In Memoriam
The Da Vinci Code Librarian
It’s not unusual for people to tell Stan Planton’69 what they think about The Da Vinci Code.
Planton, who recently retired as head librarian at Ohio University’s Chillicothe campus, didn’t write the best-selling novel, but he’s the man author Dan Brown turns to when he needs information. And Brown thanks the librarian for being his “number one source of information on countless topics” in the acknowledgements of his books.
| Photo by Jo McCulty |
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| Stan Planton’69 |
In case you haven’t read it, the book is a fictional account of a quest for the Holy Grail. The controversial, centuries old Mary Magdalene/Jesus relationship figures prominently into the story, too.
Brown’s novels are research intensive and controversial. He met Planton through mutual friend Jim Barrington while working on his first book, Digital Fortress. Brown and Barrington know each other through Mensa, the high-IQ society. Planton and Barrington are longtime friends—for more than 20 years they’ve worked together on economic development projects near Chillicothe, Ohio. A casual conversation during a 1998 Mensa meeting put Brown in touch with Planton. And four novels later, they’re still working together.
Their relationship began with the two discussing Enigma, a machine used by the German Army in World War II to create military codes. Brown is interested in codes, code breaking, anagrams, and secrets—not secret organizations, but the secrets of organizations. Codes, anagrams, and secrets permeate all of his novels.
Planton was more involved with Brown’s third novel, Angels & Demons, a fast-paced thriller involving the Illuminati, an ancient brotherhood of scientists, and the Catholic Church.
“Dan typically sends me a list of key words and phrases with no clue about how they are tied together. For example, while writing Angels & Demons, the list included: The number of murdered Popes, causes of death, and examples of proof,” Planton explains. “He also asked whether it was possible to make a branding iron white hot, without it losing its shape.” The answer is no, but Brown used it in the book anyway. Planton laughs when saying Brown doesn’t always take his advice.
Planton is quick to admit he’s not an expert in anything, other than research. “My only expertise is that I can access vast amounts of data in seconds,” he says.
Although they mostly communicate by email, Brown and Planton have met face-to-face. He and his wife, Margaret Farmer Planton’71, visited Brown at his home in New England, where they went blueberry picking and, of course, talked about an upcoming book.
“It’s been fun,” Planton says. “Dan still seeks my advice, and through the years we’ve come to think along the same lines.”
Will Planton ever become a character in one of Brown’s novels? Maybe, but you won’t recognize him. His name will be an anagram.
— Susan Green
Reprinted with permission from Ohio University. This article originally appeared in Outlook, Ohio University’s electronic news and information publication.
Star Goalkeeper Returns to Beloit, This Time as Coach
The sun was shining over the lush soccer field one perfect October day last fall, as the Beloit College women’s soccer team was battling Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE).
| Photo by Amanda Lundgren Urish’92 |
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| Elizabeth Bartley’93 |
The Buccaneers were down 1-0 at the half.
The players sulked off the field, heads hanging low.
“Don’t be hard on yourself,” Coach Elizabeth Bartley’93 said reassuringly. “There will be enough people in the world trying to put you down, and you don’t need to be one of them.”
It’s half-time pep-talks like these that make playing the game a worthwhile learning experience for students.
“Liz is great!” said soon-to-be junior and team captain Emily Foubert. “She reads players really well and definitely understands us and knows where we are as a team. It’s a gift that makes the team stronger, and because of this, I think we’re going places!”
Bartley, a four-year, letter-winning athlete as a Beloit student, is now the full-time coach for the women’s soccer team. She is in the Beloit College record book for her amazing goalkeeping skills. After playing at Beloit, she coached at the University of Chicago and went on to be assistant coach for Northern Illinois University’s soccer team. From there, she became head coach for St. Xavier University and later went to Youngstown State University.
But she just couldn’t stay away from Beloit.
“Coming back to Beloit is kind of like coming home,” Bartley says. She adds that her friends and fellow co-workers still call her by her college nick-name: “Wizzie.” “It’s nice to have that sense of family while doing a job that I love.”
Bartley said that returning to Beloit to coach soccer feels like being able to play again. “In a sense,” Bartley says, “I get paid to play, and it’s amazing.”
The student-athletes pose another positive for Beloit in Bartley’s eyes. With 15 of her players making the dean’s list last season, she could focus more on the game.
