"To some he was a teacher or a student counselor and leader, to others a civic gad-fly like Socrates whom he admired greatly, to others a champion of the poor, the underprivileged and dispossessed. To me he was a constant associate and companion for almost twenty years."--Page 36Dean Thomas A. Brady (in address at Memorial Service, Memorial Student Union, November 2, 1958)

Brady, Thomas A.

University of Missouri: MOspace

Jesse E. Wrench 1882-1958 " For it is difficult to say ne ither too li1tl c n or too much : and even mod rat ion is apt no t 10 g ive the impress ion o f truthfulness. The fri end of the dead who knows the facts is likely 10 think that th e words or th e spea ke r fa ll sho rt of hi s knowledge o f hi s 11·ishess; another who is not so we ll informed , wh ·n he hea rs of anything whi ch surpasses hi s own powe rs, will be e nvious and will suspect exaggeration. Man-kind arc to lerant: of the praises o f oth ers so long as ach hea rer thinks that he can do as well or near ly as we ll himself, b111 when th e dead is beyond him , je;tl o usl y is aro used and he beg ins to be incred ulous." T/111cydides-.fuwell ~.3 5. I remember first hearing these words frnrn that matchl ess Funera l Oration auributed to Pericl es whe n Professor \Vrench read it to a class in Ear ly Europea n History in the fa ll of 1920. T he other on e that stays with me, he did no t hal'C: to re..id-h e kn ew it by hea rt.. He sa id it over and over in the memorable lectures he g,11·c o n the relig ion of the Hebrews : " I ha1c . I cl cspi ,c yo 111 feas1s. \nd I will 1ake 11 0 dcligh1 i11 )Ol lr so lemn as-sc1111Jli es. Ye;i . 1h o ugh ye offe r 111c IJ11rn 1-olf rings a nd yo 111 meal o ffe rings , I wi II 1101 accep1 1 hc111 : :'-/eit her will I regard 1hc pcacc-offe ri11gs of yo 111 fa1 hcas1 s. Take 1h o 11 away frolll 111 e 1lic noise of thy songs: Fo r I wi 11 11 01 hea r I he me lody of th y vio ls. Bu l lei justice well up as waters, .\ nd rig h1 co1 1rncss as a might y s1rca 111. " (A111 os V-King Jarn s Version) Having wa nder ·d with him so many times through al l the by-paths of hi story, especia ll y of wes tern so-cie1y before ' :>oo A. I> . , I ha , ·e felt confident, for a lo ng time, tha1 n o one comma nded th e admirat ion o r Professo r \!\Tre n ch as did the proph e t Amos. He .,ce rn ed 10 reg;ml the O ld T es tament prophe ts as b lood-bro th e rs . He lik ed whal they said- and the way th ey said it. H c cou Id q uotc, too, lo ng passages from .J eremiah and Isa iah as we ll as A mos and Ho ·ea. Down through the ages, we made that journey to-gether so man y tim es- from Khufu to Thothm es and Ramses- through Sargo n and Hammurabi , T iglath Pil ese r and Ashurbanipa l- David , So lomon, Cyrus and Darius, ;rnd on into the Greeks and Romans. T hen int o th e M iddl e Ages, where hi s knowledge got d eeper and d eeper, with a nod to St. Benedi ct and Alcuin , St. Be rnard and Lou is IX . Step by step we went down throug h th e defenes tration o[ Prague and the beginning of Mod ern Eu rope w here we both be-ga II to I ose in tc res r. To some he was a teache r o r a stud ent counse lor ;1 nd lead er, to others a c ivic gad -ri y like Socra tes whom he admired greatly, to others a champion o r th e poor, the underprivil eged and dispossessed. To me he was ;i constant assoc iate and companion for a lmost twenty years. Always, he wanted Lo give-advice, books, hi s tim e ,tnd labo r, assista nce and courtesies of ;ill kinds. Bu t you cou ld ne ,·e r re pa y him . Not: on ly cli.d he not. expect it- he wo uld not allow it. H e taught a ll m y cla sses for a m onth o r m ore one yea r when 1 was ill. But never, in a ll our association, did he ask or wou Id he eve n a I low me to ta kc a class o( hi s more th<1n once or twice . Those who thought o r him as o nl y an eccentric-they neve r knew him- for the y saw on ly hi s clothes. T he ma11 beneath was as vital and human as any man wh o ever