Returning to the Harkness Table for 'On Beyond Exeter,' from The Exeter Bulletin, Fall 2007

Jack Herney teaching a Harkness class in the "On Beyond Exeter" program

Last July, “On Beyond Exeter” offered seven weeklong Harkness classes for alumni/ae and other adult friends of the Academy, including “D-Day and the Battle for Normandy,” taught by history instructor Jack Herney (shown above). Here, alumni/ae reflect on their experiences.

George H. Kalikman ’71, P’04: History Lessons
I took Jack Herney’s course “D-Day and the Battle for Normandy” for a week last July because of my late father, Samuel Kalikman. His role in this story began with a conversation in the autumn of 1934.

My father was in his first year at Harvard Law School. One day he turned to one of his classmates, Hank Wiley, who graduated from Exeter in 1930, and asked him what he thought about being there. Hank spoke positively about both Harvard Law School and Harvard College, which he’d also attended. “But,” Hank said,“The best four years of my life were the four years I spent at Exeter.” My father, a public school kid, looked blankly at Hank and asked,“ ‘Exeter’? What’s that?” The picture of Exeter that Hank Wiley painted remained vivid in my father’s memory for years.

On June 6, 1944, my father was the navigator on an LST (Landing Ship,Tank) that landed British troops on Gold Beach. Though my dad almost never spoke of D-Day, it was clearly one of the most influential experiences of his life.

In 1966, my father told me Hank Wiley’s story about Exeter. I visited PEA and decided to attend after I was lucky enough to be admitted. When my father broke the news to his father, Philip, my grandfather expressed consternation that I would be going to school so far from home. “Why does he have to go there?” my grandfather asked. “What’s so special about Exeter?”  More...

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