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| Patric Chamay '56, senior photo |
Sometime around 2008, Bob Carabell of the Class of 1956
asked what had become of Patric Chamay ’56 and whether he had a connection with
Louis Bromfield.That sent me to the
files to learn more about the two Chamay brothers, both of whom attended WRA in
the 1950’s. I learned that they were indeed sent here by their guardian,
notable Ohio author and conservationist, Louis Bromfield (1896-1956). It seemed that it would make a good story for
our WRA Magazine or a blog post, but instead we are making a short documentary that
should appear on Hudson Community Television (HCTV) sometime this fall.
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| Inside the big House in Louis Bromfield's library. To the left of the desk is the framed certificate that he received in 1925 for winning the Pulitzer Prize for his novel Early Autumn. |
This summer we went down to Malabar Farm State Park in
Richland County where the Chamay brothers grew up, and the place they called
home, until the untimely death of Louis Bromfield early in 1956. Patric, who was supposed to graduate that
June, was denied a place at graduation because of a discipline problem. He may have been under some stress caused by
the death of his guardian. In any case, he went to on to attend Carnegie Tech, then pursued a career as a mountaineer, dying in 1968
while trying to scale Mount Rainier. The
other brother, Anthony, who never graduated from WRA, is probably still
alive. Ellen Bromfield Geld, the last
surviving daughter of Louis Bromfield, has a section on the Chamay brothers and
their socialite mother in her book, The Heritage. We hope to interview her this fall.
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| Nick Zlantanovich of Hudson Community Television taping my commentary atop Mount Jeez, the popular overlook of Malabar Farm (seen behind me). |
We did extensive video taping at Malabar Farm in July, both
outside and inside the Big House that Bromfield built in 1939. We have contacted researchers at the Malabar
Farm Foundation who have made some rare photos available to us and are
interested in the Hudson Cable production. We also taped at “The Mount”, the home of novelist Edith Wharton, who
corresponded with Bromfield during the 1930’s when both had elaborate gardens
at their respective chateaus in France.
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| In Edith Wharton's formal garden at "The Mount" in Lenox, MA, where I taped video in mid-July |
It is hoped that this program, which will run about 30 or 40
minutes, will be on Hudson Community Television (HCTV) late this fall. We plan to do another taping at Malabar Farm
in late September to get some autumn color, and perhaps meet Ellen Bromfield
Geld, who is coming from her home in Brazil for a program there. This is a story that has waited some 60 years
to be told, and we hope to do it justice.
