Langguth, Rev. Laurence C., S.J. - Oral History (transcript)

              Fairfield University
Oral History Transcripts
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Rev. Laurence C. Langguth, S.J.
Dean of Freshmen; Director of Admissions; Dean
of the College of Arts and Sciences
August 14, 1991
Rev. Laurence C. Langguth, S.J.
a brief biography
“If you don't have vision, you don't get anywhere, so there were
probably some lean years in through there, but I don't think there was
any danger of our giving it up or changing the plan or anything like
that. Look at the campus here now, my gosh and the number of
people filling different offices...this is what amazes me.”
Born and raised in the Dorchester area of Boston, Massachusetts, Rev. Laurence C. Langguth,
S.J. attended a local parochial school and Boston College High School. He entered the Society
of Jesus at Shadowbrook in Lenox, Massachusetts, in 1928, assuming the customary ascetical
and classical studies, followed by studies in philosophy at Weston College in Weston,
Massachusetts. Father Langguth taught physics and math at the College of the Holy Cross for
two years before returning to Weston College for theology studies. He was ordained to the
priesthood in 1940. He later began studies towards a doctorate in physics at Harvard
University. However, it was around this time in 1943 that Father Langguth was appointed to
teach math and physics at the newly established Fairfield College Preparatory School, in
Fairfield, Connecticut. Then in 1947, Rev. James H. Dolan, S.J., the Father Rector, announced
that Fairfield University would open its doors to its first freshman class in September. The
Provincial Superior of the New England Jesuit Province, Rev. John J. McEleney, S.J., wrote to
Father Dolan: "The result of my thoughts and prayers on your new Dean is that Father Langguth
is the person you want. ... I have been over a list of possible candidates and honestly feel that
Father Langguth is the answer to your prayers." So after finishing his teaching schedule at Prep
in June, Father Langguth became the Dean of Freshmen and Director of Admissions at Fairfield
University. Known for his organizational skills, photographic memory, and personal rapport with
students, Father Langguth was considered the unofficial dean of admission, dean of discipline,
and provost. It was the students who affectionately nicknamed him, “The Prussian.” In 1953,
he was appointed Dean of the College, which made him Executive Assistant to then president,
Rev. Joseph D. Fitzgerald, S.J. Father Langguth was responsible for hiring the first Glee Club
director, Mr. Simon Harak, in 1948, and was a key player in the building of Canisius and
Gonzaga Halls, handling the day-to-day details of both projects. He appeared in 1950 as a
faculty commentator for the Radio Club’s series Fairfield University Interprets the News,
broadcast on WICC in Bridgeport, answering questions related to the proposed Anti-Communist
Law. After Shadowbrook, the Jesuit Novitiate in Lenox, Massachusetts, was destroyed by fire in
1956, Father Langguth became less involved with the university. He was instrumental in
rebuilding the facility, just down the hill from its previous site, directing construction and fund-raising.
In 1957, Father Langguth officially left Fairfield and became the Rector of the new
Shadowbrook until 1964. He also served as director of new construction for the New England
Province of the Jesuits. He next served at Bishop Connolly High School in Fall River,
Massachusetts, as supervisor of buildings and grounds and as teacher of math and science. In
1987, he moved to Loyola House, a large Jesuit residence in Boston, to serve as administrator
and guest master until failing health obliged him to move to Campion Center, Weston. He died
on May 28, 1999.
Sources: “The Rev. L. Langguth Jesuit physics, math professor,” Boston Globe, June 1, 1999, p. B7; “Laurence
Langguth, priest, educator,” Boston Herald, June 2, 1999; “Obituary,” Fairfield Now, Fall 1999, p. 47; “Radio Club Airs
Current News Over WICC,” The Stag, October 5, 1950, p. 1-2.; Chronicles of Fairfield University (1942-1992). Book
1: The Founding Years, p. 12.
Photograph: Fairfield University Manor, 1953.
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Interview with Father Laurence Lanaauth
QUESTION #I, VHS #1 (0-00-48-19) I'M JUST GOING TO HAVE YOU START
WITH YOUR NARRATIVE AND SEE WEERE IT TAKES US.
ANSWER: You may be interested in some of the background
recollections that I have of our venture here in Connecticut which
was kind of earthshaking for us in a way. During the year that it
was announced that we were coming here, I had nothing to do with it
at all. My intention had been, since I was interested in Physics, to
go on to graduate work and I was told to make arrangements to talk,
the presumption would be M.I.T., so once I came to residence up on
Boston, out of Pomfret where we had our novitiate, no our
ship, once I came into Boston, I began hunting around to see
.. -
what I could find out. I never could get in contact with Tech,
that's M.I.T. They were so terribly busy. Now this was 1943 and it
was chaos in the government, of course; the war was beginning to
tighten up. One of the priests, as a matter of fact, who was
assigned down here to teach for that first year, his assignment was
changed suddenly because the service could accept him now, expanding
the years of application and not when before they couldn't. While we
were getting started on that, I poked around and found an
accommodation at Harvard. I could take courses over there which
would be the same idea as what I was seeking at Tech, but I couldn't
get anybody to talk to at Tech: they were so busy with war work, so I
took a couple of summer courses there at Harvard and then enrolled
for a program for degree which would start in the Fall. The only
. .. -.
