Elizabeth (Mahat) Guest, a longtime prominent figure in alumni affairs for Amherst and Mount Holyoke Colleges; interview by Elizabeth (Polly) Longsworth.
- I'm Polly Longsworth. I've been a friend of Mahat Guest for 45 years, and we knew them well here in Amherst. She and Al came to Amherst in 1946. Mahat was the class of 1934 at Mount Holyoke, and Al had been the Class of 1933 at Amherst. My question, Mahat, is how with Al having gone through law school and started working as a lawyer in New York City, you living in North Jersey and the two of you raising three children, how did you suddenly come to Amherst after the War?
- Well, it was very fortunate, Polly. We were at Martha's Vineyard for the summer Al's job in New York City was, he was a regional attorney for the Federal Communications Commission and really enjoyed his job. But that summer, in Martha's Vineyard, 1946, he got a call from Ken DeBevoise, who was a lawyer in New York and a friend of ours graduate of 1935, and he was the new member of the Executive Committee of Amherst College. And I heard this wonderful conversation going on, and then Al turned to me and said, "Would you like to go to live in Amherst?" And I said, "Wonderful." And that was all I had to say. And then we drove around the vineyard for about three days while we debated whether Al should be even considered for the job. And I talked to Stanley King, who was the outgoing president of Amherst. And he was very encouraging. We talked to Irene Salmon, the wife of Dwight Salmon, very well-known History professors, everybody knows. And she was very discouraging. She said, "Oh, Mahat, don't think about it. Your life won't be the same. You'll lose all your privacy." And the more she talked, the more it sounded interesting to go. So, Al did go to New York and was interviewed and asked to be Alumni Secretary. And we were delighted. We went to Amherst to see about housing, and I had visions of trying to decide on some lovely old colonial house. And when we got to Amherst and talked to Paul Weathers, the treasurer of Amherst, he said there wasn't a house in Amherst for rent-
- Oh, things were very tight after the War, weren't they?
- They're very, very tight, yes. And there were no apartments, no condominiums, anything like that. So the only possibility was to take the Ray Stannard Baker House on Sunset Avenue. And Ray Stannard Baker was a journalist and economist and the biographer of Woodrow Wilson. And he had died that summer. And Mrs. Baker decided to rent the house for a year, deciding what to do.
- Mm-hmm.
- So we took this large house, really a wonderful house. And we moved to Amherst in October, I think October 15th, 1946. It was a great year. And Al and Charlie Cole and Curt Canfield went on an alumni trip in the Spring of '47 for three and a half weeks and all over the country.
- Mm-hmm.
- And-
- That was, was that a new thing then?
- I think it was, well, the, yeah, I think so. For, to cover so many cities and alumni groups. And at the end, they said anyone of them could have gotten up and given the other person's speech for three and a half weeks traveling. But it was a wonderful time at Amherst because the War was over, the... Those who'd been in the service came back to finish college, and they were eager to go on with their education. The new students coming in were delighted to be in Amherst. The GIs lived in what's called G.I. Village. They're really just barracks down where what we call the new dorms are now. And it was very, very refreshing. They had cold stoves. They're very, very simple barracks. But they had a wonderful spirit. They'd all sort of took care of each other.
- Mm-hmm.
- And there were several babies born that year. And they all helped each other. And whenever we'd get a little overwhelmed with alumni, we'd go down to see the young people at G.I. Village and find that refreshing. But the whole spirit of Amherst that year and continuing, it was very, very exciting.
- Was that Charlie Cole coming in new-
- Well, yes, Charlie Cole came in as president. Bill Wilson moved from being Alumni Secretary to Dean of Admission. Ted Bacon came as an assistant Dean. George May came soon after. What else did I say? Oh, well, but Bud Hewlett came from Public Relations.
- Art Davenport-
- Art Davenport was the fraternity business manager. They're all Amherst graduates and all enthusiastic alumni. And the whole spirit was wonderful. And they then really worked as a wonderful team. I just think those were wonderful, wonderful days.
