A fall day at Christchurch School
by Mary Wakefield Buxton
Urbanna, Va.— The ride from Urbanna to Christchurch School is pleasant at any time of year but especially in the fall. The sun is bright in a clear sky and the river seen in the distance across green lawns always appears as stark blue ribbon. The fields are in fodder and one might even spot a pumpkin or two. An array of school flags snap in the breeze as one enters the smart white-fenced and red-brick campus. Christchurch School is one of Middlesex County’s greatest assets and we can be proud that it attracts many students from all over the nation and world.
It was Parents Weekend with annual events like a silent auction, football game, headmaster’s reception and oyster roast, but this year’s agenda also included inducting the late Newport News native and Pulitzer Prize winning novelist William Styron into the lifetime achievement section of the school’s Hall of Fame. His widow Rose of Martha’s Vineyard had been invited to accept the posthumous award and was planning to read from a few of Bill’s old letters written in 1940-42 from his old school.
It was wonderful to see Rose again (who is a cousin by marriage). An author herself, a long-time dedicated worker for Amnesty International, and mother of four children and eight grandchildren, Rose has led an exciting and full life. Not only did she offer constant support and solace to one of our generation’s most profound “southern writers,” but she helped Bill through many long years in his later life from visits from the “Black Dog,” what he called his bouts of depression. Rose’s descriptions of those last years could bring tears to the eyes of even the most hardened listener, for those who loved Bill Styron and his works, truly loved him.
Rose had the appreciative audience laughing as she recalled short excerpts of his boyhood letters that described his life at Christchurch in a small, post-depression, pre-war Episcopalian prep school. The school literally saved Bill’s life as he had been severely wounded from the loss of his mother at 15 years of age and his father’s remarriage to our Aunt Elizabeth Buxton. This stern woman, pioneer in the advancement of southern women, had been director of nursing at the Buxton Hospital School of Nursing. The two had hugely oppositional personalities and values and, frankly, did not get along. Christchurch School became the loving and supportive home that helped him recover and develop into a future writer.
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| Mary Wakefield Buxton |
Lexie Byers, English teacher at Christchurch, spoke of the school’s ongoing adoration of its famous author, reminding the audience that the school was very different today from when Styron had been there. “A student could smoke on campus back then if he had permission from his parents,” she said, “and even bring a shotgun to school for duck hunting!”
Students could also easily sneak off campus and purchase beer at a Cooks Corner roadside dive, something that could never happen today.
Other inductees were the late Bill Streetman of Northern Neck, and Bill Broaddus, a prominent attorney from Richmond who has been a longtime supporter of Christchurch. His devotion to his old school was evident in his address regarding the great influence Christchurch School had on him and how grateful he was that his parents had made the great sacrifices that were necessary so he could attend the school. His 97-year-old aunt was in the audience.
What he had appreciated most at Christchurch were the lifetime friends that he had made and the strong values he had learned. “I learned here that if something was worth doing, it was worth doing right,” he said, along with other traits such as loyalty, appreciation, willingness to sacrifice now for later successes and good sportsmanship. “The headmaster spent many hours with each boy teaching us good manners… even how to shake someone’s hand that we had just been introduced to,” the attorney said. He recalled how important sports were at Christchurch and that they had taught him so many lessons as to how to go through life. “Where a young boy learned to put all efforts into winning but… being the first to congratulate the other team if they defeated you.”
Later, we joined Rose Styron and her accompanying friend, author and poet Honor Moore (best known for her best-selling book, “The Bishop’s Daughter,” a memoir of her own father who had served as Episcopalian bishop of NYC for many years) over lunch in Cameron dining hall. Honor was spending a year at the University of Richmond as writer-in-residence. There was lively and much fun conversation at our table.
It was an uplifting day and I returned to Urbanna thinking once again what a good job Christchurch does in preparing young people for leadership roles in future life.