li ved- impul sive at times, and burst-ing with action, li vi ng a l a tr mendous pace no mat-ter what he did. H e had ;111 exce llent tra ining and a lin e talclll for scholarship but wr iting, for him , was a chore . It immobilized him- it was too sedentary-and he was li ke a man who h ad inside him an eng in e 1 hat, it seemed then , wou ld never run down. T he p hi -losophers had liule attrac tion for him , unless like Socrates o r St. Bernard , they were m en of action . H e first taught me to love and admire th e great St. Am-b rose o f Mi lan and my adm irat io n ha s continued to thi s da y. Somewhere among hi s pape rs there was once a great stack of manuscript, tra nslat ions from that large co ll ec tion o f medieva l Latin d ocumems we ca ll the Monumenta G ermaniae Historica . He r ·ad and translated , the n fi l d them away. But .J. E., as we ca lled him , had a noth er ca reer in addition LO his work as professor o f hi story and man y here wi ll remember him chi e fl y for that.. 1 was with him in 19 30 wh e n he exca vated some rock shelters a long the Sac Ri ver a nd began hi s career as th e foun -der o[ the Missouri A rchaeo logical Society. Professo r Branson who was with u s is gone now but Professor 1 (chi is with us, having on ly recentl y re tired . To me it was a lot of fine dust, h a rd digging, and a good tim e with a fin e group o( men. To me, the ske letons fou nd there we re just bones. But .J . E. tenaciously held o n a ncl pushed hi s id ea tha l the pre-E uropean stage o f' M isso uri 's hi story must be d iscovered and preserved. \V ith Lil e he lp or Car l C hapman ct nd many c iti1e11s o f th e stat , he saw thi s work reach a g lor io us stage o f' d eve lopment wh n he was chose n on October 12 to be pres ide nt of the Soc ie ty for the 2r-, th time. T hi s work of hi s bids fair to rcr1c h away out int o 1h e future- fa r beyond w here we ca n sec. A few yea rs ago o ne o f' m y classmates who hr1d r1 1-1end cd .J. E.'s co u rses when I d id wr1s Pres ident of o ur Board o f' C urators. H e began, even be fore Pro-fesso r vVre nch ret ired , LO co ll ec t a fund for the en -dowment or scholarshi1 s Lo be n am d for him. T hat fund, a l1h o ug h not ye t a large one, is th ere today wa iting for those of us who kn ew him and loved him to build iL up LO where it wi ll ca rry on hi s pr;1 ctice of' helping poor boys get throug·h schoo l. l .itt le did we think , whe n Powell Mc H a ney m ined t hi s f'1111d , fESSE E. WRENCH , perh a ps the most o lorf' 11l m em-ber of' the U ni versity faculty a nd ce rtainl y th e one bes t known to most stude nts, co ntinu ed hi s man y interes ts LO the last. Dea th came to him in hi s sleep at th e ;:ige or 76 on the night or October 14 . Ear li er th at night he had a u end ed a Un ited Na1ions le Lure in .J esse uditorium. T he cla y be fore, he had been re-e lected to beg in his twem y- fifth year as pres ident or the M issouri A rch aeo logica I Soc iety, a n orga ni zat ion he had helped to found. H e was prominent in act iv iti es o n and off th e cam -pus from t he tim e he j o in ed the fac ulty in 19 1 1. H e beca m e a full professor of hi story in 1930 a nd Pro-fesso r Emeritus in 1953 w h e n he ret ired after fort y-two years of Leaching s rv ice. His greatest concern wa · always !"o r t he swclent a nd he oversaw stud ent elections, chaperoned d ances, sponsored the Tig-cr C laws pep qu ad, and . founded t he "Wrench \l\lr:111 -g lers" wh ich beca me th basis for the "Thund ering T housa nd ." Four stude nt coopera ti ve hou ses arc due in great part to hi s efforts . Upon hi s re tirem ent th e Missouri L egislature passed a reso luti o n citing Profes -sor vVrcn ch as "a symbol o f' t he U ni vers it y itse lf. " He came LO Missouri from Syra cuse Un iversity where he had b e n an in stru ctor in hi story. H e stud ied a year at the Ame ri ca n Schoo l of' Arc haeo logy in J e rusal em before rece iving a n .