- And they were here for a good long time, working together too.
- Oh, yes, oh, yes, long time.
- Yeah.
- So in 1947, we moved to 61 Lincoln Avenue. And that was another large house, very nice house that had been Fred and Alice's house. He was the first Alumni Secretary at Amherst. And so the house was always called the Alice House. And we moved in there. Our furniture had been in storage for a year. And we didn't have enough furniture to fill the house, but I managed to find a secondhand rug that from time in the time I had to pray on and it was so, so worn. And we borrowed some curtains from Kirby's Theater, and we, I remember that fall, we had a, that would be nice to have a reception. And so we asked Mrs. Alice to be in the receiving line and Bill and Louise Wilson. And I'm sure the house must have looked pretty shoddy. But anyway, it was exciting to move in that house.
- Well, once you fill it with people.
- It all looks fine.
- Well, it was filled with people, I must say,
- A good part of the time.
- A good part of the time. Al loved to invite people. So I never knew who was going to appear on the doorstep or he'd bring people home for dinner and...
- Your house was the original alumni house. and there were always people pouring through it on football weekends and-
- Football weekends were always very, very lively 'cause that night before was when the fraternities would have their banquets and initiations. And so the men would all be at their banquets then.
- And you had the wives.
- And I had many of the wives.
- Right.
- Yeah. And then there was the bonfire, which they no longer have, which is, was a converse parking lot. And they had railroad ties.
- Mm.
- And so, a wonderful big bonfire. And then people would come back to our house, pouring into our house after that.
- Some of them spending the night.
- Oh, heavens, yes. All the beds were filled.
- What happened to your children if you don't mind my asking?
- Well, one year, I remember we farmed them out because Alan had invited so many people, we didn't have room for the children. So they went to Mrs. Blair's house in South Amherst. And... But, and it was the time that we had the reception. It was pouring rain. And Mrs. Blair had taken the children to the movies. And after the movies, Jimmy Allison, and Jimmy couldn't find Mrs. Blair. So they came home and knocked on the back door and said, "Please, may we come in?"
- Come in out of the rain.
- Anyway, we had quite a lot of involvement with the students. We'd have groups of students for supper. I got to be known for spaghetti, student spaghetti which was a wonderful casserole that could serve, could make casserole up to, for about 40 people, which we do on Alumni weekend or commencement. But students, we'd have a group of eight or 10. And I think we always tried to have the sons of alumni
- Mm-hmm.
- For supper.
- And Al wasn't he an advisor to one of the fraternities?
- He was the advisor to Alpha Delta for several years.
- Right.
- Mm-hmm.
- And... Oh, we also had what we called study breaks. And we'd have students down for, oh, in the fall for cider and donuts and so on. And then, of course, we had various sitters that, we got to know quite a few students, including, I think Chuck Longsworth. I'm not sure whether he was ever a sitter.
- Oh, goodness, it didn't wear off on him.
- But several people became Chairman of the Board of Trustees. Like Tom, Tommy Wyman, He was one of our-
- He was a sitter too.
- He was just one of our sitters.
- Who were the Faculty then and whom you entertained in your home, because you probably did?
- Dwight Salmon and Irene became very good friends. And the Packards. And... Well, of course, the people, the administration Bill and Louise Wilson, and Ted and Sarah Bacon, the maze.
- [Polly] Mm-hmm. Robert Frost, was he ever-
- Oh, oh, Robert Frost. Yes. We were very fortunate 'cause every time Robert Frost came to Amherst, he came down for dinner and we always had students with him. And those were really memorable evenings. And that, as you know, Robert Frost was noted for liking to walk. So after dinner, at about 10 or 11 o'clock, Al would walk up to the end with Robert Frost, and Robert Frost would walk back to Lincoln Avenue with Al, And then they'd walk back to the end again. Oh, the Witchers, of course, the Witchers.
- [Polly] Yeah.
- And Peg and Stanley King too.