i--.p problem was,
fi that during that Fall semester, the government expanded its age
limit to accept chaplains and the man who had been sent down to
Fairfield to teach Physics and to plan Physics and Math and do plans
for Physics the following year, he was one of the ones, he was on
that margin and they said to him "Come, we want you." So, our
Provincial was in a dither then, I suppose, because he was the one he
was planning on to do this sort of work and I, at the mean time, had
gotten started on a degree program at Harvard. Well, the order came
down to cancel it and come down here. I didn't object at all, I must
confess. I had no awfully great hankering to go on for a Ph.D. It's
blood, sweat and tears and I was perfectly content with the other --I
enjoy teaching, so I came down in, halfway through the first year, - maybe early January and joined the faculty there. My predecessor,
the man who was going into the Service, was already gone; I didn't
even see him. I taught Math for the remainder of that year, at the
same time, planning for Physics, so we had no Physics Lab. The
building, I don't know whether you're familiar, at all, with the
Jennings Estate. This is in Fairfield -- a big, big, old relic of a
house, still standing, but lots of space inside, some of it
undeveloped. I poked around and I found out that down in the
basement, there was a fine, open area that could make a Physics Lab
with a little brightening up and also a Physics Lecture Hall and a
workshop to work on, so we got started on that as soon as school
finished -- the school year, that was the first school year they ran
then. We got started on the second and I guess all that summer, we
.-
Oral History: Laurence Langguth, S.J. page 2
c14 had carpenters in, an unofficial carpenter who
directed some kids that he could work with and we made a fairly
decent Physics Lab in the basement and, more than decent projection
room and classroom and we got started the following year; we got
going in Physics. We needed it because we normally give Physics in
our third year in the high school program that we follow, so we
continued on with that for a year or two, I suppose, maybe a little
bit more and by that time, again, there came another man on the scene
who would be capable of taking it over. Meantime, we were opening
the college and it was impossible for the Provincial to free anybody
from other assignments to occupy the Dean's position in the college,
so he threw the burden onto the Superior of the house then, Father
James Dolan and Dolan chose me to be the Dean, to organize the thing.
Now this meant starting from scratch. It was this building. This
was the building that was formerly Canisius.
QUESTION #2, VHS #l (0-06-13-01) NOW THIS I8 XAVIER, I THINK, I
DON'T KNOW IF IT WAS THIS BUILDING, BUT THAT'S ALL RIGHT, IT'S NOT
IMPORTANT.
ANSWER: But, so I got busy traveling around to some of our
schools. What does a Dean do? I was never Dean or anything, nor did
I want to be. But anyway, I got some good advice from some of our
people and we got things going. We set up a curriculum and machinery
for enrollment and that sort of thing and it went forward very well,
so well as a matter of fact that we registered about 300 young men
Oral History: Laurence Langguth, S.J. page 3
0 just before that school opened at all. There was no school there,
but we took over a portion of the building that had been used by the
Prep school that was there, so those 300 were the nucleus and they
grew up to be a very much aware that they
were the leaders, the "pioneer class1*, they called themselves and
they were very enjoyable. A fair percentage of them were G.I.'s who
had been cleared that time at Verdun and they were going back to
school now when they probably would not have gone to college if they
came out right from high school, but the G.I. benefits allowed them
to go on to college and we had a good serious group. There were high
school graduates, then, too, of course, but the older boys, with the
war experience, had 11 that went through them all and it made a very,
_ - very fine student body to work with, but they were represented only
one year. So they would go up to sophomore and then junior and then
senior and then would be commencement. We grew pretty steadily
during that time, too. I don't remember figures. The 300 was pretty
accurate, but beyond that, I have no remembrance.
QUESTION #3, VHS #1 (0-08-11-26) IF I CAN JUST INTERRUPT YOU FOR A
SECOND. YOU SAID YOU WENT AROUND TO OTHER SCHOOLS AND GOT ADVICE AS
TO WHAT A DEAN DOES. WHAT KIND OF ADVICE DID YOU GET?
ANSWER: Oh, how could I remember that now? What I remember is
going to Boston College and talking to the Rector up there, but the
President, we'd call him now, but we used to call him Rector in those
days. He's long dead now. And I went to Holy Cross and also went to
Oral History: Laurence Langguth, S.J. page 4
f4 some of the schools and find out some of the administrative problems
in schools. That was what I meant by that. I had no experience with
executive work at all. I was a putterer. I taught Physics when I
was a scholastic at Holy Cross and enjoyed it very much and was
perfectly happy to go back to it, but it was a change. But, anyway,
I had to drop the Physics
entirely when I was appointed Dean and I did a little traveling
around and reconnoitering and recruiting, not a great deal of it
because the word got around that we were opening up and there was not
much trouble in rounding out the class at around 300. Now they
didn't all stay with us, of course; a few dropped out here and there,
but the following year, we got an enrollment which increased
-. significantly. I don't remember the figures now, but it was not 300
again. The pressure was off a little bit. It may have been 200
though, so we kept adding each year and I was Dean during that time
and then was confronted with the problem of Commencement Exercises.
I had never run a commencement before so we poked around a bit and
this Father McDonald, who taught Physics, a very capable man, very
aware and interested and challenging to the students, he was the one
whom I chose to take care of the details on the commencement and he
loved it. He loved it very much and produced a very, very fine
presentation.
Oral History: Laurence Langguth, S.J. page 5
QUESTION #4, VHS #1 (0-10-08-16) DID YOU GET INVOLVED AT ALL IN
THE RECRUITING OF THE FACULTY, THE LAY FACULTY?
ANSWER: Yes, yes. Three of them we took over from the Prep School
that was already there. Donnarumma, Riel and who was the third man,
now, I forgot? They were very eager, they knew that the college was
in the planning and the reason they came to us in the Prep School was
they thought it would be an opening, which it turned out to be and
they were very valuable men, loyal and responsible teachers and well
liked by the students. We had some very good faculty men at the
beginning then. Father McDonald, who I told you about, joined us in
the second year and then we acquired more
.-
and more beyond that. You may have heard of a very prominent
Jesuit who was at Boston College for a number of years and later on
was transferred down to us -- I have the name on the tip of my tongue
and I can't say it, but he became a very powerful influence among the
students. They turned to him for a great deal of consultation and
encouragement, so we started off with a very sympathetic student body
and a very sympathetic faculty group, which was relatively small, but
very compact and had a great deal of advantage, as a result.
QUESTION #5, VHS #1 (0-11-38-19) I GUESS MOST OF THE STUDENTS, ALL
OF THE STUDENTS, PPHO WEREN'T LOCAL LIVED OFF CAMPUS. IS THAT RIGHT?
- ANSWER: They had to. We had no campus accommodations, whatever,
Oral History: Laurence Langguth, S.J. page 6
fi yes, but the great majority lived within commuting distance anyway.
