Skip Lawrence was the Director of Development at Haverford College during the 1980's, and it was then that I first got to know him. My memories of him from that period were of a young and very handsome man, soft-spoken and slightly whimsical, as he remained throughout the years I knew him (soft-spoken that is, not young). My initial feelings about him, however, were those of envy; no matter how much work he had to do, his desk, which sat in the middle of the room that is now the Provost's office at Haverford, was always neat: filled with papers, but papers arranged in clear, precise overlapping rows that led me to think: here's a man that knows exactly where everything is. It was only years later, after he had left Haverford, in one of the many conversations I had with him, that I realized that Skip's gift was not that of neatness. It isn't that he knew where each of his papers was located; it's that he had a deep intuitive sense of the proper place for everything, including himself; the neat desk just came along for the ride. That's what allowed him, I thought later, to move with happiness and modesty (a genuine modesty, the kind that's indistinguishable from pride) through the different positions he came to occupy over the years. While he was at Haverford, we talked frequently, often about theology, often about literature and philosophy. Skip would sometimes recommend a book that he thought we should both read, and then we would talk about it; the one that I recall most vividly was a slim volume by Frank Kermode, one of England's premier literary theorists, that led the two of us into long conversations about literary discovery and literary appreciation. I cherished those conversations, and I cherish their memory.
Skip is also remembered at the college for his ghost sightings. Here's a passage from the informal history of the College:

"When Skip Lawrence was Haverford's Director of Development in the '80s, he was working late in what is now the Provost's office on the first floor of Founders Hall. Caught up in post-event details, he was jolted by a peculiar sensation: "I had the very strong sense of the presence of a woman." He heard the rustle of a long skirt as an unseen figure entered one of the office's doors and passed by his desk, exiting through the door on the other side of the room. It was Lawrence's only encounter with the spirit."

After Skip left Haverford, our meetings were infrequent and our conversations shorter. But they were no less memorable, and their memory no less cherished.

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Aryeh

Aryeh Kosman
John Whitehead Professor of Philosophy Emeritus
Haverford College