Portrait of a Classic Harkness Teacher

In Memoriam

HERRICK M. MACOMBER '26
June 11, 1908–November 26, 1998
Instructor in Classical Languages and Director of Studies, Emeritus

The fact that Isabel Holmes Macomber and Herrick M. Macomber died in Exeter within a month of each other was symbolic of their long and happy marriage, their Vermontness, their enduring family togetherness, and their significant dual contribution to Phillips Exeter Academy. Isabel died on October 26, 1998, Herrick on November 26, 1998, at age 90.

Herrick, of Burlington, Vermont, and Isabel Holmes, of St. Albans, Vermont, were married on June 30, 1934. Their two daughters, Elizabeth (Betsy) and Judith (Judy or Dewy), were finally joined 10 years later by Hervey, to perpetuate the Macomber name. Betsy is now Elizabeth Macomber Ensor, with a family of her own, and Judy is now Judith Macomber Morse, with a family of her own. Hervey, PEA '68 and Wesleyan '72, with a UNH master's degree, teaches English and has been coaching soccer at Pinkerton Academy in Derry, New Hampshire. He married Claudette St. Laurent on July 14, 1973, and has a son Zachary, PEA '99, now at Middlebury, and a daughter Katherine.

Betsy and Judy went to Northfield, since as faculty daughters they antedated PEA coeducation. The long series of drives to and from Northfield, Massachusetts, with Hervey as ballast, were enriched by Isabel's reading aloud A Tale of Two Cities and other classics.

Herrick, born on June 11, 1908, in Burlington, Vermont, graduated from PEA in 1926, graduated summa cum laude from the University of Vermont with an A.B. in classics in 1930, and proceeded to an A. M. degree in classics in 1932 and a Ph.D. in 1936 at Harvard University.

He was an instructor in Latin and Greek at UVM in 1930-31, a temporary instructor at PEA in 1933-34, and an instructor in Latin at Earlham College in 1936-37. He was appointed by PEA in 1937, but only for the year 1937-38 as a fill-in. The Depression and the declining Latin enrollment made a young Latin teacher's job insecure. It was ironic that Lewis Perry wanted for several years to hire and keep Herrick and Herrick wanted very much to come to Exeter and stay, and yet the times dictated a nerve-racking, on-again, off-again relationship until Herrick was finally appointed to teach Latin, and temporarily, mathematics, at Exeter in 1938-39.

Though by 1946-47 he was an established Exeter teacher, he was understandably chagrined that year by the abolition of the Latin requirement at Exeter. In the long and emotional debate at faculty meetings, Herrick turned out to be the field general of the embattled classical forces; but he was even-handed about this major academic change. A few years later, though by nature conservative, he did not subscribe to Norman Hatch's dictum, on the question of the introduction of Russian at Exeter, that "everyone knows civilization stops west of the Elbe." Herrick had an endearing habit of saying about almost everything, "On the one hand.; and then on the other hand."

The Macombers lived in Merrill, Bancroft, Webster, and then "permanently" in Peabody. Isabel, in her intrepid way, unusual for a faculty wife in 1950, wrote to Principal William Saltonstall championing the individual's rights vs. the institution's, particularly in the matter of a faculty member's and his wife's say about choice of dormitory and choice of apartment therein. Her bottom line, specifically, was "Do not ask us to go to Dunbar, but let us stay in Peabody." They did stay in Peabody until 1962, and by all reports, along with Robin Galt and their wives, Herrick administered Peabody impeccably, again a model of even-handedness. He was impatient only with students who insisted on wearing paths across campus lawns.

For faculty children, the Abbot-Peabody "traffic circle" was a gathering place, especially for baseball. Typically there would be one pitch and then a 10-minute argument and then another pitch. Isabel was so exasperated one day that she came out and took over as umpire, but her reign was short lived because she did not know the infield-fly rule.

Like most PEA faculty members, Herrick juggled several balls-teaching Latin (and sometimes math), coaching (soccer, tennis, lacrosse), dormitory advising, and doing yeoman committee work. In 1963-64, for instance, he was on the Committee on Studies, the Executive Committee, the Committee on Educational Policy, the Advanced Placement Committee, and the Schedule Committee. When asked in a faculty questionnaire by then new Principal Richard Day what other committees interested him, he wrote, "I am content."

He was a stickler for detail and accuracy. He often referred to the scheduling process as "toiling in the vineyard." After the scheduling was done in September, all by hand, with the complicity of many faculty members, Herrick would report at faculty meeting that, "There were only 321 mistakes."

For the Kirtland Society, he directed in the old art gallery a memorable student production of Oedipus Rex.

Allan Wooley, PEA '54, the only one who has surfaced who was both Herrick's student and colleague, remembers vividly taking Latin 6, a full-year course meeting once a week, emphasizing translation of English into Latin, with two other students. Herrick's way to "build backbone" and to teach Latin was to stress rigorous precision with calm constancy and challenge the students to forego the "red badge of ignorance," i.e. his precise, red, handwritten, critical commentary on their efforts.

He had a long and evolving stint as director of studies from 1956 until retirement in 1970, with an ever-increasing burden on him as college-placement officer during a sea change of college-admission realities. There was a steady increase in multiple applications, in college recommendations, and in interviews. Although he himself was conscientious about meeting deadlines and accomplishing his many tasks, he was also even-tempered and patient with procrastinating students, nervous and persistent parents, and casual advisers. He was, however, a little testy in reporting to the faculty that, "This year, Harvard is looking for students with sparkle!"

He and Isabel became charter members of the Exeter Players in 1938, and thereafter found time for regular appearances, in both play readings and productions. Herrick's triumph was in "Auntie Mame" in 1974. Herrick and Isabel were also inveterate bridge players, though as he aged, Herrick's perfectionism frustrated him in a game, like golf, impossible to master. The Macombers were actively involved in the Unitarian Church. Herrick also regularly attended the Academy's required daily 8 a.m. basically Trinitarian "chapel" service, but, as always a man of principle, during the singing of "Holy, Holy, Holy" he would stop singing at "God in Three Persons, Blessed Trinity."

During their Exeter years, the Macombers managed to renew themselves annually at their family summer cottage in St. Albans Bay, Vermont. Herrick, for example, did habitual bass fishing in Lake Champlain. As they got older, he and Isabel wanted to spend more and more time in Vermont, and the lure of Vermont became an irresistible factor in their decision to retire early.

In his personal and professional life, Herrick Macomber was a thoroughbred Vermonter — a man of probity, devotion to duty, good sense, and no nonsense.