Howard W. Hewitt – Old college buddy Paul Harder shared his memories of college friend Pat White during Thursday morning’s Chapel Talk.
Chapel Talk officially kicked off ceremonies for Dr. Patrick White, set to be inaugurated Saturday afternoon as Wabash College’s 15th President. See a photo album from Thursday morning’s Chapel Talk, click here.
Harder is an entrepreneur and college professor at the University of San Francisco. He’s also described as guitarist, red wine enthusiast, and artist.
Harder talked about how he and Pat, along with five other freshmen, who bonded at the University of Chicago and have managed to keep close contact through their adult years. All of that group will return Saturday for the inauguration.
He described the evolving friendship through college and how the group enjoyed movies. Their reward after tests or challenging school work would be to take in a movie and then enjoy a pizza. But the biggest reward was the discussion the talk into the wee hours of the night about the movie they had just seen.
“We were always talking about what we saw,” Harder said. “That’s the point of always talking and being engaged. It’s like the ‘grand conversation’ Pat talked about in one of his first speeches here. It’s what he’s always been about.”
The speech was punctuated with anecdotes, many humorous and fond recollections of a good friend. “Pat was an intellectual, action hero,” Harder suggested. He noted his friend always had affection for small places in the center of America, important conversation and a love of the liberal arts.
Pat and Paul often played guitar and sing while college friends. “But Pat was not that good,” Harder said, while White laughed and nodded from the Chapel pews. “But, he always brought enthusiasm and fun.”
A full podcast of Harder’s remarks is available on the Wabash college Podcast page.