- [Polly] Mm-hmm.
- They were very nice neighbors. In fact, Peg King was so embarrassed, I think, about our rug that she at one time bought herself and gave, I mean, she was the one who bought a new rug for Lincoln, 161 Lincoln Avenue, which is very, very nice.
- She must have stepped on one of the bare spots.
- Yeah, we-
- You talked about the strong sense of community there was in the college, there was a Faculty Club at that time,
- the Faculty Club. There were no women on the Faculty at that time. So the men had their faculty club where the admission office is now in that house. And they would often go down late afternoon and have coffee and conversation but women were not allowed over the threshold.
- [Polly] Really?
- And, but I was ready to come home, he would call me and I would drive down, but I didn't even dare go to the door. I would sit in the car and wait for him to come out. And then they had dinners once a month, and the women weren't invited to that. And, you know, in those days, that didn't bother us. We just sort of accepted it. But I would perhaps have some women in for supper or go someplace, somebody else's house. And then a few men would come in after dinner. We'd have good evenings. But we just accepted the fact that the men were off by themselves.
- [Polly] Mm-hmm.
- But then there's the Ladies of Amherst, and I love that name, Ladies of Amherst.
- And these were all the wives, the Faculty-
- And the Faculty wives, right. And it, that had started, oh, many, many years ago with the idea of mending the choir robes for the student choir at Amherst College.
- Hmm.
- Which is interesting. But also just to get together. And we met once a month at, in the room, in College Hall, down the basement in College Hall and had tea and coffee and conversation and off often a speaker. We didn't bend the car ropes.
- Oh. Not any longer. Kirby Theater too was also sort of a center, wasn't it, for the activities of the women?
- Oh, well, yes.
- For a group of you anyway.
- No, not I, 'cause those were people who sewed.
- I see.
- Not my field. Kirby Theater was built about 1939, just before the War and after the War, Curt Canfield was the director of the theater. And he was wonderful. There were marvelous plays. People came from all over to go to the plays at Kirby Theater. And a group of women headed most of the time, I think by Kay Morgan, also Ruth Kidder. Mary Hewlett, I've forgotten the others. But they made all the costumes for Kirby Theater. And then there's-
- For all the productions that they gave.
- All the productions. Right, right.
- Mm-hmm.
- And Tuffy McGowan was the stage manager who was excellent. And Charlie Rogers was a designer. So that was a wonderful team. And those were just great plays. I wish they would be revived again.
- Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
- Then also at Kirby Theater, they had some Sunday-Night movies, mostly foreign movies or special movies. So that was interesting.
- Yeah, finally though, after all the care and the feeding you had done, of all the alumni, there was an alumni house built.
- Yes.
- That took some of the strain off you. I'm not sure it took all of it.
- Well, that was really great.
- Do you remember what year the house was built?
- Yes, and it was started in 1954 and inaugurated 1955. And it was largely financed by a wonderful gift from Frank Lay, and I can't tell you his background. I don't remember the very, very fine man, his portraits hanging in the alumni house along with Fritz Alice at one end. And Al Guest.
- And Al Guest at the other.
- Al guest by the bar.
- I see.
- So that really proved to be a great addition to the campus because then we had a lot of faculty suppers at the alumni house. And we would bring casseroles and, well, all the food, and we would serve the men, and then they'd go off to their meetings. But there was a lot of informal, that kind of entertaining. And we're, now, things are much more, a little more formal, yeah.
- Possibly, because there aren't all those wives sitting around.
- Well, that's very true.
- To bring the food and cook the food and-
- That's right.
- Be the support troops.
- That's right, yeah. And also the men, the administration had a Christmas party every year for many years where, again, we contributed the food and the men served as the secretaries. It was a party for the secretaries of the college.
- I see.
- That was nice. And then, there were many other uses for the alumni house. All kinds of meetings.
