Peter Viereck

Bonnie Barrett Stretch writes:

I took this photo  with my cell phone one day when I was wandering around the campus and happened to spot off in the woods near upper lake the little Virgin Mary shrine silhouetted against the huge uprooted remains of a tree.  I thought, “That’s strange.” So I found a little path – “one that was old and wanted wear” (in the words of Robert Frost) – and followed it down to a small stream.  The tree and shrine were across the brook.  So I stopped and wondered.  Then I looked down at my feet and discovered to my amazement this memorial stone to Peter Viereck.  There must be people in our class who, like me, remember him with some affection – not only for his Pulitzer Prize, but for his marvelous eccentricity on a very staid, traditional campus.  It is the contrast of him vs. this shrine that filled me with wonder.  I don’t believe he was Catholic or religious in any traditional way, so I think this must just be ironic serendipity – two very different sensibilities conjuring the spiritual essence of nature, the world and life.