The typewritten envelope habitually arrives about a week or so after publication of each issue. It comes via snail mail, the letter inside laid out in memo format on blue office paper. Don Salmon, emeritus vice president of college advancement, has never given up his typewriter nor the habits of a long career. He writes to thank me after each magazine – I am sure he is a hunt-and-peck typist – and always carefully cc-ing my own vice-president, which makes me feel very young and encouraged.
I find myself watching out for these missives, and in fact I’ve kept every one. There’s nothing like a word of thanks, and Don’s are wonderful. Drew gets them, too. They’re personal, sincere, and best is the way they gracefully build us up. Don has given us a reputation we don’t deserve and at the same time are eager to live up to! I wonder how many other people have a “Don” file?
It’s partly because of Don, by the way, that I have a magazine to edit at all. I interviewed with him and despite one huge faux pas, he still felt able to recommend me for the job at St. Norbert. Don had asked me which figure in history I admired most. I’d weighed a couple of names in the balance, not knowing this was a question with only one correct answer. Don’s admiration for Sir Winston Churchill is boundless, and his disappointment at my failure to name my countryman immediately was palpable. It took some nimble footwork to recover from my gaffe – plus the lucky disclosure that, as a small child, I had been present at the great statesman’s funeral procession. (This is one of the things they don’t tell you in those “Five Ways to Ace the Interview” articles.)
