REPORT OF THE CHAIRMAN OF THE MANAGING COMMITTEE
To the Members of the Managing Committee of the
American School of Classical Studies at Athens:
During the year the School has suffered a loss in the death of Roy C. Flickinger,
who since 1926 has represented the State University of Iowa on the Managing
Committee. Professor Flickinger died July 6, 1942. A minute. has been prepared on
his services. It is, however, appropriate to notice here that it was through his in
fluence alone that for more than fifteen years the State University of Iowa contributed
annually to the support of the School. Mr. Flickinger was one of the most distin
guished American classicists. There are few books so widely used by classical schol
ars as his The Gt·eek Theater and Its Drama.
Four days ago, May 4, Sidney N. Deane died. He had been a member of the
Managing Committee since 1932 and Chairman of the Committee on Fellowships
since the death of Professor Bassett, in 1936. In thls capacity Professor Deane ren
dered skillful and devoted service to the School. His loss will be greatly felt. Mr.
Van Hook has prepared for our records a note expressing our grief and our appre
ciation.
On October 9, 1942, Mr. Anastasios Adossides died at the Evangelismos Hos
pital in Athens. Director Parsons has prepared a minute expressing our appreciation
of his services to the School. It is eminently fitting, however, that the Chairman
of the Managing Committee should express again in his report the deep sense of ob
ligation under which the School finds itself to that remarkable man. I am taking the
liberty of quoting for the record at this point a portion of the letter written by his
son, Andrea, concerning his father's death and some of the tragic suffering that was
inflicted upon his family.
"Mother says that what finally broke his health was on the one hand the lack of
food and on the other the loss of his car and the lack of communication, which forced
him often and in any kind of weather to do the journey to Athens on foot. 'I often
used to go to meet him half-way and would find him sitting on a wall, incapable of
moving one more step. You know father. Although I begged him not to, he would,
whatever the cost, go to his work and look after everything and everybody and espe
cially the personnel of the school that he wanted to save from famine. Then all our
friends on leaving had entrusted him with their affairs.' Mother goes on to say that
for her 'c'est un effondrement et tout semble chanceler autour de moi et la vie semble
avoir perdu son sens.' Here I must explain you another sad story. In December, 1941,
Bessy and George tried to escape with a party from Greece, but their boat got engine
trouble and had to put to port in Kythnos. With them were three British soldiers,
and that put the lid on it. They were taken to Syra and the forty were locked in an
underground cel14 m. x 4 m., while Bessy was shut up in theW. C. next door. They
did not have a single blanket, and were given drinking water only once every three
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days. For three months they did not get one drop of fats. Dur ing the bitter months
the prisoners, devoured by lice, used to huddle against each other. In the morning
they found one or two, and sometimes five or six, especially the oldest, dead. In
January, Bessy was taken seriously ill. She developed pneumonia and then pleurisy.
She was taken to hospital and George was told that there was no hope and that he
would not see her. However, she recovered and after being taken to Rhodes in
chains they were all brought back to Samos, where Bessy was released on the island
on parole. Mother hired a motor boat and after a long journey of three days she met
Bessy for twenty minutes just before she was taken to Rhodes. Bessy had been put
on trial and one of the judges told mother that she had behaved with great courage
and had never lost her head.
"When father fell so very ill, mother made a special request to the authorities.
She asked that they shou1d let Bessy see her father before he died. The order was
given but she was too late. 'And God knows how much her father wished to see her.' "
My acquaintance with Mr. Adossides was by correspondence rather than by
personal contact. I met him only four or five times. He gave me the impression
of a very able man who was devoting to a relatively small undertaking talents which
might have been and which had been used in the administration of great affairs.
A parable familiar to us all speaks of a man who was told that because he had been
faithful over few things he was to be made master of many. That is the ordinary
reward of competency. It has always seemed to me a much harder thing for a man
who had been master of many things tO devote himself with equal sincerity to few
and hwnble affairs. This Mr. Adossides did. The Governor of Macedonia gave to
the affairs of the American School at Athens the same devoted service which he had
given to the management of a kingdom, and the conscientiousness with which he did
this small task was in large degree responsible for the exhaustion which caused his
death. Of Mr. Anastasios Adossides it can be said in no mere sentimental phrase
that he was a martyr to the American School of Classical Studies at Athens.
Before Director Parsons left Athens, an agreement had been drawn up in accord
ance with which Mr. Adossides was tO be in charge of the School. In case of his
death it was provided in the agreement that his place should be taken by Mr. Kiria
kides. That arrangement was confirmed by the Executive Committee, and notice to
that effect was cabled by the State Department to the Swiss Legation in Athens.
Mr. Gorham P. Stevens and his wife and Mr. Eugene Vanderpool and his family
remained in Athens when the rest of the personnel of the School returned to America.
To the best of my knowledge Mr. and Mrs. Stevens are still living in the School build
ing, but Mr. Vanderpool was deported last Fall to Laufen, Germany. News received
by Mr. Vanderpool's father in letters dated as late as Febmary 2, 1943, indicates
that Eugene is suffering no hardships and has time and some facilities for study. On
April 23 a report was published that Mrs. Vanderpool and, presumably, their four
children were interned at Piraeus. This statement has been confirmed. She was ap
parently not deported to Germany as was previously reported.
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