A Perfect Educational Paradise — One of the Things We Are Fighting For
So wrote James Kay '41 in February 1945 in a V message to Dr. and Mrs. Pell at St. Andrew's. Jimmy came to SAS as a II Former but had to leave School at the end of his III Form year due to acute sinus infections. Still, from 1938 through the War, he corresponded with the Pells and looked forward to the annual Christmas and birthday greetings, as well as the Cardinal and other alumni news.
One of Jimmy's classmates, Gordon Dovell '41, was also a faithful correspondent of the Pells and wrote to them in April,1945: "I received two letters from you a few weeks ago and you cannot realize how much I appreciated hearing from you and about the School. . . After leaving Leyte some time ago, we invaded Okinawa. I imagine the State papers give a fairly accurate account of the situation. I have been very fortunate on numerous occasions and so far, I am thankful to be alive." Two weeks later, Gordon was killed in Okinawa.
Two young men; both St. Andreans; both young veterans; both profoundly effected by WWII and their St. Andrew's experience.
Only in one letter do both boys' names appear, that is when Jimmy Kay wrote to Walden Pell, asking about Gordon and some of the other boys who were preparing to graduate, though Gordon left for the War before he received his diploma.
The friendship forged between the two as young St. Andreans obviously had a lasting impact on James Kay who died in 1990. Several years later St. Andrew's School received a bequest from the estate of James' widow to establish the Gordon Dovell '41 Memorial Scholarship Fund in accordance with her late husband's wishes to honor his fallen classmate and friend.
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