t was one of those warm spring days when the seniors (Class of 1966) were out on a sketching morning. Myself and four others (Joe Ross, Jim Magner, Bruce Wynn, and Don Ahearn) decided to drive in my '54 Chevy to an interesting construction area in Roxbury where the old Madison Park Hotel was about to be torn down to make way for the Southeast Corridor. After sketching a while, the lure of the magnificent old building got the best of us and we went inside to explore the place. The windows were all removed and anything of value removed as well.
I think it was Joe who opened a closet door in a bedroom on the second floor to expose a dead body, apparently stuffed into the narrow space. We checked to make sure he was dead, dicussed what to do, and headed for the Precinct police station to make a report. The police took our statement, we showed them where the body was and they told us we were free to go.
By the time we got back to VG, it was lunch and the first classmate I saw, Sandy Alexander, knew the whole story. I couldn't believe it. So did everyone else including Fletcher P. Adams, VG school president. It seems that the story made the noon radio news and the mentioned Vesper George School of Art by name. We spent the rest of the lunch period learning from Fletcher the difference between good and bad publicity.
For young men of the class of 1966, myself included, graduation meant dealing with the draft board. There were many guys caught in a large Vietnam call-up at a time before there was a draft lottery. It took me another four years before I had my first art related job, having spent the time in the Air Force as a Russian Language specialist. But I credit VG for giving me the tools for a life long career.