“Players are getting it done in the classroom, which means they don’t have to worry about all that on the field,” she says. “We’re about getting a degree. I’m here to help players figure out how soccer will add to the rest of their lives and not how it is the be-all and end-all of their lives.”
Bartley says that Beloit’s handling of Title IX was a key factor in her decision to return to her alma mater. Title IX is part of a congressional act passed in 1972 that bans sex discrimination in collegiate sports. Under Title IX, the percentage of male and female athletes must be about equal to the ratio of male-to-female enrollment. There is a growing concern, however, that the act may be taking away from men’s sports more than it helps women’s. But Bartley says Beloit works Title IX the right way.
“Some schools use Title IX as a way to cut men’s programs, and that’s not right. Beloit doesn’t cut men’s programs.” For example, Bartley cites how Beloit College hired a full-time women’s soccer coach because the men’s soccer team had a full-time coach.
“Beloit helps provide equal opportunities instead of taking away from certain people,” she says.
Bartley’s attitude and beliefs make her the perfect candidate to improve the women’s soccer team at Beloit.
That October day, the Bucs entered the second half of the MSOE game with a completely different attitude from that of the first half. They ended up scoring three unanswered goals, winning the game 3-1.
— Anna Blankschien’10
In Memoriam: A Remembrance of Stephen Glosecki’74
| University of Alabama |
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| Stephen Glosecki’74 |
On April 4, 2007, Stephen Glosecki’74 died after battling cancer for several years. He had fought nobly and gracefully against the illness he referred to as “the Beast” and died peacefully with his wife, Karen, his sons, Dylan and Christopher, and other family members at his side.
Stephen came to Beloit in 1970 from Springfield, Ill., arriving as a football player, but he really used his Beloit years to develop his creative and academic side. He was interested in history, literature, and the arts, but also loved to play: to skeet-shoot and play poker and darts. Those who remember him from Beloit will recall a large guy, with shoulder-length curly blond hair. He would sit in his room in an over-stuffed chair, smoking a pipe, reading poetry, or drawing in his sketch book, sipping Scotch, and listening to Neil Young or Cat Stevens. His sense of refinement was unique (no one else drank Scotch back then), which made the juxtaposition of his size and love of football all the more at odds with his artistic sensibilities and scholarship.
Like all of us, Steve would disappear for awhile from time to time; the old Beloit Plan did that. He studied in England, then did a field placement at the Guinness brewery, and also worked in Geneva, Switzerland. What was different about him were his letters. We cherished them and passed them around, including a note from Oxford, where he was in the library reading Chaucer in the original. Even then, he had such a command of the language, and he shared the utter thrill he felt from that experience. More to the point, his affection for, or addiction to, myth and legend has left an indelible mark on Beloit in the intervening 35 years. Students probably don’t know “Glosecki,” but mention the magnificent murals of the unicorn and dragon in the lower level of the C-Haus, and he becomes immediately familiar. Steve made these paintings over several long winter nights before the pub’s grand opening, and they permitted him to drink free, in the land of early micro-breweries, for the next two semesters!
After Beloit, Steve attended graduate school at the University of California-Davis, where he received an M.A. degree in comparative literature and a Ph.D. degree in English. He went on to an illustrious career teaching Old English at the University of Alabama-Birmingham. He was the author of numerous articles, poems, and books. He had recently published Myth in Early Northwest Europe and a translation of Beowulf, his cherished project, completed shortly before his death. As Professor Glosecki, he loved the music of the language and frequently recited passages of Old English at the University of Alabama to the delight of all who heard him, even if they didn’t understand a word. He was a frequent media consultant, more than happy to explore the folklore of Halloween or the superstitions of Friday the 13th. He was a fixture in medieval societies across the country, attending events to lecture and recite. In 1991, Dr. Glosecki won the 22nd Ellen Gregg Ingalls Award for Excellence in Classroom Teaching. In 1991-92 he served as Fulbright Professor of Historical Linguistics at the University of Tromsø in Norway. Although he was a talented academic and scholar, he saved his greatest love for his family.
Stephen Glosecki was among the most thoughtful and kind, artistic, creative, scholarly, and interesting people I came to know at Beloit. He is the embodiment of what makes Beloit College such a great institution, but most of all, he was a cherished friend, and will be greatly missed by all who knew him.
The next time you find yourself at Beloit, stop by the C-Haus, and toast him to the dragon and the unicorn. He’d appreciate it.
— Tom Hurster’74
