To varying degrees, everybody is a product of the town or city in which they came of age. Memories of the buildings, groves and riverbanks that served as the backdrop of youthful days remain vibrant even as whole seasons fade under the relentless glare of time.
But few people truly examine how their life – and the lives of their friends, neighbors and families – were shaped by their shared hometown. Perhaps that is what makes Philip R. Harvey’s new self-published memoir about growing up in a Hillsboro tenement house so unique.
At 94, Harvey had plenty of stories to sort through for Memories of a Native Son. But it wasn’t enough to simply recount the places and characters that rise to the surface amid earnest reflection. Harvey wrote his book with this question in mind: What was it about the Water Street community – a section of town “on the wrong side of the track” – that contributed to the intellectual growth and success of seven children growing up in a tenement house during the Depression?
“Was there something happening in their everyday lives from infancy into their adolescent years that greatly expanded their interest in their surroundings and fostered their ability to learn and think creatively?” Harvey writes in the book’s introduction. By way of explanation, he writes that all five of the children who survived into adulthood graduated from college at a time when that was far from the norm. Four of five were high school valedictorians and the fifth fell just short of the honor. Two of them, including Harvey, went on to earn doctoral degrees.
It’s hard not to be impressed with Harvey’s resume: service in the Army Air Corps during World War II and the Korean conflict (after which he retired as a lieutenant colonel); degrees in education and mathematics; a master’s and doctorate from the University of Connecticut; and service on countless local boards and committees. Through it all, Hillsboro couldn’t have been far from his thoughts.
On Thursday, the Monitor will publish an excerpt from Memories of a Native Son on the Forum page. If Harvey’s unique local history piques your interest, you can find copies at Gibson’s Bookstore in downtown Concord. If not, we suspect you will still be impressed by his dedication to solving a different kind of mystery.
Everybody has a story worth telling, but very few actually take the time to do so. Even fewer put in the effort to make sense of something as complex as how the environments of youth contribute to intellectual development.
Hillsboro is lucky to have such a dedicated chronicler.