LOUISE
.....KEMPKA

LOUISE KEMPKA

I asked Louise to tell me the story on Professior Wylie Sypher....I just knew there was one!

Darrell,

There is a story, but no romance. Wylie Sypher was one of the most respected and well-loved faculty at Bread Loaf during our time there. He was Nancy's idol and mentor. Everyone was in awe of him. He was way above my brain waves and I avoided his classes out of sheer terror. Nancy did very well in his classes and, I believe, kept in touch with him and his wife, Lucy, in Boston. He died in 1987. I think he adored her and the ladies in Larch. I was always somewhat embarrassed that I didn’t have the intellectual nerve to register for one of his courses. People said his Shakespeare course was incredible. At BL, spouses usually spent the summer with the professors so his wife, Lucy, was a big part of campus life during our time. Here is what someone wrote about him:

Notice the underlined sentence. He received an honorary degree at BL the same year Nancy graduated.

“Professor of English and writer on art history. Sypher was born to Harry Wylie Sypher and Martha Berry (Sypher). He graduated from Amherst College in 1927, continuing for two master's degrees, the first from Tufts University, in 1929 and, after marrying Lucy Johnston the same year, pursued a second from Harvard University in 1932. He joined Simmons College, Boston, as an instructor beginning in 1929. Sypher was awarded his Ph.D., from Harvard in 1937. At Simmons, Sypher advanced through the ranks, being promoted to assistant professor in 1936, and associate professor, 1941 and professor of English in 1945. He was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship in 1949-50, and again in 1958-59. In 1963 Sypher wrote his groundbreaking anthology of art history, Art History: An Anthology of Modern Criticism. Together with that of German Readings in the History and Theory of Fine Arts by Margaret Bieber (q.v.) in 1946, it was one of the first anthologies of art-historical literature published in the United States and the first with full English translations. In 1966 he was named alumnae professor of English. He received a Litt.D., from Middlebury College, 1969, retiring from Simmons professor emeritus in 1973. After retirement he was awarded L.H.D.'s from Simmons College, 1973, and Amherst College, 1977.

Throughout his life, Sypher wrote on the history of art in addition to literature, often combining both. Sypher viewed art history and criticism as essentially the same thing. Defining style as the essence of an art form, Sypher's works trace art as it modulates formally without perceptible effect from social forces.”

source: the Dictionary of Art Historians.

You might be able to tell from this description above why I was intimidated by the man, Not Nancy!!

Louise

Carl and Louise Kempka

Image of Bread Loaf graduation Nancy and Professor Wyely Sypher at graduation in 1969. He was Nancy's idol and mentor.   MORE LOUISE KEMPKA BELOW

 

LOUISE KEMPKA

Nancy Tennessee

On a sunny day in Vermont in June 1967 I first came to Bread Loaf. I drove up to the Inn, registered, and was assigned a room in a place called Larch, which ended up being a small white building with about 15 double rooms. So I drove my loaded car around the corner to Larch; on the porch were returning students having their first drinks of the session. Among them was Nancy, my roommate.

I walked up on the porch and, when I met Nancy, I said something like: “Oh, you’re the person who is sharing my room!” She quickly straightened me out when she said: “No, you are sharing my room!” And, off we went on a life-long friendship.

It was my first summer at Bread Loaf and Nancy’s second. She was the first southerner I had ever met. We had in common growing up in pretty sheltered environments and, before Bread Loaf, not venturing very far from home.

The rooms in Larch were nothing to brag about: two single beds, two desks, two straight-backed chairs and a closet, which was nothing but a rod hidden from view by a curtain. I was stunned.

I joined everybody on the porch and from that time on, Nancy and others, who that year or in later years shared that porch, have been the dearest of friends. Nancy and I were roommates for all four of my summers at Bread Loaf. Although we often talked about returning, our final summer was 1971.

1994 Bread Loaf Reunion in the Barn

From 1968 until her move to Boston in 1970, Nancy joined me in teaching high school English in the Alexis I. DuPont School District in Greenville, Delaware, where I had been employed since 1966.

There were years when we lived far apart and communicated occasionally by phone, note, cards, or a visit. A bunch of us went to a Bread Loaf reunion in 1994 and then, for several years, had smaller gatherings at Sue and Bill Liggett’s farm. In 1995 Nancy and Huretta visited us in NJ on her move from Cambridge to Chattanooga. In 1998, when she moved to Bethesda, I moved to NC. After my retirement in 2005, our friendship flourished when I was able to visit her more frequently and often stopped with her on trips to visit family in PA and DE. After Nancy retired and as her health declined, I spent more time with her. We always made those visits enjoyable. Sue Liggett would come over from her farm; Bob Gallagher lived close by. The four of us would have dinner and reminisce and discuss and exchange critiques on Netflix movies.

In June of 2009 Nancy made her last journey to Bread Loaf - seven of us reunited at Bread Loaf for the 90th anniversary celebration of its founding. Nancy saw many old friends there. It was a very special time for all of us.

Louise Wagner Kempka

From: Louise Kempka
Sent: Sunday, November 28, 2010 3:23 PM
To: Liggett Sue; Baker Jean; Boyle Marge; Gallagher Bob; LaPlante Joan ; Armstrong Pennie; Knight Betsey
Subject: One more Nancy thing . . .

I just found a copy of the paper Nancy gave at the 2009 BL Reunion round table "Bread Loaf in the Age of Aquarius". I thought you might enjoy reading it one more time.

Louise

MORE OF LOUISE KEMPKA'S PICTURES BELOW

Bread Loaf...a very special place. On the Cornwell Porch at Bread Loaf 2009 Reunion   Bob, Sue, Nancy and Louise in Nancy's living room in 2006   Speaking of Bread Loaf in an email to Darrell Louise said, "You have caught the essence here – it was like a Brigadoon. When we left the Mountain in August we felt torn from a magical place and special people and sent back to “re-enter” the world, as we used to say. It was difficult saying good-bye to our friends and to the Mountain. Nancy went to TN; Sue and Bob went to MD; Joan went to RI; Marge went to NJ; Jean Goddard went to MA; Jean Baker went to PA; Pennie went to eastern VT; and I went to DE. We were never sure who would be coming back the next year – both friends and faculty. We all feel a real sense of pleasure that our friendships, born from 4 or 5 summer sessions of only 6 weeks each, remained strong throughout 40+ years. Some of us moved from place to place and relationships waxed and waned, but here we are in old age treasuring one another and our memories. I have attached one more photo of Bob, Sue, Nancy and I (above) in 2006 sitting on her sofa. I had set up my camera and then run back to get into the picture. I think Nancy looks glowing in it, don’t you?"