered becoming a farmer or a fire- presidents across the country. When told he survived hard times, Mr.

Shriver said: "The word is 'interesting particularly for a veteran of World War II, for whom military service represents service to one's country. Especially in the spring of 1970. We were in a war with no parallel in American history in its unpopularity. I could understand the stress under which we placed students. I found myself on the horns of a dilemma.

We'd have weekly if not daily demonstrations. But you kept going. "I was in Roudebush Hall (the administration building), interviewing a job candidate for the speech department. Suddenly over a bullhorn I heard a call for a movement on Rowan Hall, our ROTC building. Once in, the students were around weapons and classified documents.

We tried to get them out of the building. On nine separate occasions we read them the riot 1 intelligent Ch oice UiKlylJJMl i y-v Mir i I i rut A Serta Firm Full E-S1AQ95 95 Reg. $299 3 jr $79 $29995 uueen set Reg $699 V4 1 Twin Ea. Pc. 95 Reg $899 $399 Serta Perfect Sleeper Firm Serta Perfect Sleeper Plush Firm C-I7Q95 Queen set Ainnoc yo ne9 $99 $149 i ji' f'm'L i 1 i Twin Ea.

Pc. 95 $599 $69995 Serta Perfect Sleeper Serta Perfect Sleeper Luxury Plush supreme Pillow Son i-uiiea pc. COQQ95 1 IC1QQ 95 Reg. $449 95 KISS $24995 ttQQK I 2 iy ITwinEa.Pc. Twin Ea.

Pc. 1 -vV Reg. $1499 Oyy I 1 netj.jjjj WHO IS DREAMLAND? Dreamland is tfie oldest Bedroom Store in Cincinnati! Do you want a box spring and mattress set? We have it! Do you want Bedroom furniture? We have it! Do you want an adjustable bed? We have itl We also have walerbeds, futons, kids' bedroom furniture, airbeds, adjustable beds, bunk beds, and the best selection of quality bedroom furniture in metal f7 7 4, Full Size Futon Sofa Sleeper Frame mi um town. Our prices are qreat, and our service will put a I 1 1 iwwrrr; 1 smile on your face, I guarantee it. Timothy Maxwell $29,995.

Transportation $665 Total $30,660 GREATER CINCINNATI RI ICR DF.AI The New Symbol For Quality In America All bed rails sold separately "The 1997 Buick Park Avenue is a dramatic leap new benchmarks for American luxury Automobile Magazine "Quietness, smoothness, substance and power with Driving the all new Park Avenue is like cruising down easy street." Motor Trend i i I 4 pc. set Includes queen size cherry I sleigh I bed l. I unr i it.iiii 11 headboard, footboard, dresser mirror. Woodland Hills" by Singer 3Tljcftvl7i'i4 Bedroom ASF f6dllliJllWL Galleries 874-2057 752-2113 385-4114 371-6071 574-5755 FAIRFIELD EASTCATE NORTHGATE FLORENCE, KY WESTERN HILLS Diploma Village 66(10 North Dime Hwy. 212 miln North of 1-2-5 Eastgale Squire (nor lo tal-Man Bis) Cincinmii (near) 84l7Colerain toe.

(in K-Mart Plaza) Cincinnati 7549 Mall Exit KY IS (on Mall Rd nest to URosa Pizza) 6490 filemvay UK. (Across from Glemiiy Dodge) Hours: Monday-Friday 10-9, Saturday 10-7, Sunday 1 "Dakota" by Florida Furniture 20 vrs. in Business Hurry, Quantities Limited Sale Ends 1897. JJj-S redeem Park Avenue MSRP from $30,660. Park Avenue Ultra (shown above) from $35,660.

S.J your rebate Excluding tax, doc. fee, title and license. 1-800-4A-BUICK http:www.bulck.com.