Now, it may not have been as comfortable as it might be. They might
have come down from Hartford or just below it or up from Stamford but
we made out all right. We had no accommodations on campus. What we
did, though, is we found families in the area who were willing to
take in one or two boys and especially we were not far away from the
beach. Our campus was here. We had Post Road and the town a little
distance and on the other side, the beach and of course, they loved
it. They were less under our jurisdiction down there than they would
have been if they were on campus, so they didn't dislike this at all.
This was all right with them.
QUESTION #6, VES #l(0 -12-34-17) HOW DID YOU SELECT THE FAMILIES
-
THAT THEY WOULD LIVE WITH? WAS THERE ANY CRITERION?
ANSWER: I went around, visited a number of the families myself,
yes, but I don't say that I visited all of them because there was an
elderly woman in the parish, with whom I happened to be quite
friendly with and she did a great deal of work for-us. She was
prominent in the Catholic Daughters of America and a lot of her
friends, when she realized that we were looking for homes, she'd get
in touch with them and every day or so, I'd get two or three phone
calls, now here's so and so, she's willing, so and so. I'd call them
and make the arrangements so I'd go down and visit them and very
often I'd take a little later when Father McDonald was with us, I
even took him along too. So, we'd talk and make sure that they were
Oral History: Laurence Langguth, S.J. page 7
fi going to be supervised. It wasn't a free and open campus. It wasn't
the same way we'd be able to supervise them, but we had to get along
with that. I wish I could remember some sort of figure about the
number of students we had living off campus in that fashion and I'm
tempted to think it was around, which is quite a large percentage for
the number that we enrolled, but we did a great deal of
investigating. We made arrangements with a local restaurant to be
the eating place for them, but it didn't really last, because they
gradually drifted off and found they could do better elsewhere and
they didn't get as good a good, I don't think, so finally we had to
give up that project. You live and learn!
,'-
QUESTION #7, VHS #1 (0-14-11-28) WERE A NUMBER OF THE STUDENTS
MARRIED?
ANSWER: Yes, a few of them; not very many were, though, a few of
them were, yes. See, they had not been in the Service very long, so
if they were caught just out of high school, for example, or after
one year of college, they still were 20ish or a little bit more, very
low 20's anyway, so there wasn't a great, great number
of them that were married. There were a few older, more mature,
a few even with children, but not very many that way either.
QUESTION #8, VHS #1 (0-14-42-27) WAS THERE ANY TENSION? I GUESS
THE EARLY CLASSES THERE WERE SOME STUDENTS WHO CAME RIGHT OUT OF THE
F-Oral
History: Laurence Langguth, S.J. page 8
PREP SCHOOL AND THEN THERE WERE THESE RETURNING VETERANS W?IO BAD SEEN
SERVICE IN WORLD WAR 11. IT SEEMS A KIND OF AN ODD MIX...
ANSWER: That's a very discerning question. Of course, we had some
problems that way, but it wasn't critical. It didn't bother us a
great deal and I think the older boys kind of looked down on the
youngsters, but they let it go at that and I don't think anything
ever happened to it. There was some tension, there's no doubt about
it, but as I say, that's a shrewd question to have asked.
QUESTION 19, VHS #l (0-15-20-12) WERE YOU INVOLVED AT ALL, I GUESS
WHEN BATHER DOLAN WAS HERE, HE ACQUIRED THE MOREHOUSE PROPERTY.
ANSWER: Is Morehouse the name? NorthBenson Road?
QUESTION 110, VHS 11 (0-15-32-00) I THINK IT M?aY BE. I SOMETIMES
GET THEM CONFUSED MYSELF.
ANSWER: The main house, now, was ....
THE LASHER ESTATE.
The Lasher Estate, yes and the other house which is on your side of
the campus on North Benson Road, we had both of those. We bought
both of those properties and we could not have started without them,
really, so probably that's what you're thinking of. That was
Jennings, Jennings was the name of the estate there. He was a
Standard Oil man, but dead by that time and I think his family was
not using it any longer.
Oral History: Laurence Langguth, S.J. page 9
QUESTION Ill, VHB #1 (0-16-07-16) HOW DID TEE COMMUNITY RESPOND TO
HAVING A NEW COLLEGE START UP HERE?
ANSWER: The community of the Town?
QUEBTION #I1 (CTN) THE TOWN OF FAIRFIELD.
ANSWER: We didn't have very much direct contact. We were well
supported by the man who was Mayor or Chief Selectman, no they're not
Mayor ... what were they?
QUESTION ill (CTN) (0-17-28-14) FIRST SELECTMAN, I THINK.
ANSWER: First Selectman, that's right and he became very, very
- friendly. He was Catholic and very much at home and knew something
about our order, so he became very supportive. I suppose there were
little frictions here and there, the young people carousing around
town. We tried to limit that as much as possible, but you can't
prevent all of it, and I suppose it engendered some opposition. On
the other hand, those people who had rooms to rent-and could rent
them out had a little profit to go by and they were not adverse to it
all. Especially was that true down by the beach, along, is it Beach
Road that runs down to the shore?
REEF ROAD.
ANSWER: Reef Road, a lot of the houses down there took the boys
in, yes, but there was no very bitter or external town opposition
that I can recall at all.
r
Oral History: Laurence Langguth, S.J. page 10
QUESTION #l2, VE8 #1 (0-17-28-14) WERE YOU INVOLVED IN 80ME OF
THE EARLY BUILDING THAT WENT ON8 LIKE XAVIER HALL WAB BUILT, I OWE88
IN THE LATE '40'8 AND THEN BERCHMANS? WERE YOU INVOLVED IN THAT?
ANSWER: Very much so, yes, because by that time, Father Dolan had
gone or he was in the process of going and his great interest was
building. The man who succeeded him didn't have the same
interest. He was more academically-assigned and so more of it
fell on me; that's not only planning of the building, but also
furnishing it, or furnishing them. A very prominent man at that time
was the man at Fletcher-Thompson Architects. Whether that firm is
still in existence I don't know, but the man involved was Mutrux was
his designer -- Fletcher Thompson, now what's the name, now that
should come back to me. His boy, ultimately, came into the school
and went through the program in the school. I should remember that
name. Maybe it will come later on, but he was a great help too.
