Comments about Horus Schenouda

…the word that always comes to my mind when thinking of Horus is 'civilized.' Wherever we were, and whatever we were doing, Horus always seemed to have that calm, reflective attitude that brought peace to most situations. I think that the only time that I saw him both puzzled and perhaps a little angry was once on a night train during Academic Travel to Paris when faced with that narrow strip of linen provided to cover the edge of a scratchy blanket in a railway couchette. I watched him put one hand in each end, stretch it out, examine it, screw it up and throw it into a corner. He then lay down, crossed his hands on his chest and immediately fell asleep. He was a civilized man!
Professor Brian Stanford

Dr. Horus Schenouda opened the world for me. I took his Russian History course in the fall of 1973. I thought his teaching style was unlike anything I had ever experienced. He made the House of Rurik through the House of Romanoff both personal and memorable. He told us about the people who made history. He explained that they were human and as such had strengths and weaknesses. He showed us how that played out. I was intrigued. His view of world history was so much more interesting than the dry dates I had been told to memorize in high school. His dramatic rhetoric mesmerized me. I was enthralled both by history and certainly by Horus Schenouda. Later I was lucky enough to meet Sandra, his wife. Learning of their lives before Lugano was a lesson in history as well. I traveled with Dr. Schenouda to Tunisia on a Franklin trip and later met him and Sandra in Cairo. It was their first trip back after their expulsion by Nasser.

I loved hearing his stories over the year I spent in Lugano. I credit him with making history a part of my life and making me love history, making me see, hear and smell history. My hope is that future students at Franklin (and everywhere else) get lucky and fall under the spell of a magician as talented as Dr. Horus Schenouda. I used to laugh: he said he spoke nine-and-a-half languages and English was his half language. I always wished I could speak another language to appreciate his use of language in one of those other languages. Since I thought his use of English outshone that of almost anyone I knew, I wondered what his use of language would be in those other languages. Unfortunately I never learned. He was an incredible man and definitely my getting to know him was what made my time at Franklin a turning point in my life. He turned me on to learning, to history, to the fun in learning history. For me he was definitely unforgettable.
Trudy Toll '75

I first came into contact with Horus when I joined the Franklin faculty in 1981. Over the years, I have frequently recalled and related to colleagues and students alike very good advice which he gave to me in my first semester teaching. The course was on Existentialism in European Culture, and the first text was Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground. The students in the class considered the work to be quite ridiculous. In my shock and dismay I went to Horus for help, and he said to me in his gently serious voice but with the hint of a twinkle in his eye: "Floyd, they are young. They are inexperienced. They haven't suffered." After a slight pause he added the crucial advice: "Make them suffer." I have followed his advice ever since that day.
Professor Floyd Parsons

Egypt had been in my blood since I was a child, starting with many visits to my favorite location: the Egyptian wing of the Metropolitan Museum in NYC.  How delighted and thrilled I was to find myself in Dr. Schenouda's classes at Franklin -- even more so as we learned from all aspects of his brilliant life!

Of course, for many of us, one's Academic Travel choices were made depending on where our favorite professors were going. It's no wonder then, that I experienced wonderful travels with Dr. Schenouda and his wife to Tunisia and Turkey.  The twinkle in his eye made everything he spoke of personal, and exciting.   Their relationship as a couple was one of the great models of marriage (where opposites attract....!).

I'd lost touch with him in the decades since graduating from Franklin (though my family knew him well from my stories), and my attempts to reconnect in recent years were thwarted by his ill health and those who were trying to protect him, to a certain degree, in guarding his health.   But when my daughter spent a semester in Rome in the spring of 2008, and we planned to visit and travel for a time – I was determined to reach him.  At that point, I didn't even know for sure if he was alive!

Long story short...I found an address (thank you, Will Geens) and wrote to him. Heard nothing, until the day we were to leave:  a letter arrived in his recognizable handwriting, with an invitation to visit and specifics of how and where we could get to his apartment.  Switzerland was at the end of our time, and I couldn't wait to get there.   Two of our daughters and my husband (who was born in Egypt, his father having run the American Mission Hospital there) were there.  They finally understood why they had heard about this amazing professor for decades!

I was so thrilled and delighted to see that he, though a bit more frail, was just as sharp as ever – had the very same twinkle in his eye and sense of humor as ever!  He remembered every paper I wrote – and even took my daughters into his study to show him my grades in his grade book(!). Most of all, he and my husband were able to reminisce about Egypt in Arabic: political, cultural, religious implications. They shared their faith, as minority Christians in an Islamic culture.  They recalled the lives they led in an earlier era in Egypt. 

As we were getting ready to leave, he reached into his cupboard and brought out some large chocolate bunnies (it was Eastertime) he had bought specifically for us – ever thoughtful!

Our parting words were a promise to come back for his 100th birthday party.....and we meant it!  Instead, we'll celebrate with him when we see him again...

