Teacher from Kenmore recalls Obama was a focused student

When Barack Hussein Obama places his hand on the Bible today to take the oath of office as 44th president of the United States, Barbara Nelson of Kenmore will undoubtedly think back to the day he was born. It was Aug. 4, 1961, at Kapi’olani Medical Center for Women & Children in Honolulu.

“I may be the only person left who specifically remembers his birth. His parents are gone, his grandmother is gone, the obstetrician who delivered him is gone,” said Nelson, referring to Dr. Rodney T. West, who died in February at the age of 98. Here’s the story: Nelson was having dinner at the Outrigger Canoe Club on Waikiki Beach with Dr. West, the father of her college friend, Jo-Anne. Making conversation, Nelson turned to Dr. West and said: “‘So, tell me something interesting that happened this week,’” she recalls.

His response: “Well, today, Stanley had a baby. Now that’s something to write home about.”

The new mother was Stanley (later referred to by her middle name of Ann) Dunham, and the baby was Barack Hussein Obama.

“I penned the name on a napkin, and I did write home about it,” said Nelson, knowing that her father, Stanley A. Czurles, director of the Art Education Department at Buffalo State College, would be interested in the “Stanley” connection.

She also remembers Dr. West mentioning that the baby’s father was the first black student at the University of Hawaii and how taken he was by the baby’s name.

“I remember Dr. West saying ‘Barack Hussein Obama, now that’s a musical name,’” said Nelson, who grew up in Kenmore and went to Hawaii in 1959 to be in Jo-Anne’s wedding party. When Nelson was offered a job as a newspaper reporter and photographer......

Vol. 55, No. 10 / October 22, 2009
Czurles-Nelson Gallery Dedication October 28

By Mary A. Durlak

The campus community is invited to a special ceremony celebrating the official dedication of the Czurles-Nelson Gallery, the main art gallery in Upton Hall, on Wednesday, October 28, at 5:00 p.m.

The gallery honors Stanley A. Czurles, the late SUNY Distinguished Service Professor of art education, who founded Buffalo State’s art education program when he began his career at the college in 1931. The program has since become one of the largest and most respected in the country; alumni teach in all 50 states and around the world. The program has also evolved into the college’s five visual arts programs: art conservation, art education, design, fine arts, and interior design.

Through a combination of current and planned gifts, Czurles’s daughter, Barbara L. Czurles Nelson, and her husband, Donald J. Nelson, have established a gift commensurate with Dr. Czurles’s legacy. Since 1980, the couple has contributed annually to the Stanley A. Czurles Award for Excellence in Art Education. Now they will award six scholarships every year: five will go to one student in each of the five visual arts programs; the sixth will go a student in the Music Department. An endowment will allow the scholarships to be given in perpetuity. An additional annual sum will support the gallery itself.

The dedication ceremony will include remarks by Interim President Dennis K. Ponton; Benjamin C. Christy, dean of the School of Arts and Humanities; Susanne P. Bair, vice president for institutional advancement and executive director of the Buffalo State College Foundation; and Barbara Czurles Nelson.

The Czurles-Nelson Gallery is currently exhibiting works by Buffalo State’s Fine Arts faculty. An opening reception will follow the dedication. The exhibition is on view through November 5.

http://www.buffalostate.edu/bulletin/acrosscampus.xml?aid=2134

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