28-06-2009, 02:25 AM
(This post was last modified: 28-06-2009, 02:32 AM by Adele Edisen.)
Grant Stockdale, Jr., elder son of Grant Stockdale, died last year of cancer. The following is a tribute to his memory:
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinio...23842.html
From the Washingtonexaminer.com
Opinion
Learning to play by Grant Stockdale’s rules
By: Harry Jaffe
Examiner Columnist | 1/30/09 6:40 PM
Grant Stockdale was a dreamer, but he did things, many things.
He was a Renaissance man, but not a dilettante. He did a few things very well.
Before the days of caller ID, my land line would ring, I would answer it and hear: “Stockdale. Come see me.”
And I would take a left from my door in Chevy Chase, and walk a block down to Stockdale’s bungalow.
Or I would hear: “Stockdale. I’m coming over.”
And I would see a tall, broad man with a round face, big smile and head of snow-white hair ambling up my walk.
But he won’t anymore. Cancer got Grant Stockdale, after a long battle. His passing is more than a sad day for us in the neighborhood around Lafayette School. Grant was the godfather of the Tuition Assistance Grant that has helped finance thousands of college tuitions for D.C. kids.
More on that later; first, a word about twigs.
One day I’m walking my dog down the sidewalk behind the Stockdales’ place. Their yard leads to a porch that wraps around the house. Grant lived on that porch - and yard. That day he was holding a hand saw, staring at a pile of twigs and saplings.
“What are you up to?” I asked.
“Making a couch,” he said.
Stockdale was always making something. If he wasn’t sculpting or hammering, his wife, Georgia, was working on an art project. She taught art in D.C. schools and held summer classes for neighborhood kids.
“Good luck,” I said, figuring the pile would be there for awhile. A week later Stockdale was sitting on cushions in the sapling couch.
Back in 1984, Stockdale founded the Sergeant’s Program, a training program that treats suburban folks like recruits. It is still in operation in 30 locations.
Stockdale loved to sail. He loved to monkey around with the Internet, too. One day he beckons me to the house and shows me his latest idea: streaming weather reports for sailboats. He wanted to start a company to sell the service. Problem was this was about five years ago, five years ahead of the technology.
Grant was ahead of his time when he dreamed up a way to help send D.C. kids to college. Why, he wondered, did parents around the country get to send their children to great, land grant colleges for low, in-state tuition? D.C. kids have no such college or opportunity.
He buttonholed President Clinton at a breakfast at Sidwell Friends in 1997, when both had children at the school. Clinton liked the idea. Using napkins and scraps of paper, they sketched out how it might work. Clinton assigned an aide to hammer out details; Rep. Tom Davis and Eleanor Holmes Norton got it through Congress.
Now the D.C. Tuition Assistance Grant program helps subsidize tuition for D.C. students to attend state schools across the nation, up to $10,000 a year.
Stockdale still rules.
--------------------------
Adele
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinio...23842.html
From the Washingtonexaminer.com
Opinion
Learning to play by Grant Stockdale’s rules
By: Harry Jaffe
Examiner Columnist | 1/30/09 6:40 PM
Grant Stockdale was a dreamer, but he did things, many things.
He was a Renaissance man, but not a dilettante. He did a few things very well.
Before the days of caller ID, my land line would ring, I would answer it and hear: “Stockdale. Come see me.”
And I would take a left from my door in Chevy Chase, and walk a block down to Stockdale’s bungalow.
Or I would hear: “Stockdale. I’m coming over.”
And I would see a tall, broad man with a round face, big smile and head of snow-white hair ambling up my walk.
But he won’t anymore. Cancer got Grant Stockdale, after a long battle. His passing is more than a sad day for us in the neighborhood around Lafayette School. Grant was the godfather of the Tuition Assistance Grant that has helped finance thousands of college tuitions for D.C. kids.
More on that later; first, a word about twigs.
One day I’m walking my dog down the sidewalk behind the Stockdales’ place. Their yard leads to a porch that wraps around the house. Grant lived on that porch - and yard. That day he was holding a hand saw, staring at a pile of twigs and saplings.
“What are you up to?” I asked.
“Making a couch,” he said.
Stockdale was always making something. If he wasn’t sculpting or hammering, his wife, Georgia, was working on an art project. She taught art in D.C. schools and held summer classes for neighborhood kids.
“Good luck,” I said, figuring the pile would be there for awhile. A week later Stockdale was sitting on cushions in the sapling couch.
Back in 1984, Stockdale founded the Sergeant’s Program, a training program that treats suburban folks like recruits. It is still in operation in 30 locations.
Stockdale loved to sail. He loved to monkey around with the Internet, too. One day he beckons me to the house and shows me his latest idea: streaming weather reports for sailboats. He wanted to start a company to sell the service. Problem was this was about five years ago, five years ahead of the technology.
Grant was ahead of his time when he dreamed up a way to help send D.C. kids to college. Why, he wondered, did parents around the country get to send their children to great, land grant colleges for low, in-state tuition? D.C. kids have no such college or opportunity.
He buttonholed President Clinton at a breakfast at Sidwell Friends in 1997, when both had children at the school. Clinton liked the idea. Using napkins and scraps of paper, they sketched out how it might work. Clinton assigned an aide to hammer out details; Rep. Tom Davis and Eleanor Holmes Norton got it through Congress.
Now the D.C. Tuition Assistance Grant program helps subsidize tuition for D.C. students to attend state schools across the nation, up to $10,000 a year.
Stockdale still rules.
--------------------------
Adele