-\.B. d egree from Cornel l U ni vers it y in 1903. H e wets a m ember o( Phi Beta Kappa . In 1907-08 he was with a Corne ll ex pedi -tion to Assyria a nd Babylonia . In 1930 he partic ipated in excavation o [ Indian sites a long the Sac River, a branch o f th e O sage River. In 1933 Professor Wrench helped set up an archaeo log-ical survey o f Missouri. U n t il ill hea lth limited hi s a tivities in 1950 he participated in many fi e ld expe-ditions in Missouri. B efore the d ays oE counse ling, Professor \ l\lrench was the unofficia l adv iser to students, a nd a ltho ugh he could be som ething of a disciplinarian in hi s ow n right, he often took a strong stand b es ide the students. For a period o f twenty years he was a familiar fi g ure that Professo r Wre nch wo uld 011tlil'C him by ove r a yea r. I ca nnot te ll yo u of' hi s charit ies and th e he lp he g·ave to peo pl e who need ed help . Some o f the boys he he lped 10 ge l an edu cation I know b ca u se they rh e mse lves hal'c to ld me. Many, many other such 1hings he did I d o not know bcca11 se he wo uld nel'er te ll an yo ne. But there ;ire ;1 lot of people in thi s slate-a nd o utside it- w ho know these things and wi 11 long cheri sh hi s memory. For myself, I ca n on ly say, he was a dear fri end and companio n and I wi ll a lways che ri sh m y m emory of him . And to yo u who ca me here today to he lp us rem ember and honor him I g ive m y thank s. In an age whe n 100 man y think on ly of' th emselves, his shining exa mpl e shou ld make us all wish to be nobler rn en . - /)n 111 Tlirn11(1S A. Brndy, in (Ir/dress o l MP 1norinl Semiff, Memori(I / S/11de'III U11io11 , N011Pmber 2, 1958. g uarding th e door during regisLntion. H e was known as 1he Missouri ligers' mo ·t av id booster , and never mi ssed a pep rally . For yea rs Professor and M rs. \l\lrcn ch were advisers o f' 1hc U ni vers ity Cosmopolitan C lub ; they were "Iv! issour i parents" of man y fore ign students. Professor Wrench's Van Dyke beard, hi s fl ow ing hair a11d, in ar li e r yea rs hi s no n-con[ormis1 11-1anne r of dress, m;1de him an e; 1s y mark for M. U. r;1rwo ni sls . For yea rs he wore kni cke rs because he found th em 10 be more comfonab le; he wore a cape b 'Cause it was less troubl e th a n an overcoat. H e pre f rrcd a be re t as h eadgea r, but he often wore a hairne t 10 kee p hi s ha ir from blowing in a ll direnions. A bicyc le was hi s mo d e of transportation for yea rs before he finall y "graduated" LO a n a utomobile. For all his eccentri citi es, Professor Wre nch was 111 th e las t ana lysis a tru ly con ·erva ti ve educator and a st imul a ting teacher who was highl y effecti,·e in th e classroom. H e was aut hor o f "The March o f' C ivi li zat ion," a hig h schoo l tex tbook published in 1929, a nd was co-a uthor o f' ;;, m crican C iti zenship Pra cti ce," 192fi. H e was a m ember o f' A lpha Pi Zeta, th Ameri an Historical ssoc ia ti on, America n Assoc iation of Un i-ve rs ity Professors, M issouri Histo1 ica l Soc ie ty, a nd th e Misso uri State Teachers Associc1 1i on. Acti ve in th e National Associat ion f'or the Advancement of Co lored Peopl e, he recently had been made a li fe membe r nf the Columbia chapter. Mr. Wrench was born in North Afton, N. Y. 0 11 September 10, 1882, the son o f Marquis d e l.a fay ell.e and Sara Minor Wrench . He was a descendant of ~1 Hopkins w ho ca me over on the Mayflower; another anc sLOr, Stephen Hopkins, was a signer of' th e Uec-larat ion o f Jnclependence; and hi s g randmother was a Hopkins wh o married a Wren ch . On Febn rnry 26, 1906, he married th e former Miss .J ane Sh un r, w ho survives. H e a lso leaves a daughter, Mrs. W. H . H el-le r (Ayes ha Wrench ) '3r-,, of Co lumbi a; two siste rs ,111d two brothers. 

Jesse E. Wrench : 1882-1958

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Jesse E. Wrench : 1882-1958

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