- But your house still went on being a center of activity. I can remember when we, one time in 1956, my first date with Chuck, we came to Amherst and couldn't go to a football game because I think there was a scare of infantile paralysis or something and games had been canceled. And we ended up having a picnic in the rain on top of Mount Holyoke and ended up at the alumni house, like round rats.
- A group of us.
- And there was Al who said, "Come on over to our house, Mahat will take care of you." When we got there, you already had a house full of people sitting. And I just can remember how, what wonderful people they were and all the excite, the topics you talked about, depending on who was there, politics or,
- Yeah, that was fun. But I remember, I think you had mentioned it, we would sit around and keep people from talking to each other. You had to raise your hand if you wanted to speak. So, you know, there were some very, very lively discussions. We were very fortunate. Al was also Secretary of the Board of Trustees, which was another wonderful dimension of our life because there was some, such outstanding people, like Eustace Seligman, Francis Plimpton, Judge Ells,
- Your friend Ken DeBevoise.
- Ken DeBevoise, Gel, Al Gell-
- [Polly] Walter Gellhorn.
- Walter Gellhorn. And we were very fortunate to know those, of course, they're still outstanding trustees, but now they're so young to be for me, and I don't know many of them very well. but they brought, and then we would go down to Washington to the Trustee Meeting in Washington. Oh, Seelye Bixler was another.
- [Polly] And John McCloy was another.
- Oh, Jack McCloy, of course, right, right. Right. And then, well, as we said, Robert Frost came for dinner. Other interesting people.
- Jack Fease was-
- Oh, Jack Fease. [ He was writing his book about that time.
- He was not a trustee, I don't think ever a trustee. LL Sterns was one of the first trustees that we knew, but other interesting people. Burgess Meredith was at our house. Clifton Fadiman stayed with us. Elizabeth Bowen came down to the house. Many of the speakers, if we didn't, if they weren't at our house, we were very fortunate to meet them at the President's house.
- Mm-hmm. Well, you had so many friends and people you en enjoyed having through the years, Ted Bacon, Ken DeBevoise, you've mentioned.
- [Mahat] Right.
- Who were your stalwarts?
- [Mahat] Right.
- Is there anyone else in that period that...
- Well, the Coles and the Wilsons and Bacons and us, Ted served a little group that did a lot of things together. And we had one wonderful parties, dress-up parties. And I remember when the Wilsons were going to Africa to, I guess, recruit students in Africa. We all got dressed up. And I can just see Bill, I guess, Ted Bacon in a explorer's hat, and black glasses. And then the rest of us were in explorer clothes. And I don't know, we just had such wonderful times.
- Well, there was quite a group of women here, at least in the period when Chuck and I came, I can remember the Camateurs had come.
- Oh, yes.
- And Evan Camateur was such a wonderful woman.
- Oh, I should say so, yes.
- And Kitty Canfield. And it just was a wonderful
- That's right, and there was-
- Janet Morgan.
- And there was-
- A Tuesday Club. There were two clubs in Amherst of the Tuesday Club and the Travelers Club. And I was very fortunate to be a member of the Tuesday Club, but I remembered to be-
- I was very fortunate. You invited me to be- You inducted me.
- That's right, that's right. We were very fortunate to have you before the Travelers snapped you up.
- Right.
- But I debated whether to join the Tuesday Club. I remember when I was invited 'cause I thought, "Well, do I really wanna tie myself up even when I might go for a bicycle ride or something like that instead?" And then I thought, "Yes, it'd be so nice to meet some of the older women in Amherst." Now I'm the oldest member of Tuesday Club.
- That's right, yeah.
- By far.
- And who were the oldest members when you joined? Who were some-
- Mrs. Coles? Mrs. Parker.
- At the living in the Emily Dickinson house.
- Right.
- And her sister.
- And her sister, Mrs. Robinson.
- Mm-hmm.
- And, of course, Evan Camateur, as you say was a wonderful member of Tuesday Club. Well, Kay Morgan, Janet Morgan. Nat Hadley.
- I think it was Evan Camateur who said the definition of Tuesday Club was the right to be exquisitely bored. Right, right, right. But in those days-
- those days.
