![\"Tudor_1\"](\"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/rring\/files\/2014\/08\/Tudor_1.jpg\")
<\/a>An English professor and a poet, Stephen Tudor, Class of 1955, was clearly a fan of the written word, and his folder is full of correspondence, most of which is addressed to a couple named John and Phyllis. \u00a0It appears Stephen was in the habit of writing them yearly letters to exchange birthday wishes and to give John the status update on his Girand-Perregaux timepiece, an earlier gift that proved itself \u201ca remarkable watch, through thick and thin\u201d and always seems to be \u201cticking along heartily as ever.\u201d<\/p>\nIn addition to updating John on the watch, Stephen also talks about his work, his family, and his travels, and, in this way, his whole life unfolds through his letters. \u00a0Although he would have preferred history, Tudor got his first job as an English professor. He then earned his MFA at the University of Oregon and found a job at Wayne State University, where he\u2019d teach English and creative writing for the rest of his life. \u00a0He and his wife, Ellie, had a child named Michael, and when he was old enough, Ellie earned her own M.A. in dance and became a teacher.\u00a0 They all spent a sabbatical year in Wales, where they met \u201cWelsh Tudors\u201d and Mike showed his new classmates \u201cthe proper way to do a lay-up.\u201d\u00a0 Stephen continued to write and to sail and to publish many poems and short stories about the Great Lakes, and he died while competing in the 1994 Singlehanded Challenge Regatta on Lake Huron.<\/p>\n