Coming Home
By President Daniel F. Sullivan
Most of you know of Irving Bacheller, the famous turn-of-the-twentieth-century
novelist, member of the St. Lawrence Class of 1882 and for many years
University trustee. Near the end of his great novel of the North Country,
Eben Holden, he described a winter homecoming:
The north country lay buried in the snow that Christmastime.
Here and there the steam plough had thrown its furrows, on either side
of the railroad, high above the window line. The fences were muffled
in long ridges of snow, their stakes showing like pins in a cushion
of white velvet. Some of the small trees on the edge of the big timber
stood overdrifted to their boughs. I have never seen such a glory of
the morning as when the sun came up, that day we were nearing home,
and lit the splendour of the hills, there in the land I love. The frosty
nap of the snow glowed far and near with pulsing glints of pale sapphire.
So many of us, once having attended St. Lawrence or having
had a son or daughter attend St. Lawrence, feel the same emotions when
returning to Canton and the North Country for a visit to campus or,
increasingly—and this is the point of my message for this edition
of the magazine—to settle permanently near the exciting, vital,
attractive University that is St. Lawrence.
In upcoming issues of the magazine we’re going
to feature examples of such people on a regular basis (the stories
about Julie Sherman Grayson ’72 in the Winter issue and of Peter ’58
and Becky Blaisdell Van de Water ’60 in this issue are first
examples) to illustrate how and why Laurentians are coming home. Some
are moving back in retirement, having acquired wonderful rural lake,
riverfront or wooded properties, or a place in the village to be very
near the University at North Country prices—far more modest than
prices elsewhere. They seek the physical beauty of this area and access
to the University’s classes for auditing, cultural and intellectual
events, recreation facilities, athletic events, the opportunity to
be a part of a real community, and old friends. When they get too cold,
many of them head south for a break, but they always come back because
of the quality of life they find here.
Others are in midlife and seek respite from the irrationality
and frantic pace of life elsewhere. They find jobs here, or telecommute,
or move or start businesses here.
Younger Laurentians return for all of the above reasons
and, when they have children, the quality of the schools and the safety
and healthfulness of the community to raise a family.
The good news is that, as part of its Canton Initiative,
the University is going to begin to take steps to encourage a great
deal more of this. The details are going to be worked out in the next
months, but we will define an incentive package of University-related
amenities and incentives that we can offer in the first year or two
or lifetime; we will seek to describe here in the magazine specific
opportunities that we have identified. Over the next five years the
Canton Initiative will set out to recruit 100 alumni, parents and friends
to live in Canton and a defined surrounding area, building or causing
to be built $10,000,000 in new homes or home improvements, with all
of its positive impact on the local property tax base. We believe all
of this will be good for Laurentians, and really good for Canton and
its near environs.
If you are interested in learning more about this new
initiative, contact Tom Coakley, vice president for administrative
operations, at 315-229-5656 or tcoakley@stlawu.edu.
Ann and I have made just this kind of decision ourselves. We are building
a home for our eventual retirement on the Raquette River’s Higley
Flow, between South Colton and Colton, 14 miles from Canton. Think
about it, and then come join us!
--Daniel F. Sullivan