- Those days, we always wore hats and gloves. And when we arrived at the meeting, we would shake hands with every member.
- Really? That was before my time.
- Right, right.
- There were so many niceties in Amherst, and, well, there still are, I'm sure. But now with so many young women working, there weren't the dinner parties. And they're more formal and entertaining that we had. There was a lot of informal, like I said, at the alumni house. And, but also very nice dinner parties and student dances were so nice.
- mm-hmm.
- And, of course, there were fraternities then and fraternities had nice parties that we were invited to.
- That was before the fraternities got a little on the wild side.
- No, that's right before they had to abandon the fraternities. But, and then there were the sings that Amherst, of course, was known as the singing college. And there were wonderful concerts. There still is a wonderful Glee Club. But all the houses, the fraternity houses had, would have sings. They'd come out on their porches after Tuesday night, what they call Goat Meeting.
- Mm-hmm.
- And they'd sing.
- And Sunday nights too.
- They had Sunday nights.
- I remember, yeah, when I was in Smith.
- Well, also, just thinking of life in Amherst, there was, of course, the university was not the university when we came. It was a mass state and much, much, much smaller. So we had... We would go to programs and concerts and things at the university as well as Amherst. And then there was skating at the pond at the university. And also before the hockey rink, there was skating down in the sanctuary. There was a pond down there. And we'd take the children down there, skating. And the basketball games. We all went to all the games.
- Oh, I can remember Al at the games, he was very partisan.
- Right, right.
- Lots of good remarks. And wasn't Al responsible for beginning the alumni college that used to happen.
- That's right, he started that about 1950, I think. And up to that time, the reunions just had their reunion headquarters, which Al and I would visit, all of them every reunion time. In fact, at one time, Al had a Lambretta and we used to ride around on the Lambretta to go go visiting the alumni or be at the reunion headquarters. No, that was great. But it, he got the idea of having an alumni college for five days after commencement. And he tried to get some of the Faculty interested in giving courses. And at first, they were a little hesitant, thinking, well, the alumni wouldn't have that much interest, or to do the work, the assignments. But after the very first one, they realized that the alumni were really bringing a lot of their own experiences to the courses themselves. That they were very enthusiastic about having them. So they would have, for five days, there were three or four courses offered every morning. And then the afternoon, the alumni would play golf or tennis or do whatever they wanted. Then there was usually a cocktail party and dinner. And they were very, very popular and very interesting. And now, of course, that's all changed 'cause the classes are before reunions. But not given, well, a couple of lectures are given by Faculty. But the classes have their own talks, which they give for everybody.
- Al was absolutely amazing with alumni. He never for, or seemed never to forget a name or a face. He greeted hundreds of people in a reunion weekend as if they were all his long-lost friends. How did he do it?
- I don't know, he had a real love of people.
- [Polly] Mm-hmm.
- He enjoyed people, and all kinds of people. There were people that worked on the, you know, it could be a Jeep who were for friends of his, I think it was 'cause Al just, well, he just was friendly.
- He was a natural for that job, he was a natural.
- And he really did know people's background, what they were doing. And, but he did have a way of saying some word that sounded like Bill, Dick, Joe, or Pete, that he could mutter. And then the person would say, "Oh, Al, you're wonderful. How'd you ever remember my name?"
- When did Al get involved in running the Sabrina trips to Europe?
- Oh, that was in 1961, was the first Sabrina trip. And that was limited to alumni of the Connecticut Valley. And we had, Al and George May ran the trips, and chartered a Pan Am plane that seated, I think about 87. So we were very busy contacting alumni and we did fill the plane. So the charter flights went on for, well, we went on them until 1980s into the end of the '80s. And they've no longer called on this. Have some Sabrina trips. I think there's one for this year but it's too bad 'cause they were really wonderful.
- In the beginning though, you didn't actually, you got people over there and then they were on their own.
- That's right.
- Until it was time to come back.
