Reader Opinions:

Ted Smith,jr - Mar, 09 2004

I remember vividly Jane and Charles Englehard. My father was their teaching golf professional, Ted Smith, Head Professional at Somerset Hills in Bernardsville, and the Gasparilla Inn in Boca Grande, Florida.

They both adored my father and showered him with kindness and caring gifts. Jane Englehard especially could not have been nicer to me, a callow youth at that time in his late teens. At the time I was a beginning student at Duke University. She encouraged me to take a world view and to take my studies seriously. At a dinner at her house in Boca Grande,upon learning that I spoke a modest level of French, she said she would send me an important book she had read titled "America Burns" (but in French) which warned that America, as the leader of the world, needed to take the highest moral positions. She insisted that I read it in French. Indeed, she sent me the book a few weeks later. I remember after leaving the dinner, I mentioned to my father that she had said she would send me a book. My father said, "You can count on it". I did labor over the book in French and learned a great deal about language. In fact, I have spent a happy career as a linguist.

Jane Englehard also adored my mother, who was a quiet and sweet-spirited homemaker in Boca Grande, hardly a jet-setter, but someone you simply wanted to be near. And Jane wanted to be near her. When my Dad died, Jane sent my mother an enormous flower arrangement and a pledge that if my mother ever needed anything, she would be there.

I am not sure of what other kindnesses Jane Englehard and her husband bestowed, but I am clear that they were wonderful to our family.

Should anyone like to get in touch with me regarding Charles and Jane Englehard, I would be happy to respond.