Chaplain did it his way and leaves a lasting impression
Thursday, May 24, 2007
He walked onto the campus in the turbulent late 1960s as a 27-year-old hippie who relished the idea of being “the maverick chaplain.”
The Rev. Peter Amerman walks off this month as a 65-year-old icon to the students and alumni of Blair Academy.
When the bearded, long-haired chaplain arrived at the exclusive prep school in Blairstown in 1969, he was seemingly out of place at the then all-boys school where students wore jackets and ties and were required to be at breakfast each morning by 7:10.
“I think most students presumed that the chaplain had to be the epitome of convention – an establishment guy from the get-go,” Amerman recalled during his final chapel service before the 420 stu dents of Blair last Thursday. “So it excited me to be a mold-breaker – someone who upset the conventional wisdom on ministers.”
Then again, Amerman has al ways been a chameleon capable of acclimating to his environment.
He grew up in the American football hotbed of western Pennsylvania, yet played the European brand of football – soccer.
Despite his countercultural looks during his early years at Blair, he got the respect of the buttoned- down administrators.
He was old enough to be their grandfather when he announced his retirement, yet could relate to the teenage students.
Perhaps, he was never more needed than last school year, when 18-year-old Kurt Socha, a popular football player known for his on-campus Jim Carrey impressions, lapsed into a coma after a block to the head and later died.
The chaplain went to the hospital to be with the Socha family. He and other school officials made sure the lines of communication were open to Kurt Socha’s closest friends. The chapel remained open all day.
“I think the community really showed its true colors,“ Amerman said. “We were a community in the best sense.”
Sophomore Matt Cable of Newton considers the chaplain “the first soul on campus with whom I had an informed conversation and could have conversations with about Plato and Nietzsche. He is an awesome philosophy teacher.”
For his final chapel service last week, Amerman wore a formal tie and shirt, but of course put his own spin on the wardrobe ensemble by accenting it with suspenders and peach-colored slacks.
Rising Canadian singer-songwriter Christine Evans, a Blair junior who last month won the Album of the Year honor in Vancouver, opened the service with a moving version of her song, “It’s Up to You.”
Amerman, who will be moving with his wife to Arizona to be with their daughter and granddaughter, delivered an emotional final address in which he remarked, “Blair has become my port in a storm, my refuge.”
Amerman’s remarkable journey at Blair began almost by accident.
The son of a minister, he started as a French teacher in his hometown of Sewickley, Pa. But he sud denly felt trapped on a teaching treadmill when, in his second year on the job, he found in his textbook a note that he had made on the same page exactly one year earlier.
He pondered his options and ended up attending seminary at Princeton, saying, “I thought of myself as a searcher.”
From the nearly 20 letters he sent out to boarding schools searching for work, he got exactly one interview – at Blair.
Last week, he spoke to seniors who, like him, were about to graduate. His final advice was to say thank-yous to the unsung people of the campus: The grounds crew and kitchen, bookstore and college- counseling staff.
“Many of you are already doing this,” Amerman said. “But it won’t hurt for me to remind you that being appreciated goes a long way, and that the last things that you say to people are often the way they will remember you.”
And with that, he had everyone stand and hold hands for one final prayer.
“ ... Guide and sustain those who will return here in the fall, as well as those who move off to new adventures and challenges. All this we ask in the sure and present hope of your love and care. Amen.”
Already standing, students completed the other half of the equation by giving a long ovation.
The maverick chaplain dabbed his wet eyes.
Mike Frassinelli may be reached at mfrassinelli@starledger.com or (908) 475-1218.
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