- Right, so we went first to London and Paris. We went to Greece, we went to Spain, went to Portugal, South America, to Asia. Africa. Wonderful trips. But after, when the 747s came in, then, of course, we didn't, obviously, didn't chart a whole plane. And then people could be on their own. But also they planned excursions that were, that you could join if you wished.
- [Polly] Mm-hmm.
- So there, those were some very interesting times, Trips. And it was wonderful. Almost every country we went to, there were alumni. So we had alumni gatherings in many, many places. And of course, any time Al and I went any place, we had to go to an alumni meeting.
- Mm-hmm.
- I first went on an alumni meeting, well, in 1940, 56, I said, "Al, you know, I haven't been west of Pittsfield in 10 years, I'd been home with the children." The children, by the way, found this a wonderful place to grow up. They had a lot of friends with the students. And got to know, or met, you know, many interesting people which they still talk about. And... But I said, "I hadn't been west of Pittsburgh, Al," I said, "Will you take me on the next trip?" Well, that next trip was in the fall. And we went to Denver and San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Tucson, New Orleans with alumni meetings. And then went to, I went to meetings all, I guess every year after that, someplace. In 1957, we all had a meeting in Pasadena, California. And we knew that we, we thought it'd be a great time for to see the country. So we had a camping trip out to Pasadena, which was hilarious because we hadn't been camping since I was a girl Scout.
- You had to learn how on the way.
- But we bought a tent. We had a station wagon, and we camped our way out with our Pasadena trunk. So we would have proper clothes when we got out there. But that was a wonderful experience for us and for the children. And camped all the way back. And then two years later, we decided to do the same thing in Europe. So we had nine weeks of camping in Europe, meeting alumni in various countries.
- [Polly] Oh, that's great.
- Which was great.
- What was it like when the Robert Frost Library was dedicated and President Kennedy came to Amherst. Al was involved in that, wasn't he?
- Yes, but that was not the dedication, it was the groundbreaking for the Robert Frost Library. That was in 1963. And that was a very exciting time 'cause Al was on the committee. He knew that President Kennedy wanted a white... White Packard, some kind of a white car. So Al had scrambled around and found somebody who would lend a car, lived in Springfield. So that was all set for a week ahead of time. Secret Service people were up here covering the whole campus up on top of the buildings and all over the place. They wanted to know every place that President Kennedy would be every minute at the time he was here. And then the great day arrived and it was overcast.
- It was foggy, I remember it.
- It was very, very, very foggy, right?
- Connecticut River fog.
- And there was a, the meeting in Johnson Chapel of the alumni meeting. And it went on and on and on. And I was getting some nervous. I said, Al, why are you carrying on? So we should be down in the gym for the ceremony. And then I, then somebody said that it was because Kennedy hadn't arrived. And so... So, then we did go down to the gym. And we sat and we sat and every now and then, Bud Hewlett or somebody would come in and say, "President Kennedy has just arrived. Westover. And then... Oh, then he came by helicopter to the baseball field. And Al and... I have a picture of Al and Cal Plimpton and Bud Hewlett meeting President Kennedy. And I'll never forget the thrill of when they played Hail to the Chief," and in walked Kennedy
- And that shaft of light that came through.
- Oh, does that-
- Through the top of the cage, I Right.- Right, and hit him. I remember that dramatically.
- Really?
- Yeah.
- I'd forgotten that but that was a thrilling moment, right?
- Yes, it was, yes it was.
- Oh, also, they had to clear underneath the platform, make sure that was all free. And then they had sort of rocking chair.
- [Polly] Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
- And Archibald MacLeish gave a wonderful talk.
- Yes, I remember that.
- And that just had, and President Kennedy gave a marvelous talk, beautiful talk.
- [Polly] Mm-hmm.
- That was very, very exciting. And then went to the groundbreaking with the trustees. Dug the first shovel full and then did some interesting speeches there. But that was a very exciting time. And that was just three weeks later that he was assassinated.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- That was very, very special.
