Editor-in-Chief
“Ask not what Choate can do for you, but what you can do for Choate,” said George St. John to the Choate School. Mr. St. John may have coined the phrase immortalized by John F. Kennedy’s ’35 inaugural address, but his son Seymour embodied it. On April 17, 2006, Seymour St. John passed away in his sleep at his home in Hobe Sound, Florida at age 94. St. John’s contributions to the Choate community are innumerable and invaluable.
Born on the Choate campus in 1912 to Choate’s first headmaster, Seymour St. John’s attachment to Choate was deeper than any student in the school’s history. A restless child, St. John decided to focus his energies at the age of 16 when he lived abroad in Switzerland for a year at Le Rosey School. It was there that he came into his own. A standout hockey player and academic, St. John was looked to as a leader by his peers.
Returning to Choate, he graduated cum laude 1931 and attended Yale where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1935. Following his college years, he returned to Choate for a brief stint to teach French. Soon thereafter he was ordained as an Episcopal minister and served in the Navy from 1943-1946.
As his father was nearing retirement as Choate’s longest serving headmaster, the Choate school conducted a national search for the next headmaster. St. John was hesitant to be a candidate for the position fearing that his mother’s, brother’s and father’s being on the board would lead to a nepotistic vote. It was only after the board of trustees assured him that his family members would be excluded from the vote that he accepted the job as the school’s second headmaster.
Life As Headmaster
As soon as he took the position of headmaster in 1947, St. John led the school with vigor. Before his tenure, Choate’s interaction with other schools was limited, save the weekly athletic contests. St. John wanted to change that. At different points throughout his tenure, St. John was the president of the Connecticut Association of Independent Schools, president of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC, the major accrediting board of schools and colleges in the region), and a chairman of the National Association of Independent Schools, the body that sets the standards for independent schools throughout the country. To promote the communication amongst schools, St. John often published articles in publications such as Vogue and Readers’ Digest.
Under St. John, the curriculum underwent reform and a tremendous build-up, primarily in the language department. After visiting the Soviet Union and Morocco in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s St. John established the Russian Studies Center and a Near Eastern Studies group, two summer expeditions abroad. Russian, Arabic and Chinese were also added to the curriculum. At his initiative, Jean-Pierre Cosnard then of the Langage Department, started the term abroad program in France, the longest running boarding school foreign language immersion program. All of these contributed to Choate’s evolving from a New England school, to a national school, to a world-renowned school drawing on an international base never before seen.
A Community Man
While it is easy to look at St. John’s contributions to the academic environment at Choate as the focal point of his career, it is his life as a community member that is truly remarkable. Feeling uneasy about the student protests of the Vietnam War, in 1967, St. John traveled to Vietnam and the surrounding areas to get a first hand look at the war with General William Westmoreland’s Chief of Staff. Although St. John himself was convinced of the validity of the Vietnam War, he too understood the validity of the students’ protests. And under his blessings, about 50 Choate students traveled to Washington in November of 1969 to march on Washington. While some prep schools were afraid at the social changes the 1960’s brought, St. John embraced them.
Hoping to no longer isolate the local youth, St. John increased the day student population at Choate in 1971 in order to tie the Choate community closer with the surrounding towns. The merger of The Choate School with Rosemary Hall was obviously St. John’s most notable accomplishment in creating a community completely unlike any in Wallingford to that point.
In addition to his own place in the Choate community, his wife Margaret, “Peggy”, was too a pillar on campus. Like her mother-in-law, Clara before her, Peggy was Choate’s infirmary’s angel of mercy. As a mother and father figure on campus, St. John and his wife made life at Choate a warm and comforting environment.
Headmaster Emeritus and Alumnus
After 25 progressive years as headmaster, Seymour St. John stepped down in 1973. Alumni and friends alike all hailed him as the man who breathed new life into Choate.
Brigadier General of the U.S.A (ret) said upon St. John’s retirement, “You [St. John] have provided an executive talent as well as a quality of concern and guidance for the students there which will be almost impossible to replace. You have seen Choate pass through some very trying years; I’m not sure that the school could have withstood the shock of our changing times without a firm and balanced hand such as yours at the helm. You will leave at choate a superb legacy of excellence and idealism that your successor will strive to emulate in the years ahead”
Serving as an honorary trustee since his retirement, St. John’s legacy has been felt ever since his stepping down. St. John was present at the dedication of the Chapel last fall and has been present at alumni weekend every year. He will truly be missed as a member of the Choate community; but as he told the class of 1950, three years into his tenure, “You are a part of Choate forever.”
He is survived by his wife, Marie “Mazie” St. John; a son, Gordon W. St. John ‘55 of Lavonia, MI, a daughter, Margaret St. John of Tucson, AZ; and five grandchildren: Mrs. Michael Sutton of San Diego, CA; Mr. Gordon Webb St. John ‘80 of Stratford, PA; Mrs. Christopher Amorello ‘84 of Concord, MA.; Mr. Koren Eloul and Ms. Liyam Eloul of Tucson, AZ, and nine great grandchildren. His first wife, Margaret Spencer St. John, predeceased him.
