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Kathryn Silber receives multiple honors for three decades of University service

By Brian Fitzgerald

The May 14 tribute to Kathryn Silber had the feeling of a family get-together. And for good reason. The event, hosted by WBZ-TV news anchor Jack Williams, was filled with relatives, including many of her 26 grandchildren -- "enough grandchildren to populate a small nation," said Earle Cooley (LAW'57), former chairman of the BU Board of Trustees.

	Kathryn Silber, shown here with her grandson Andrew Hiett, who is eight years old. Photo by Kalman Zabarsky

There were, however, many others recognizing her accomplishments as first lady of Boston University. They were not members of the Silber family, but "of the BU family," said President Jon Westling. "This occasion is a small symbol of our love and appreciation."

Kathryn Silber, who received an honorary doctor of humane letters degree (see article, "This year's honorary degree recipients") at this year's Commencement, was honored almost a week earlier at Metcalf Hall in a celebration organized by the BU Board of Trustees and the BU Women's Council, an organization of which she has been a longtime member. In gratitude for her service to BU, the Women's Council announced a scholarship in her name. In addition, later this year it will dedicate a room in her honor at the Fisk House at 146 Commonwealth Ave., where Women's Council scholarship students reside.

A trusted advisor to husband John Silber, Kathryn Silber has been an emissary for the University for more than a quarter of a century. She has participated in, as Westling pointed out, more than 150 events a year. "That's at least 5,000 public performances representing Boston University," said Westling. "I don't think anyone knows how truly astonishing this is."

Kathryn Silber has earned a reputation as a discreet, gracious, and tactful representative of BU over the years. In addition to her University responsibilities, she has nurtured a family of six daughters, a son, and two other children, orphans of acquaintances of the Silbers in Texas.

"I feel that you can't recognize John Silber for doing all he has done for Boston University without also thanking Kathryn," said another first lady, Angela Menino, wife of Boston Mayor Thomas Menino. "A full partner with John in both their personal and professional lives, she's been an advocate for women's issues and has been at John's side as he rose to be a national leader in the field of education."

Howard Gotlieb, director of Special Collections at BU, recalled Kathryn Silber's arrival at BU. At a dinner soon thereafter, she was seated at a table with actors Bette Davis and Roddy McDowell, Gilbert and Sullivan performer Martin Green, and author Stephen Birmingham. "I thought to myself, what an introduction into our University community, and I wondered how the calm, thoughtful, beautiful lady would survive what could only be described as a community onslaught of one-upsmanship and ego," said Gotlieb. "Well, I needn't have worried, because Kathryn Silber won the day. Her intelligence, her sharp mind, and her most evident goodwill delighted her tablemates and surmounted Hollywood-on-the-Charles."

Gotlieb noted Kathryn Silber's ability to "win over some of the University's more formidable guests" with her kindness and common sense. "From Gene Kelly to Prince Albert, from Myrna Loy to King Hussein, from a college instructor to one of our Nobel laureates, Kathryn Silber has worked her wiles and made these individuals friends of hers and friends of the University."

Phyllis Curtin, SFA professor and dean emerita, said that Kathryn Silber "has patience, tolerance, grit, and poise beyond the endurance of anyone I have ever seen. She is a brilliant model for young women."

Born in Normanna, Tex., Kathryn Silber earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Trinity University in San Antonio. She subsequently did graduate work in English and philosophy at the University of Texas. During and just after World War II, she held civil service positions at Air Force bases while attending college. After graduation, from 1946 to 1947, she worked in the registrar's office at Trinity University. She married John Silber in 1947. The couple moved to New Haven, where she held a position for a year in the Yale University registrar's office. She then served as production manager at Fluid Systems, Inc., in New Haven, from 1948 to 1953. When her husband completed his studies at Yale, the Silbers returned to Texas, and afterward spent a year at the University of Bonn and a year at the University of London. In 1971, John Silber became president of BU.

"It was a terrible wrench for her and for the family to move to Boston," recalled John Silber. But she was "constructive every step of the way, continuing to be my advisor and my editor as we proceeded through our lives at Boston University."

When John Silber decided to run for governor of Massachusetts in 1990, the move "was not on the agenda that Kathryn had in mind," he said. "But she was quite willing." In fact, she served as a surrogate speaker for her husband during the campaign. He recalled that after one of her speeches, in Worcester, "an aggressive young feminist reporter came up to her and asked, 'How is it that a really nice woman like you can be married to a man like John Silber?' and she said, 'Oh, I don't know. He was just the first boy I ever met who was as smart as a girl.' "

Daughters Rachel Devlin and Martha Hathaway fondly recalled their mother's singing and reading to them as children, and using her imagination to assuage their pain when tending to the usual childhood cuts and bruises. "Perhaps the greatest secret to my mother's success is her ability to redirect attention away from herself," said Hathaway. "To be here this evening, on display as it were, is not her style."

Indeed, Kathryn Silber said that she felt "sort of like Tom Sawyer, who got to listen to all the eulogies by sneaking into his funeral and hiding in the choir loft, and getting to overhear all the nice things people said about him."

Also speaking at the event were Vita Paladino, associate director of Special Collections, Jay Strzetelski, president of the BU Women's Council, and Velia Tosi, former president of the Friends of the Libraries. Those who couldn't attend but sent their regards were Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, University Professor Emeritus Roger Shattuck and his wife, Nora, Honorary Trustee Vartan Gregorian and his wife, Claire, and former governor Edward King.

"I'm thrilled to be here to honor such a great lady," said Jack Williams. "What a wonderful tribute -- that so many people here consider Kathryn Silber a friend."

"Si monumentum requiris, circumspice," said Westling, borrowing from an inscription honoring architect Sir Christopher Wren at St. Paul's Cathedral in London. He then translated the Latin phrase: "If you seek her monument, look around you."

8 June 2001
Boston University
Office of University Relations