When Doll began offering his tours, people That’s when Doll discovered that Brown was
jumped at the chance. into numerology. He had focused on medieval
His tours were legendary, filled with intriguing studies at Harvard, receiving a bachelor’s and a
details about the chapel’s iconography and laced master’s degree there.
with school history—and Doll brought the same “He was a brilliant individual,” Doll says,
passion and vigor to all of them. reverently. “To think of a young man … he was
“I know exactly how many tours I gave,” he only a sophomore in college when he began
says, “163.” designing the chapel. He didn’t tell the school that
Though he chides students these days for not he was going to donate it for a couple of years.”
knowing the school’s history, he sees his former As a multimillion dollar restoration of the
self in the eyes of his tour attendees. Chapel continues, many cite Doll as the No. 1
In the 1950s he had to go to chapel every day cheerleader for the project.
and twice on Sunday, as he’s fond of telling today’s “He’s made us look at that building in a way
students. that we never had before,” Gould said.
“But I don’t think I really looked at the build-
ing either,” he admits. PASSIN G ON THE T O R C H
These days, things have changed. During his tenure as archivist, the post he
“There’s no one alive who knows more about formally assumed in the fall of 2001, Doll also
the St. George’s Chapel,” says Peterson. made it his goal to turn today’s students on to the
The research, for Doll, wasn’t always easy, but history of their school. When
at times it was exhilarating. Christy Mihos ’05 was sidelined
John Nicholas Brown was famous for saying it from the football team because
would take students six years to learn everything of an injury, he searched for
At his 50
th
reunion, Doll offered
about the chapel, he says. In his day, with the first something to do in the after-
a chapel tour to his classmates.
and second forms, that’s how long students noons that might be interest-
“We will never forget the
attended SG. “But I think he was wrong,” Doll says. ing. A spirited student with a
enthusiasm that Jack exhibited
“I think it takes 60 years to know it.” gift of gab, Mihos befriended
in his zeal to give us all the facts
Case in point: There are 189 carved stone Doll and spent the extracurric-
about every aspect of the Chapel,”
bosses just under the roofline. ular time down in the archives
Bill Powdrell ‘52 recalls. “The only
“I’d spent several weeks with binoculars, look- learning about SG’s past, enter-
word that comes to me now is
ing at every one, trying to figure them out,” Doll tained all the while with Doll’s ‘jealousy.’ At an age when most
said. “When I finally got into Cram’s paper, I stories. Back in the day, Doll of us were retired and a little under
undid a dusty old binding. It was the key to all the was a notorious prankster. enthused, here was a guy who was
bosses. It told me exactly what every boss was Interviewed by journalism lit up like a Christmas tree in
about. What a thrill!” student Kelly Smerling ’08, Doll
excitement to learn as much as
Another time Doll remembers feeling on the recounted some of his more
possible about the complete
verge of a great discovery. For months, he’d been daring antics. “I was the captain
history of the chapel.”
trying to translate the old Ecclesiastical Latin on of an unofficial St. George’s
the wooden organ screen above the priest’s door in team: the building climbers,”
the front of the nave. Doll told her, recalling the
“Let me give you a visual. Think of the story of night when he scaled the side of the chapel,
Robin Hood, and this was Friar Tuck,” Doll recalls, reached the top, “climbed up one of the cement
thinking of a meeting he had with a monk from pediments and pushed one of the four 100-pound
the St. Francis Chapel in Providence. “Little Father weathervanes off its spike sending it soaring like a
Hugh. He was great. Basically it was all about the Frisbee into second base on the field below.” Later
eight modes of music.” he and his cohorts would hide it at the bottom of
ST. GEORGE’S 2008 SUMMER BULLETIN 7
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