- I wanted to ask you though, Mahat, a little bit about your interest in Emily Dickinson, because I know that inspired me. You've always been an inspiration in many ways to me, particularly your interest in Emily Dickinson.
- Well, I don't know really how I got so interested in Emily Dickinson. I didn't know much about her. Although I went to Mount Holyoke and she was a student at Mount Holyoke for one year. But when we moved to Amherst, I just started reading more about her. And when the college bought the Emily Dickinson House in 1965-
- 5.
- I was one of the first guides at the Amie Dickinson House and guided for 30 years.
- But you love her poetry.
- Oh, I love her poetry. Right, and I'm so glad I know you, Polly, who now-
- Well, you're the one who's always-
- Renown scholar.
- You're always coming up with just the right poem for any, any event or occasion.
- Oh, I've said any, yeah, that's right, I think you can find-
- I was discovering new ones.
- Mm-hmm, right.
- Al's long association with the college meant that he knew a great range of presidents of the college starting from the time he was a student until he finally retired in 1981.
- That right. He was college under President Pease and Stanley King. And then Stanley King retired and the year that we moved to Amherst. So then, Al was working with Charlie Cole, Cal Plimpton. Bill Ward.
- Julian Gibbs.
- Julian Gibbs, then, was it-
- Well, Armour Craig was the interim president after Julian died after.
- Right.
- And then Peter-
- And then, and Peter Pouncey.
- Mm-hmm.
- So that was quite a number of presidents that he worked under.
- Well, he had a marvelous career. And people still talk about him and Will for many, many years to come.
- Well, it was a wonderful life, wonderful life. I couldn't have chosen anything happier or more rewarding because of all the wonderful, wonderful people that we met. And still in contact with quite a few alumni, which is-
- And you participate by coming to things at the college Still a lot of them.
- I do when I can.
- Yeah.
- Which I enjoy.
- And, of course, once Al retired, then he got going on building a retirement community in Amherst, Applewood.
- That's right. Because Lou Wilson, wife of Bill Wilson, had moved to a retirement community. And it was actually Janet Morgan at a party at our house who said, "Isn't it too bad that there isn't a retirement community in Amherst?" And Al said, "Well, there's going to be one. Somebody has to do something about it." So he got a committee together and with Alan Torres became chairman. And 10 years, it took 10 years of looking around at properties and all the preliminary work. And after 10 years, Applewood was built. And we moved in the day or the first week that it opened. And I'm very, very fortunate to be there living there now.
- And you have that magnificent view that looks over the Pelham Hills and I think you can see the Amherst Tower, can't you, from the living room?
- Yes, yeah. Except-
- Johnson Chapel.
- Except that the trees have grown up.
- Ah,
- And only sometimes in the winter, I can get a look at Johnson Chapel but Al was always very proud of showing Johnson Chapel from Applewood.
- I'm sure we can get a chainsaw and go work on trees. Mahat, thank you for sharing your memories with us. This has been a wonderful chance to talk about everything that you and Al brought to Amherst.
- Well, we had-
- Wonderful, wonderful years.
- Well, they were wonderful years.
- Yep.
- We had a wonderful life.
Elizabeth (Mahat) Guest, wife of J. Alfred Guest, class of 1933 (and Alumni Secretary 1946-1971), was a longtime prominent figure in alumni affairs for Amherst and Mount Holyoke Colleges. For over fifty years, she entertained and was a friend to thousands of Amherst undergraduates and alumni. In 1999, she was awarded the College's Alumni Council Distinguished Service award and she continued to be a presence at Amherst events until her death in 2007.
Elizabeth (Polly) Longsworth, a prolific Emily Dickinson scholar and the first Chair of the Board of Governors of the Emily Dickinson Museum, was a resident of Amherst from 1961 to 1977 with her husband Charles R. Longsworth, class of 1951 and Life Trustee. In 2008 she received the College's Medal for Eminent Service for her continued involvement with the College and its cultural arts.
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