Phelan. J. Gerald Phelan. The name probably means nothing now
because I think the firm, probably is dissolved. If not, his son
took over for a while. Whether they're still in existence, or
active, I do not know, but they were very supportive and they were
the ones who designed Bellarmine and Canisius, not Canisius, what was
the other one we talked about?
GONZAOA OR XAVIER.
Oral History: Laurence Langguth, S.J. page 11
Xavier, Xavier and Canisius, so...
QUESTION 113, VHS 11 (0-19-16-20) HOW DID YOU SELECT THEM? HOW
DID YOU GET TO THEM AS A FIRM? WERE THEY JUST FRIENDS OF TEE COLLEGE
OR DID SOMEBODY INTRODUCE YOU?
ANSWER: I had nothing to do acquiring them. I think it was the
Rector, Father Dolan, the first one, who got in touch with them
somehow or other. I think probably they came with a proposal or they
came with a desire to be considered, because I don't think it's any
firm we would have had contact with out of Boston. They were very
prominent, but very prominent in this area and they were
Catholics and observant Catholics and very well known in the
Diocesan building, so it was a natural for us to take their offer and
Father Dolan, who was our Superior at the time, was a man who had a
finger in the concrete. He knew what he wanted and designed a lot of
the buildings, but he worked with this Mr. Phelan and they made a
very, very good team. They certainly were the team on those two
buildings along North Benson Road. Now, where, I think they kept on
much longer than that, but I was out of the picture at that time so I
wasn't aware of what was going on.
QUESTION #14, VHS 11 (0-20-28-16) NOW YOU SAID YOU WERE INVOLVED
WITH SOME 08 THE FURNISHING OF THE BUILDINGS?
ANSWER: Most of it, as a matter of fact, the dormitory building --
there were 2 academic buildings -- Xavier and Berchmans, but Loyola
Oral History: Laurence Langguth, S.J. page 12
0 is the central building, I think, still on the campus, anyway. That,
we had a lot of the planning on that and purchasing of materials and
furnishings and all that sort of thing.
QUESTION #IS, (0-20-58-20) YOU GOT INVOLVED IN ALL THAT?
ANSWER : By that time, I think probably I was out of the Dean's
Office. I'm quite sure, as a matter of fact. How long was I in the
Dean's Office. Certainly, I was in the Dean's Office for the first
commencement, which was 1951 and for the second commencement in 1952,
but I think it was after that, that this Priest came from Japan. He
had been President at Holy Cross and volunteered to go over to Japan
and then came back about that time and he became President here.
That's Father, did I mention the name earlier? .PA
<-
QUESTION X16, VHS 11 (0-21-36-22) FATHER JOSEPH FITZGERALD, I
THINK. I THINK BE WAS THE FIRST
FITZGERALD. HE SUCCEEDED FATHER DOLAN.
ANSWER: I've got it wrong, yes. He succeeded Father Dolan. The
other man was the man who became Dean of the College.
THE WAS ANOTHER FITZGERALD WHO BECAME DEN OF THE COLLEGE. THERE
WERE A LOT OF FITZGERALDS...
Two or three of them were brothers, but not all three.
Oral History: Laurence Langguth, S.J. page 13
QUESTION #17, V88 #1 (0-22-01-11) NOW YOU WORKED CLOSELY WITH
FATHER DOLAN. YOU KNEW HIM PRETTY WELL.
ANSWER: Yes, yes. Sometimes more than I liked to know, but he was
certainly a sound and very intelligent planner. He had been, he
occupied very important positions in our Order. He was Provincial
Superior and he was the one who sent me down here and then after a
couple of years, he came down here as Rector himself and the
Fitzgerald who had been in charge here as Dean went up there as
Provincial. Now how far back that is I don't remember.
QUESTION #18, V8S #l (0-22-43-23) LATE '4018, 1950, TEAT'S HOW FAR
BACK IT IS. WHAT WAS FATHER DOLAN LIKE TO WORK WITH? WAS HE A
DIFFICULT PERSON?
ANSWER: Authoritarian in a way, yes. I must say in all honesty.
But he was a capable man and determined. I dare say if anybody other
than he had been in charge, we would not have grown so rapidly down
in this area because to get started in 1942 and, no, no, no, not in
1942, '43, maybe and first commencement in '51, that doesn't sound
right either. The college, oh, starting with the Prep School and
then the college thereafter. But the first commencement was 1951 and
'52 thereafter and I think Father Dolan left after that time to
become Provincial up in Boston, or was
Oral History: Laurence Langguth, S.J. page 14
it? I'm getting mixed up now.
QUESTION 119, VHS #1 (0-23-50-22) NOW BE BAD THIS MABTER PLAN, I
GUESS, DIDN'T HE FOR TBE WHOLE...
ANSWER: Have you seen that?
I HAVE, YES. IT WAS SOMETHING TO SEE.
ANSWER: Laughter. We didn't follow it, of course, and he wouldn't
have followed it if he were here. The growth was a little bit more
normal and natural and tacked on where additions were needed, rather
than the whole thing full blown, but it was a stimulating project and
it got people interested, so we got some donations that way, I think.
QUESTION #2O, VHS 11 (0-24-22-13) WHERE DID THE MOmY FOR THE
EARLY BUILDING COMg FROM?
ANSWER: I have no idea. I never had any trouble, any job
acquiring the money. I have a suspicion that the Province, that is
to say, our headquarters in Boston, had put aside a great deal of
money which could be used for that purpose. They were good husband
up there, they weren't wasting their money and I think that's where
some of it came. After a while, of course, with the good enrollment
down here, we began to, I think, began to turn a profit ourselves and
we plowed that right back into the institution. All of us in the
(-
Oral History: Laurence Langguth, S.J. page 15
t- Province and especially anybody who has lived here, is excited and
really proud of the way this campus has grown and what such a nice
job they've done on it too. The older buildings are more
traditional, the newer ones are anything but that. You take the new
Quik Center down there and even the dormitories. They are a very,
very great development, all right.
QUESTION #21, VBS 11 (0-25-25-05) WEEN YOU WERE DEAN, DID YOU HAVE
ANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR DISCIPLINING THE STUDENTS?
