Arden Schofield

Ellen Sheridan called me last night with the very sad news that our friend Arden Schofield had passed away at age 93 last Wednesday. Arden was a remarkable person who made a tremendous impact on a generation of students with his stories of being a prisoner of the Germans in World War II.

A Thayer Academy graduate and retired Braintree school teacher, Arden devoted many hours of his retirement to speaking to students in many towns, but we all like to think of him as a member of the OA staff. Beyond a coffee and doughnuts and a free school lunch, Arden never charged for teaching 200 students a year about World War II.

Arden enlisted in the service in 1941 while a student in the BU music department, but the focus of his story was 1944's Battle of the Bulge. An assistant chaplain in the headquarters artillery company of the 106th Division, Arden remembered playing hymns on an organ in an abandoned church on December 15, 1944 at the behest of Captain Jack Pitts. The next day "all hell broke loose" and Captain Pitts was killed as German troops camouflaged in white quickly surrounded their position. Arden and others in his unit were marched through the snow during the coldest winter of the war to boxcars for transfer to Bad Orb, a notorious German prison camp. Along the route the train was bombed by the Royal Air Force. Arden spent five months in the prison camp. Fed on bread made mostly from sawdust, he was suffering from dysentery and had dropped to just 80 pounds when the camp was liberated by General Patton's troops. Arden always brought the few possessions he had in the prison camp to show to students.

Beyond his story, Arden was one of the most charming men I have ever met. A gentleman of the old school, he radiated a love of life and a gentle humor that easily won over even the most disinterested students. His great spirit brought him back to OA year after year even as mobility problems increased. Arden stopped visiting us during the construction of the new high school, and during that time he moved with his wife to a nursing home in Chatham close to their daughter in Brewster. The army chaplain had continued with his music in the Braintree schools and as a church organist. In Chatham Arden took on another career playing classics and show tunes for his fellow residents. Needless to say, he became a local sensation and even issued a CD which has gone threw three printings. According to the staff, the music was wonderful therapy for all the residents.

Arden returned to the new OA one last time. The landscape had changed completely the history department office where he would visit with me between classes had disappeared and the rooms where he taught had become the English Department. Even the teacher's room where he would have lunch with his many OA friends was gone, but Arden enthusiastically embraced the changes and enjoyed his visit as did the students in Ms. Sheridan's classes. Just a few weeks before his passing Arden told his story one last time to his grandson's class on the Cape, a teacher to the end.

 What a wonderful man and a great teacher, I could go on and on with Arden stories, but I'll give the last word to Wes Paul. In Arden's obituary our Principal  says it best: Arden "was a man of great integrity who touched the lives of hundreds of our students. Everyone here will forever miss his visits, love of life, and enthusiasm. He was a great man."