Economics major and grandfather given diplomas

Economics major John Manning with his grandfather and President Fox

Platt Wheeler '44, of Fayetteville, N.Y. (retired principal of Fayetteville-Manlius High School), was unable to attend graduation with his class and actually receive his degree in person, because he was called to serve in World War II. He is married to Marilyn Merrill, St. Lawrence Class of 1945. He finally got the chance to walk on stage today, in cap and gown, and join the Class of 2010, which includes his grandson, John Manning, who has earned a degree with a double major of economics and chemistry.

John Manning, of Boxford, Massachusetts, is the latest in a family of another 35 or so St. Lawrence graduates. His sister, Maryn, is in St. Lawrence's Class of 2012. Collectively, the family funded the restoration of the chapel in Atwood Hall to honor St. Lawrence University’s Sesquicentennial in 2006.

The first members of the family to graduate from St. Lawrence were Platt Wheeler's parents, who both graduated in 1915.