ANSWER: Well, ultimately, yes, but actually we had an Assistant
Dean who handled that and we didn't have any frightfully difficult
problems that I recall at all. No murders or anything like that.
There was a Father Walsh. What was his first name? We had a lot of
/- Walsh's the first for a while there. He's deceased now. He was the
Dean of Men at that time. Now, of course, when the girls came on
campus, they'd have to drop that name, but that was not in my time or
within his time, either. Later on, he was assigned up at Boston
College and was connected with Boston College when he died.
QUESTION 122, VBS 11 (0-26-18-25) I GUESS THERE WAS A FAIRLY
STRICT DISCIPLINARY CODE. I MEAN, YOU HAD TO WEAR CERTAIN THINGS TO
CLASS AND YOU KNOW, BE THERE AT A CERTAIN TIME, BE HERE AT A CERTAIN
TIME.
ANSWER: There was.
DID ANY OF THE RETURNING G.I.18 HAVE ANY PROBLEM WITH THAT?
Oh, they cut corners of course and we were not unaware of the fact
C :
Oral History: Laurence Langguth, S.J. page 16
lr\ but you couldn't catch them at everything. They found it hard, I'd
imagine, because they lived such freer lives when they were in that
other situation and they were, their freedom was much circumscribed
when they came on campus, so we couldnqt....The business of them
living down on Reef Road, for example...we couldn't control them down
there as much as we could if they were on campus, here and I they, I
presume, they knew it, but at the same time, they had a sense of
purpose and of aim,
which the kids, right of college, right out of high school,
wouldn't have had. After all, they saw some of that experience and
they came back chasing as a result of it, so we had reasonably good
results.
,- I UNDERSTAND, THAT IN THE EARLY DAYS, MONEY WAS KIND OF TIGHT.
It has been since. In a way...
QUESTION #23, VHS #1 (0-27-40-01) WELL, TBE JESUITS, BY AND LARGE,
YOU WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR A LOT OF THINGS BESIDES JUST TEACHING. YOU
DID SOME OF THE GROUNDS, SOME OF THE CARPENTRY...WERE YOU INVOLVED IN
A LOT OF THIS?
ANSWER: Some of it, yes, but not a great deal. It would be wrong
to say that we let our blood, sweat and tears to get the campus in
shape. Sure, now and then, we would do some things. I remember
myself building or putting in shelves over in old McAuliffe which is
no longer used, of course, at all. That was not a great problem at
all. A lot of service that could have been provided was not. If we
Oral History: Laurence Langguth, S.J. page 17
fi needed roads, we should have had better ones than what ultimately
went in. We had to cut corners here and there, but it was
worthwhile.
QUESTION 124, V118 11 (0-28-33-23) I UNDERSTAND THAT AFTER A
BASKETBALL GAME WAS OVER, THE PRIEST WHO WAS THERE, WOULD ACTUALLY
TAKE THE BALL 80 HE WOULDN'T HAVE TO GET A NEW BALL FOR THE NEXT
BALL.
ANSWER: I had never heard that myself. Such stories turn up you
know, but they could have been. Father Lyons, I think he was the
one, I think, who was Superintendent of Athletic Activities, so he
might have been the one who did it and he may well have done it.
After all, when a game ends and the ball is free, it isn't always the
students from the college who get it: it's the youngsters
from around the area, so he wasn't going to lose them, I suppose,
although I never heard that as an observation, but I can believe it.
QUESTION 125, VES #1 (0-29-17-03) YOU WERE DIRECTOR OF ADMISSIONS
FOR A WHILE.
ANSWER: In the very beginning, yes, then later on, was the
Director. After I became Dean, I don't think I handled Admissions
thereafter. Now, who did?
I THINK PROBABLY, I XNOW FATHER MAHAN WAS DIRECTOR OF ADMI88IONS FOR
Oral History: Laurence Langguth, S.J. page 18
r' A WHILE, DURING THE FIFTIES. HE XIGET HAVE SUCCEEDED YOU TO THAT
JOB.
I'll bet he did now.
QUESTION #26, V88 #1 (0-29-39-13) WERE YOU INVOLVED AT ALL IN
RECRUITING STUDENTS TO COME HERE?
ANSWER : Very little, that I recall. I think occasionally I'd go
out to speak to groups here and there, but not very much, no. Word
of mouth was what carried most of it, I think and I really think that
the kids we enrolled appreciated what they were getting here and
carried the good word outside, so I really think that we didn't have
a great deal of that enrollment business, no.
QUESTION #27, VlIS #1 (0-30-09-03) DID TEE KOREAN WAR HAVE ANY
IMPACT ON ENROLLMENT THAT YOU RECALL? TEE PEOPLE BEING DRAFTED INTO
TEE SERVICE...DID TEAT HAVE ANY AFFECT?
ANSWER : Did we lose many as a result? I presume we lost some, but
I don't think too many. The ones who had already been in service and
were free, had fulfilled their obligations, they would not have been
touched. The others who were younger at the time and had not been
touched then, we might have lost some there, but I'm not conscious
that the number was very great. For example, if we
admitted 300, as I said to the college, we could look up records
and find out how many of them graduated and it was a surprising
Oral History: Laurence Langguth, S.J. page 19
rn number. The number of graduates who stayed with us for the 4 years
was very, very respectable and I can't remember. You have records
and files here, I think, where you can find that.
QUESTION #28, VHS #1 (0-31-08-24) THERE WAS? I GUESS, IN THE LATE
FORTIES? A DECISION MADE TO PROVIDE SOME KIND OF ACADEMIC TRAINING
FOR THE NURSES WBO WERE OVER AT ST. VINCENT'S AND I'VE READ THAT THIS
WAS A LITTLE BIT OF A CONTROVERSY BECAUSE THE PROVINCIAL WASN'T SURE
THAT THE UNIVERSITY HAD THE MONEY TO DO THIS, THAT THERE WAS SOME
QUESTION.
- ANSWER: I never heard that myself. Father James Walsh was the
one. He's deceased now. He was very much interested in nursing
education anyway and when they needed somebody over there, he was the
one who went over and helped and that carried on for two or three
years. It was nothing like a very extended program, though, it was
only courses and credits and that sort of thing. That was connected
with what's the name of the hospital?
