Rose Mary Sheldon was twelve when she appeared in Central High School in Newark, N.J., where I was teaching History. She was little and very, very quick. She was so bright. It was she who, appraising the situation when I mentioned the book, ‘1066 and All That’, found a copy, bought it and brought it to me. I was flabbergasted, not just at her ingenuity and enterprise but I was in a bind for money to pay her back which I eventually did, much to my chagrin. I still have that little book.
Rose Mary left Central to go to Weequahic High School in Newark where she found that the atmosphere was more congenial and met her needs. She encountered a Jewish population which she found held ideas and values more to her liking. So, she did something about it. She converted to Judaism, went to Israel and only came back when being a citizen of Israel required military service. She returned to the U.S., got a doctorate in History and became a specialist in “Military Intelligence”. She has written several books and many articles on that subject. She was hired by Virginia Military Institute and had to become an officer while a professor there. She is now the Chair of the History Department with the rank of Colonel (and required to wear a uniform) and is on the prestigious committee which makes policy for the Institute.
She was one of those responsible for admission of women to VMI although the Institute still remains much the same as it did when established in the first half of the 19th Century – the students still live in the barracks dating from rebuilding of the place after a disastrous fire. Anachronistic, it is a piece of the old South. Rose Mary found me by going up on the internet and wrote me an e-mail asking if I was the same Aaron Schectman who taught her at Central High so many years ago. This led to a voluminous correspondence along with a picture of her visiting my home with guitar in hand. I fear that both of us are not playing much guitar any more – although, I must say, I have plans for a program for the superannuated.
Rose Mary lives with her husband Jeff who works in security in a hush-hush U.S. facility and a lot of cats. They are on a hillside outside at the top of a road leading from the main street of Buena Vista, Virginia. Talk about southern hospitality! We tried to catch up with all that passed in the years in between but it was difficult although pleasant. I tried my hand at sketching each with charcoal and pencil. This was a new medium for me and I fear I did neither of them justice. I’d like to go back to try again with more practice. It was quite a treat to be honored and remembered by a former student whose brief encounter about forty years ago caused this reunion.