FALL 2009Tom Smith
Director of Institutional Advancement
It is 2:45 when Dr. Newel Comish and his wife, Hilda, walk to Fenwick Commons’ state-of-the-art, 140-seat auditorium to meet the speaker and to help her set up the visual aids she will use during her presentation to the Philosophical Society of Friends Village. At 3:30 Newel introduces the speaker. He coordinates the question-and-answer period after the talk. Then Hilda and Newel take the speaker to dinner in Friends Village’s dining room, where they get to know the speaker better and gather ideas for future society meetings.
A Philosophical Society seems a bit exclusive, with a hint of Ivy League or the fables of a big-city resident, but you may be surprised to learn that such a society is planted right in the heart of the agriculturally fertile soil of Salem County. Intellectual exchanges on the world’s history and scientific developments drive the agenda. Presentations have included Black Holes, Nuclear Energy, Nano-technology, and of course, Why Did the Greenland Viking Settlement Die?
I sat with Newel to discuss the society’s origins. He is a softspoken, 85-year-old resident of Friends Village who said, “I want to start by saying that the society was not my idea. I heard that two men at Friends got together periodically to discuss philosophy. So I invited myself to join them. I quickly realized that this was something all the residents would enjoy.
Newel, originally from Oregon, served in the U.S. Army Infantry in WWII. While in Germany he was wounded in an attack on enemy lines for which he received the Purple Heart. After the war he finished his B.A. in marketing, and then completed an M.A. in economics at the University of Oregon. He then attended Ohio State University, where he earned his Ph.D. in marketing and management. His teaching career started at the University of Washington, where he was assistant professor.
I asked Newel where he got the ideas for the programs of the society. He offered, “I read a lot in an attempt to keep my mind sharp. When I am reading, which is mostly current events and history, I recognize interesting topics. I contact friends on the faculty of Rowan University and ask them for suggestions of other faculty who would do a good job on a particular topic. Then I call those who have been suggested and ask them to speak at our meeting. I have consistently received wonderful help from the faculty of the university.”
Newel’s extensive business and economics background is not limited to academia. In 1960 he accepted a position with the J. C. Penney Company in the corporate headquarters in New York City as company training director. With a corner office on 34th Street and his family on Long Island, Newel spent eight and a half years with the retail giant. However, Newel longed for teaching again. He reached out to his contacts and found an opportunity to be a full professor and temporary dean of the College of Business Administration at a brand-new state university in Orlando, Fla. During his eighteen years there, he helped the school—now the University of Central Florida—grow from eleven faculty to 250, and the student enrollment from zero to 20,000.
Newel explained that his goal for the Philosophical Society is to expose people to new ideas, forward thinking, and the latest theories of today. “When my generation was in school, we did not have personal computers or the Internet, color television or cable channels. These were devices used in the Buck Rogers comic strip. Pluto was still a planet and medicine was considered in the dark ages by today’s standards.
“People my age have been out of school for more than sixty years. There have been thousands of revisions to the text books we once studied. Our group has the opportunity to learn how scientists think today, and how the economy has changed since we received our diplomas. And most important, we are all trying to use the personal computers our children have given us, and our grandchildren are trying to teach us how to operate,” he adds with a chuckle.
His latest enhancement to the society was the opening of the meetings to the public. “Why stop at exposing just our residents? There are hundreds of citizens within Salem County alone who would benefit from the programs of the Society. I would like to encourage anyone interested to contact Jeni Beske of the Village at (856)769-1500 for a schedule of the lectures.”
When Newel retired from the University of Central Florida, he and Hilda moved to Stow Creek to be close to a daughter, one of their four children and a physician in Cumberland County. They lived there for thirteen years before moving to Friends Village.
When asked what his vision was for the Philosophical Society, he reflected for a moment before offering, “I'm not a spring chicken any more. I trust that the interest in and the popularity of the Society will help carry it into the future for many generations to come.”
RETURN TO TABLE OF CONTENTS
Last modified:
Saturday, August 29, 2009 at 03:43 PM
