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THOMAS A. MUSANTE '61
I chose to attend Trinity because the Hartford Fire Insurance Co. gave me a full scholarship as the first "Hartford Insurance" Scholar. They withdrew my scholarship after my second year because I had married and they felt my life choices made it evident that I had no future in the insurance business. Trinity did not abandon me but continued with a partial scholarship and loans and my wife and I paid for the last two years with Pat working at the Aetna and me driving an armored car during the winter and Good Humor during the summer...A footnote: The Hartford was not wrong at the time. And several years later after a short career in the State Department in the Foreign Service I did enter the insurance business. Over the years I built a reasonably successful insurance agency with the help of our daughter Heather and segued my way into retirement with a happy merger with Webster Financial that provided for Heather and her future and me and mine.
My fondest Trinity memories are many. Many of them are in the lyrics to 'our song' --"Moments to Remember"..."The quiet walks, the noisy fun, the ball room prize we almost won". In the last instance we did win the prize at the Freshman formal when we announced our engagement.
Due to my work schedule during the Trinity experience, I must confess that I enjoyed my time in the classroom more than the social life. I commuted by bike much of the time and left campus in the dark. Fact is that I enjoyed being a student.
I had a number of favorite professors: certainly John Dando and his reading of poetry, J. Bard McNulty with Chaucer, Mike Campo and his enthusiasm and youth, and John Stewart or Stuart and his love for the poetry of math which I could not grasp but did appreciate. Ken Cameron was our first landlord and inspired me with his love of Thoreau.
Something I learned at Trinity and never forgot is the value of being prepared for each assignment. This has impacted my professional life and caused me to be able to be focused on the task at hand. I never learned to multi-task and I do not regret this.
I remain connected to Trinity in ways that Trinity does not know. I seldom visit at official functions but do come to the campus when I am in the area to breathe the air and remember other times.
Most memorable book has to be Walden Pond. I carry it in my head when I am on the Cape walking the beach, or when driving from the Cape in the difficult traffic.
I do give modestly to Trinity and have done so over the years. But true largess will have to wait. My decision many years ago as a beneficiary of financial aid was to be sure that my children would not require the assist. As it happens, one of our daughters did choose Trinity, Heather, '83, and it gave me pleasure to pay the full bill.
Our other daughter decided to go elsewhere and again it was my pleasure to pay the full freight. It is my intent to help our grandchildren as they enter college. When that is done...Maybe Emerson and "Self Reliance" as it might encompass family for "self" is still with me.
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