ST. VINCENT'S.
St. Vincent's. Father Jim Walsh would be the one, but we'd have to
find him up in heaven now. He enjoyed it very much.
QUESTION #29, VHS #1 (0-32-07-15) DID YOU KNOW mlJRICE ROGALIN AT
ALL? WHO STARTED THE EDUCATION?
c ANSWER: Certainly, certainly, yes. He came to us, not as a young
Oral History: Laurence Langquth, S.J. page 20
0 man, but as a man who had seen a good deal of work and wanted
precisely to be here because he wanted to work with his, with the
Jesuits and was a very, very devoted man. He taught Education
courses and whether he did any visitation of teaching experience
or anything like that, I really don't remember at this stage.
Chances are, he did some. It's a long time since I've heard that
name.
QUESTION #30, VHS #1 (0-32-47-12) WAS THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
SOMETHING, WAS THERE A U)T OF SUPPORT FOR STARTING THAT HERE?
ANSWER: I dontt think it made any difference in those days.
Nowadays the departmental divisions are ... you don't go from one to
the other. I think it was all one college then. We could kid back
and forth about it and say, well somebodyts getting a little bit more
money than somebody else, but I don't think it was anything that was
serious. He came to us after a long number of years of experience
anyway. For example, I presume he was more donating his services
than we were paying him what he was worth, but he was very much
interested in teaching, yes.
QUESTION t31, VlIS #1 (0-33-33-22) DID YOU GO TO ANY OF THE
STUDENTS' SOCIAL EVENTS AT ALL, LIKE THE DANCES? OR THE WINTER
CARNIVAL OR ANY OF THAT?
ANSWER: One or two I think, I went to at the beginning, but I had
no stomach for that at all and there were others who liked that a
Oral History: Laurence Langguth, S.J. page 21
little bit more and who it was more appropriate. Did I mention
Father Lyons?
JUST BRIEFLY.
Well, he was really the Prefect of Discipline or Men. Now I think he
would be more likely responsible for behavior than the rest of us
were. I'm quite sure that on the nights there was a dance, I was
home here, getting to bed early and getting ready for the next day.
QUESTION #32, VHS #l (0-34-14-26) DID YOU KNOW FATHER RYAN AT ALL?
HE DIED* I GUESS, THERE WAS AN ACCIDENT IN 1951 WHERE HE DIED RATHER
TRAGICALLY?
ANSWER: I knew him quite well, yes. He was a close friend of
mine, too. You know what the accident was, of course. Never heard.
He became very depressed and probably we should have gotten him to a
Psychiatrist or for something similar earlier. He came in and talked
to me several times, but I had no background or experience in this
sort of thing and I don't think that the Rector at the time did, so
he lived in a room on the floor of what is now Bellannine Hall and he
jumped out. He lingered for a number of days down at St. Vincent's
Hospital, but didn't live beyond that and the poor guy, he was very
conscientious, tended to be a little bit scrupulous, perhaps, but a
very good man. It was horrible to see him go that way.
QUESTION #33, VHS #1 ( 0- 35- 20- 21) AND I GUESS THE STUDENTS HAD A
VERY WARM FEELING FOR HIM. .
Oral History: Laurence Langguth, S.J. page 22
ANSWER: They did, oh yes. You've researched this pretty well.
You amaze me by the...laughter. I'm glad you bring it up because
this is stuff I wouldn't think of myself.
QUESTION # 34, VH8 #1 (0-35-36-14) NOW FATHER DOLAN WAS REPLACED
BY FATHER JOSEPH FITZGERALD WHO WAS THE FIRST OF THE PRESIDENT
FITZGERALD'S WHO WERE ALSO DEANS. DID YOU WORK FAIRLY CLOSELY
WITH FATHER JOSEPH FITZGERALD?
ANSWER: No, I don't think so. It seems, by that time, I, wait a
minute now. He was a Rector. The Fitzgerald who became Dean was not
he.
NO.
By that time, I was gone, that's it, out of the job.
QUESTION #35, VHS 11 (0-36-08-09) YOU WERE HERE, ACCORDING TO WEAT
I'VE FOUND OUT, DURING MOST OF THE '50'8 AND IN FACT...
ANSWER: Not as Dean though.
NO, YOU BECAME, IN FACT, EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO FATHER FITZGERALD.
That is what it what. I would never remember that. And I knew him
well and we got along well together, too. He was the one who
ultimately became Provincial and in the swap, was there another
Fitzgerald who came down?
YES. FATHER JAMES FITZGERALD SUCCEEDED FATHER JOSEPH FITZGERALD.
Oral History: Laurence Langguth, S.J. page 23
fl Father James had a brother and two brothers in the Society, too, but
I don't think any of them were here.
QUEBTION #36, VBB #l (0-36-52-20) WAS FATHER JOBEPH FITZGERALD
DIFFERENT IN PERBONALITY THAN FATHER DOLAN, LET'S BAY? WERE THEY
DIFFERENT?
ANSWER : Yes. Much more quiet than, less assertive and a little
more understanding, a little hesitant about determining a mode of
action. He'd chew over it a little while before ..., but I had much
more, but I had quite a lot to do with both of them, but I found
dealing with Father Joseph Fitzgerald a little bit more easy than
with Father Dolan. Dolan had a lot of background and experience and
he had some pretty committed ideas; that was fine. I was a youngster
just coming along and I didn't have any committed ideas at all. I
just had presumptions and would try to operate on that.
QUESTION #37, VBB 11 (0-37-45-06) NOW, WERE YOU WING TO BAY
BOMETBING?
ANSWER : No, no, I'm just saying, you've been reading a great deal
of the background of this place. This sort of thing is not written
down.
ACTUALLY, MORE OF IT IS THAN YOU WOULD IMAGINE.
Probably so. I wonder who did it.
Oral History: Laurence Langguth, S.J. page 24
QUESTION 138, VHS 11 (0-38-04-15) UNDER FATHER JOSEPH FITZGERALD,
THERE WAS A LOT OF BUILDING THAT WENT ON I GUESS, LOYOLA WAS BUILT,
GONZAGA WAS BUILT, CANISIUS, ALL THREE OF THEM...
