CONCORD, NH — A former U.S. Supreme Court justice and a lieutenant general in the U.S. Army who served in three wars and conflicts have been named the first recipients of Concord High School’s new Wall of Fame.
David Souter, who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court for 19 years and was a graduate of the Class of 1957, as well as the late-Edward Brooks, from the Class of 1911, who served in World War I, D-Day, and the Korean Conflict, had their plaques unveiled Tuesday in the Main Street corridor of the school.
The Wall of Fame was the brainchild of outgoing CHS Principal Michael Reardon, who worked with a committee of teachers, students, and community members during the past 14 months to conceptualize the wall, consider potential recipients, and organize the festivities. The event was scheduled at the same time as the Class of 2023 were to pick up their caps and gowns.
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Reardon said the nation faced difficult times and the graduating students would make significant life decisions. Teachers at the school, he said, were laboring each day to attempt to help students find “the good life” — whatever that may be, to each of them, even if it might not be an easy task. In the 1840s, when CHS was founded, fewer than 30 students were in the graduating class. In 2023, it will be 10 times that, he said. Reardon said many of the students graduating had the potential to be added to the Wall of Fame, too.
“Through these halls pass those with the courage to lead, the strength to achieve, and the compassion to make our world a better place,” Reardon said, describing the inscription on the new wall, “These words are, in essence, your final and most important, indeed, crucial, high school homework.”
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Concord High School social studies teachers Kim Bleier, who graduated from the school in 1992, and Dan Breen, who graduated in 2007, introduced Brooks Campbell, the grandson of Brooks, who accepted the placement on behalf of his family. Bleier called the wall effort “the perfect project for us” and thanked Reardon for starting “this wonderful tradition.”
Campbell, a lifelong resident of the Granite State, also served in the military, like his grandfather. He said he did not know much about Brooks’ career until he started learning about himself. Campbell said when he was around 8, and at his grandparents’ house, when his grandmother informed him that if he had been there a few minutes earlier, he would have met President Dwight Eisenhower, who was visiting the family then.
“Alright … and then I went back upstairs and started watching ‘Rin Tin Tin,’” Campbell said, to laughs from the audience.
Campbell said Brooks was called “Daddy Pop … he was a gentleman and a scholar.” While he was nervous being around Souter, he said he was honored to be there speaking about him. If his grandfather were alive today, he would want each student to follow in his footsteps and “just being honest, trustworthy, following your heart, leading, and being inclusive, not dividing.” Campbell added, “This country has become so divided, and I know he is turning over in his grave. We need to come together and be a peaceful group because, he knew, war was hell. He always said that.”
Campbell was serving in Germany when Brooks died when he was flown back to the United States for the funeral. He said the event was filled with dignitaries, Representatives to Congress, and others. And they all agreed with his comment about war being hell, Campbell said.
Allyson Grappone, who graduates this year, and Allyson Moore, a sophomore at the school, introduced Souter and spoke about his activities at the school — including serving on the honor society, writing for the school newspaper, the Crimson Review, and editing the yearbook. He later went to Harvard, was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, and attended law school at Harvard, too. After serving as attorney general and a state judge, he was named an associate justice to the Supreme Court.
In a rare public appearance, Souter thanked the committee for the plaque on the wall, calling it a great honor.
“I’m greatly touched,” he said.
Souter had “strong subjective feelings” about Concord High School, saying the event and being back at the school was like a homecoming. For the three years he attended, it was “my intellectual home.” At the time, the school only had three grades, not four, and Rundlett was a junior high school, not a middle school. He said the education at CHS was as good as it was due to the exemplary teachers at the school. Souter said one teacher was the finest he had in his life, although he did not name him. He said the teacher loved his subject matter and loved to teach it. Souter said he was better than all the educators he had in college and post-graduate work.
“He was that good,” Souter said, “He was an expert who loved his subject.”
The teacher, he said, conveyed “a rule for life.” Without love and work, one does not do what is best for him or the future, he said. Essentially, you want to make sure you love your work.
Souter pointed to a couplet from Robert Frost’s “Two Tramps In Mud Time” and called it the best career advice he ever received.
Only where love and need are one, and the work is play for mortal stakes. Is the deed ever really done, for heaven and the future’s sakes.
“That is the reason, ultimately, that I love the school as much as I did, at the time,” he said. “I had a wonderful three years. And now, all of you here, at the school, and those of you who have come together with me this evening, have given me another reason to love Concord High School.”
After the speeches, Jim Richards, the president of the SAU 8 board of education, unveiled the plaques on the wall for both Brooks and Souter.
Reardon also thanked Bill Glahn, a Concord attorney and former board of education member, for assisting the committee in communications with Souter as well as Lynn Hand, George Golden, Brad Wilcott, Chef Jason McCarter and the CRTC culinary team, Tom Mungovan, and Clint Klose.
Editor’s note: I also serve on the CHS Wall of Fame committee.
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