Carolina Alumni Review - January/February 2008

‘Words Can Do Little’
Wilson Library exhibit features program on the wartime letters of
longtime alumni association leader ‘Spike’ Saunders ’ 25

J. Maryon “Spike” Saunders ’ 25 always carried a 3-by- 5 card and a black felt-tip pen in his shirt pocket to jot down notes about people, places and connections. He worked hard at it and “had networks going in his brain all the time,” said Eleanor Saunders Morris ’ 55, one of his daughters. The fruits of his labors came to flower when Saunders, executive secretary of the alumni association at Carolina for 43 years, sat down to write a letter. When the nation went to war, his letters held students-and alumni-turned-soldiers close to Carolina’s heart.

“He wrote personally; he put himself into it,” Morris said. “And I’m sure the people who received those letters felt that way.”

Morris, her sister, Susan Murphy Saunders ’ 59, and several other relatives of Spike Saunders were in the audience when University archivist Janis Holder introduced him through samples of some of the correspondence he kept up with students as they went off to fight in World War II. She made the presentation, “Words Can Do Little: Spike Saunders’ WWII Correspondence,” at Wilson Library on Nov. 13 in conjunction with an opening reception for the Manuscripts Department’s exhibit “A Nursery of Patriotism: The University at War, 1861-1945.” The exhibit runs through Feb. 29.

By reading letters written by Saunders she pulled from folders in alumni records, Holder showed that the right words can do so much. The condolence letters he wrote to the parents of students killed in action frequently contained the phrase “words can do little,” followed by empathy and understanding of who that student was that acted as a flagon of oil poured over the deep, roiled waters of grief.

“He got to the intimacy of it,” Morris said.

Nevertheless, Morris contends that her father did nothing more than what was expected of him — to keep alumni in touch with the University. Saunders sent copies of the Alumni Review to Carolina soldiers in foxholes behind the front. The magazines were passed around from alumnus to alumnus as they crossed paths from boot camp to battleships and bases overseas. Sometimes the soldiers sent in their $3 annual dues just to keep the magazine coming. Saunders responded to each new or renewed member as if to an old friend. Often, the exchange grew to include several letters back and forth, and the correspondents felt like old friends. Unfailingly, Saunders closed his letters with, “Faithfully yours, J. Maryon Saunders, secretary.”

Holder came across the letters while researching the papers of former Chancellor Robert Burton House ’ 16, who sent the letters he received and copies of his

Holder dedicated her presentation to her
father, a WWII veteran, and to all the war vet-
erans in the audience. She read from some of ^J. ^Maryon “^Spike” ^Saunders ^{’ 25} ^was ^execu-tive secretary of the alumni association from

replies over to Saunders to be kept in the individual alumnus’s “jacket,” as Saunders called the heavy cardstock accordion folders containing each alumnus’s official papers, newspaper clippings, photos and correspondence.

NORTH CAROLINA COLLECTION, UNC LIBRARY

“Saunders and House knew the importance of keeping detailed records,” Holder said. “The alumni association was the best place to keep them.”

the exchanges that began as lively, often ₁₉₂₇ _to _1970.humorous, letters revealing the personality of the soldier making the best of life under enemy fire, then progressed to letters unsparingly depicting the grim details of war. Her voice caught as she read some of the condolence letters Saunders wrote to parents. “Words can do little to ease the grief in your heart,” Saunders wrote to a mother upon learning of her son’s death. A WWII veteran in the audience bowed his head, his shoulders shaking. His wife gently rubbed his back as _membershipothers in the audience sniffled. _matters

“Saunders kept the soldiers connected to the golden times at Carolina during the blackest times of war,” Holden said.

Saunders, who died in March 1995, was a “ behind-the-scenes guy who always sat in the back row and wanted to do things quietly,” Morris said. Born in Elon College in 1903, he completed his bachelor’s degree at UNC in 1925 and his master’s in 1926. In 1927, he was appointed executive secretary of Carolina’s alumni association, a position he retained until he retired in 1970. He received many honors throughout his career, as did the magazine. During the war, he made time to write newsy letters to servicemen and continued those friendships for decades.

“He really looked after the regular folks,” Morris said. “He made sure the University was special to every single person, every family, not just the Moreheads and the Kenans.” ■

Number of GAA members* 68,683

Annual members 34,657

Life members 34,026

Total GAA membership (by percent of graduates)

26

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Top three classes

(by number of members)

1977 1,347 1971 1,332 1981 1,286

— Nancy Oates

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Top five N.C. counties

(by membership percentage) Hertford 36 Pasquotank 33 Bertie 32 Cherokee 32 Lenoir 32

GAA Records staff assisted Holder in her research. The GAA welcomes visits from family of alumni interested in examining such records. Call the Records Department at (919) 962-3735. Holder will give her lecture again during the spring reunions in May. The September/October 1995 Review with stories about the University during World War II is available to GAA members at alumni.unc.edu.