ANSWER : Now that I wouldn't remember.
IN FACT, THERE WAS, I GUESS A FAIR AMOUNT OF THIS AND I DIDN'T KNOW
IF YOU WERE INVOLVED WITH ANY OF THE PLAN8 OR TEE DECIBIONS AS TO
WHAT TO BUILD OR WHERE TO PUT THE BUILDINGS.
Very much so, in the first one, Loyola. That's the one that is
relatively symmetrical. There's a central entrance and wings at the
side and I had, I think I did the buying and the purchasing of the
furnishings for it and things like that. I had less to do with the
other two, I think, as you go up the hill. What's the next thing?
QUESTION 139, VHS 11 (0-38-53-10) OONZAGA AND CANISIUS, ALTHOUGH I
GET TEEM CONFUSED.
ANSWER: I'm not sure either. I think Canisius is the one in which
we had the library in the basement floor at the beginning. It's
certainly moved now, but it occupied a front room which was also a
lecture room, but then the reading stacks were in the back. They
were under ground really because the building is built into the hill.
By the time you get back in there, there was no window space unless
we had wells and I suppose we had some window wells, but not very
many of them.
Oral History: Laurence Langguth, S.J. page 25
lm QUESTION 140, VBS 11 (0-39-28-23) DID THESE BUILDINGS8 MORE OR
LESS8 FOLLOW FATHER DOLAW'S PLAN, AB YOU RECALL IT?
ANSWER: To some extent, yes, but not too closely and I don't think
anybody used that as their guiding design for the design of them
or anything like that. A lot of credit should go to the
architect, Gerald Phelan. We knew what the job we wanted to do was,
but he and his architect Mutrux, they were the ones who really put it
in shape. They were good men. Is the firm still in existence, do
you know.
QUESTION #418 VBS 11 (0-40-14-04) YOU KNOW8 I DON'T KNOW, TO BE
HONEST. I REALLY DON'T KNOW. IT SOUNDS LIKE IT IS, BUT I CAN'T BE
,-.
100% CERTAIN.
ANSWER: They can't be as prominent as they were because they were
very prominent in our time. The father died, oh some little while
ago now and I think the mother is dead, too, but the young boy, John,
I think was his name, he took over the firm. Whether he's still
running it or not, I don't know. He wouldn't be a young man any
more. He'd be mature. I don't recall hearing that they've ever had
any enormous big jobs after being here. Now that doesn't follow from
that because if we, certainly were more than satisfied with the work
they did for us, more than satisfied, that wouldn't have discouraged
other people from engaging them, but they really did concentrate an
awful lot of effort here. Mutrux was the designer. I think he's
deceased. I think he is.
Oral History: Laurence Langguth, S.J. page 26
QUESTION #42, VHS #1 (0-41-20-18) DID YOU KNOW JOHN SULLIVAN AT
ALL, THE FIRST SELECTMAN OF FAIRFIELD?
ANSWER: Yeah, but never had much contact with him. I think I knew
him to see, but my student contact would not have led me into contact
with him, it might have more likely led me into contact with the
police, but as a matter of fact, it didn't. We didn't have any
trouble here in the town. Oh, there was complaining here and there,
sure, but when you have town and gown, you're bound to
have some conflict. Our boys were pretty well behaved. One odd
thing was there is a restaurant now, or was, in the traffic circle
down there at the foot of North Benson Road and as you come in from
Bridgeport and hit the circle and start to go around, there used to
be a restaurant...is it still there? Well, we made arrangements with
that fellow in the restaurant to provide the meals for the students,
who were living off campus. It was an arrangement that really didn't
hold up, because if the kids had to pay a certain fee and get the
certain meal, the meal was pretty straightforward, I imagine and they
wanted frills. They'd much rather spend their money on college ices
and sodas and things of that kind, so it faded out rather rapidly. I
Oral History: Laurence Langguth, S.J. page 27
don't think it even kept going during the first full year.
QUESTION 143, VHS #l (0-42-49-25) DO YOU A8 SOHE OF THE EARLY LAY
PROFESSORS THAT YOU MENTIONED BRIEFLY, LIKE ARTWR RIEL, I GUESS JIM
VAIL WAS HERE FOR QUITE A WHILE.
ANSWER: Yes, yes he was.
QUESTION #43 (CTN) WHAT ARE YOUR RECOLLECTIONS OF THOSE HEN?
I liked them very much. I worked with them, especially Riel. Riel
was a very conscientious man, very conscientious. He lived here
right in town with his wife and youngsters. He was extremely free
and easy with the students and I don't mean that he lets them get
away with anything, but he was generous with his time, very generous.
Chuck, Chet Stuart. Has that name come up at all? He was a
specialist in German. That was his interest and he occupied the
little house that's up beyond the parking space along North Benson
Road. Is he still living? I think he
is. I've had some correspondence from him somewhere in New
Hampshire, but it's some little ago while ago, but I really don't
know. They had one boy, one student of the children. I don't think
I ever met him or had any contact with him or anything like that.
There was another one who was the Accountant. What...harder for the
students to get along with than he was because he was not a natural
born teacher. He was an accountant, but the two don't mean the same
thing, necessarily, but he did a good job for us.
Oral History: Laurence Langguth, S.J. page 28
QUESTION 144, VHS #1 (0-44-32-09) FAIRFIELD, I GUESS, IN THE 50'8,
WAS ALSO A VOICE WITHIN THE STATE FOR CATHOLIC VIEWPOINTS, WETHER IT
WAS ON BIRTH CONTROL, OR WHATEVER IT HAPPENED TO BE. I KNOW, I RAN
ACROSS INFORMATION THAT THE PUBLIC AFFAIRS CLUB WENT UP TO THE MOCK
LEGISLATURE IN -FORD AND SPOKE UP ON THESE ISSUES AND THAT TlIERE
WAS A MEETING OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC PEACE FEDERATION DOWN HERE AT
FAIRFIELD IN THE '50'8. DID YOU HAVE ANY FEELING FOR THAT, THAT
FAIRFIELD SHOULD PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN PRESENTING CATHOLIC
VIEWPOINTS?