What a tremendous blessing he was, and remains, to so many...
Patricia Peterson Jamison '75

My heart sighed this morning when I read the news of Dr. Schenouda's death. I had the immense privilege of having him as a teacher for several courses from 1974 to 1976, and he was absolutely one of the main reasons I loved Franklin. Dr. Schenouda wasn't a teacher... he was first of all a friend, a father, a brother, a magnificent story- or "history-teller." I remember his classrooms always packed with students - nobody wanted to miss his lessons! He made me love the Egyptian, Greek, Phoenician civilizations - travelling with him and Sandra was like going back 2000 years. Sitting with him near the Colosseum of El Djem, stepping over the ruins in Carthage, riding a camel in Gabes, or anywhere else, closing my eyes, and listening to the history of that place was worth much more than reading 10 history books. Does anyone remember Ulysses and Captain Fun?

I remember with nostalgia the evenings in his house over the lake when he would invite some of us privileged students to his house - myself, Elizabeth, Chris, Rick, Silvia, and he and Sandra made us feel at home, made me feel like I had a second family abroad. Coffee at the Grotto with Sandra was routine, and she was precious in helping us around Lugano with food shopping, laundry and loads of helpful hints for most of us who were lost, trying to sort out the experience of living on our own for the first time.

I always kept in touch with him...every Christmas since 1976 we would send each other Christmas cards and in a nutshell summarize latest family events, and exchange pictures. The 3 or 4 times I passed by Lugano and dropped in for a visit, it was incredible to see how that sparkle in his eyes had never left, and how that warm smile was always there.

Goodbye dear friend, precious tutor, great inspirator, example for all of us.
Margie Rostworowski '76

I will not try to add to the many wonderful qualities of Dr. Schenouda (and his beloved Scottish firecracker, Sandra) mentioned in his obituary and in the comments of his former colleagues and students.  They all are true, and can never capture that remarkable man.  Suffice it to say: (1) he was one of the handful of most memorable, amazing people I have ever known; and (2) he is an unattainable but worthy model of what and how we should be.  Thank you, Dr. Schenouda, for teaching so many of us so much.
Ross E. Atkinson '75

I would like to echo Trudy Toll's comments. She said everything that I was feeling and remember about Dr. Schenouda. I took the same Russian history course as Trudy and was inspired as was she. I always liked history, but I loved history after taking Dr. Schenouda's class. I went to the Soviet Union on the Spring Break trip and it was so much more intense and rewarding because of what I learned in his class. I remember coming back and telling him all about our adventures. It was a great trip and I will never forget it.

He was a great teacher and I remember him fondly. I even quote him from things he used to say. I actually used one the other day in Singapore to illustrate a point I was making. I started by saying, "I learned this from a great teacher when I was young..." The world will miss Dr. Horus Schenouda.
David Schubach '73

Dr. Schenouda used to come to class with a smile on his face every day, and every day when I was there, his wife sat in on classes. She smoked like a chimney and always had a small portable ashtray in her hands. I loved them both. He was, by far, one of the coolest guys I ever had as a teacher. I have already missed him for 40 years but will now miss his expired light even more. What a guy...
Cassandra Kirby Conahay '70

Dr. Schenouda is in my thoughts. He was a wonderful man and a gifted professor who inspired me, and many, with his soft yet thunderous teachings.

I remember him and Sandra so fondly. Sending all my love to friends in Lugano.
Lisa Stothart '76

Dr. Schenouda was by far my favorite teacher of all my school days.  He taught us well, with a never ending sparkle in his eyes.  He permitted me and a classmate to travel independently to Egypt for Academic Travel and trusted us to make him proud.  I hope we did.  I felt very close to him and Sandra during my time at Franklin.  He will be truly missed.
Kate Higbie Lowe '83

Thank you so much for letting me know -- it is such sad news.  I had always hoped to return to Lugano to see Dr. Schenouda.  Sadly, I never made it.  As my adivsor during my freshman year at Franklin, Dr. Schenouda hosted my first evening in Lugano.  I was captivated by his remarkable personality and brilliance on day one.  I was fortunate to take his classes and still remember fondly listening to his lectures when he brought history to life.  He and his wife, Sandra, helped make my dream of traveling to Egypt a reality in 1979.  I shall be forever grateful for their guidance and friendship during my two years at Franklin.

With great admiration for Dr. Schenouda,
Karena Kolouch Fowler '79

I have thought of Dr. Schenouda often over the years as I scanned my bookshelf and my eye settled on the slim paperback volume, "A Short History of the Middle East," which served as a textbook for the class I took from him 40+ years ago.  Like everything about my experience at Franklin, he broadened my knowledge and my horizons.  That he was "humbled and honored, but also amused" by the attention paid to him sounds so much like the man I remember.  How fortunate for those of us whose lives were touched and enriched by this remarkable man.  And how sad to hear of his passing.  "Dr. Schenouda was a descendant of the pharaohs," says his tribute.  Most assuredly he was a prince.
Leland Gehrke '70