ANSWER : I would agree that it should, but I am not aware that it
ever happened very much while I was here. Donnarumma would have been
one of the ones who would coordinate something like that. He came
from Waterbury and I think still lives up in Waterbury, but he was
very much public-minded, which a man should be in that field, but I
don't recall, in my time here, that we were very noisy and effective
about it. I don't recall that at all.
QUESTION 145, VHS #l (0-45-43-07) I CAME ACROSS A 1952 YEARBOOK
r
Oral History: Laurence Langguth, S.J. page 29
0 THAT WAB DEDICATED TO YOU.
ANSWER: I'd even forgotten that, not that it makes any difference.
1952,
well who was the 1951 dedicated to? Dolan, I'll bet. They were
fulfilling the formalities.
QUESTION #46, VBB #1 (0-46-12-24) HOW WOULD YOU CHARACTERIZE YOUR
RELATIONBHIP WITH THE STUDENTS? WERE YOU CLOSE?
ANSWER: Yes and I think more close than I would have been if I
were always an administrator. See, I had been teacher and I enjoyed
teaching very much and I think I was well accepted my them in Math
and Physics, especially the Physics and later on when I went teaching
elsewhere, Fall River, for example, in more recent years...the
Physics is what I enjoyed. The fact that they knew me to start with
and then came over and then felt that they knew me in the new
position, also, that, I think, gave them a sense of acceptance and
agreement that I couldn't have expected otherwise.. Oh, there were
problems, of course, because, sometimes, they would be doing things
that I didn't quite approve of and I would have to reprimand them and
that sort of thing, but it wasn't anything very serious. The general
tone of the student body was, to a large extent, set by the older
men. The young men kind of look up to them, though they wouldn't
admit that they did look up to them, but 1'11 bet they did and they
sort of took their key from that so the major problems that would
Oral History: Laurence Langguth, S.J. page 30
have affected kids at that age, we really escaped, we really did.
QUESTION 147, VHS #1 (0-47-40-22) DID THE STUDENT BODY CHANGE
DURINQ THE TIME YOU WERE HERE?
ANSWER: Well, they changed in years, yes, because we had no more
of the older ones coming in, the youngsters coming in were much
younger, but there was no vivid or transitional stage in there that I
can recall. Now, maybe later on, it was different. I was Dean until
1942. I think the 1942 commencement was the last one that I was
in charge of because that's when Father Healy came to be Dean, so I
dropped out and I was in Purchasing and Planning and that sort of
thing, so I can't go much beyond that, but we had no major problems,
I'm sure in the earlier years, because as I said, so many of them
were mature kids anyway and appreciated what they were getting. They
would have liked to have it a little less compulsive, of course, but
they were willing to accept it.
QUESTION #48, VHS #1 (0-48-49-01) IN YOUR ROLE IN PLANNING, WEAT
WERE YOU RESPONSIBLE FOR?
ANSWER: I don't think it was ever tied down. In very many cases,
what we would do is remain talking with the provincial, who,
ultimately set the policy. He's the one who was in charge of the
major projects in all of the whole New England area. Now I think my
contact was not really much with him; mine would be with the Rector
who was here, who, in turn, would contact him. I have no sharp
Oral History: Laurence Langguth, S.J. page 31
((4\ recollections of that sort of thing at all.
QUESTION #49, VHS 11 (0-49-28-06) SO -RE WERE NO SPECIFIC ISSUES
OR THINGS THAT YOU WERE INVOLVED IN PLANNING SPECIFICALLY?
ANSWER: Not that I remember, no.
YOU LEFT ABOUT 19607
Was it that late?
QUESTION #SO, VHS #1 (0-49-42-12) I THINK IT WAS. THAT'S WHAT
I'VE READ, AT LEAST, AND I CAN ONLY ASSUME THAT IT'S ACCURATE.
ANSWER: The catalogues that they have in the Province will make
that very clear and if my name ceases to appear about that time, that
was probably it. Shadowbrook was our big building project. You've
r heard of that, of course. It was a place that burned down and we
lost 4 men in it. It took a long time to plan the substitute to
the replacement of it and when it was being built, I had a finger in
that too...much more there than here. I used to commute back and
forth now and then because I still had a residence here, but the main
obligation then was Shadowbrook -- building it first but then
accommodating and furnishing it and that was the most of my work in
through those years...very little responsibility down here then that
I can recall. Now, when did Shadowbrook re-open?
1955. No, the fire was '55, I think, so it was '56 or 157. Now when
it re-opened, I was named the Rector there and I held that term for
3-4-5 years, maybe. I think I ended my tern as Rector and after the
f'
Oral History: Laurence Langguth, S.J. page 32
1952, am I saying that, the 1952 commencement exercises ...
I WOULD GUESS PROBABLY 1962 MORE THAN '52 BECAUSE YOU WERE HERE IN
'52.. .
It's got to be '62...the tricks of my memory. I'm getting to be
awful.
QUESTION #51, VHS #I (0-51-36-18) JUST TELL ME, A8 A KIND OF A
CLOSING QUESTION, WHEN YOU LEFT FAIRFIELD, WHAT KIND OF A UNIVERSITY
WAS IT? I -AN, WERE YOU ON TEE ROAD TO FULFILLING WHAT YOU THOUGHT
IT WAS GOING TO BE?
ANSWER : I must say I probably never gave it much thought. I think
if somebody challenged me, I would have said, "Oh, it was wonderful,
it was a choice that should have been made." Many people would not
have had the courage to start, especially during the war years, when
people were in such demand, teachers in such demand -- that sort of
thing, but Dolan was the insistent person there. He wanted to get
started on a college and thank God, he did. If
you don't have vision, you don't get anywhere, so there were
probably some lean years in through there, but I don't think there
was any danger of our giving it up or changing the plan or anything
like that. Look at the campus here now, my gosh and the number of
people filling different offices...this is what amazes me more...not
Oral History: Laurence Langguth, S.J. page 33
the buildings ... but every building has offices and people in it and
that sort of thing.
Oral History: Laurence Langguth, S.J. page 34