About the Author

Harry B. Schooley is a native of the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania, which he still considers "home." He is the oldest of four siblings, who grew up with pet ducks and later a toucan. He has loved birds ever since as demonstrated by his celebrated drawings of “Birds Audubon Missed.” His life-long love of history was inspired by his parents, who were both actively involved in local history-related organizations and projects. When Harry was in high school and college, he spent summers at the local historical society in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, working in the archives, doing research, and assisting museum operations.

Harry graduated from Wyoming Seminary in 1963. He also attended Camberwell High School in Australia as an exchange student from 1962 to 1963. He earned a B.A. degree from Williams College in 1967 in American Civilization (history and literature). While he was at Williams College, he won a college prize for a paper he had written on the Connecticut-Pennsylvania territorial conflict for control of northeastern Pennsylvania. Another college research paper which he wrote about a Pennsylvania miners’ strike in 1897 was later published in the historical journal Slovakia.

Harry continued his education with summer studies at Canisius College, SUNY Buffalo, SUNY Potsdam, Georgetown University, and the University of Oxford. He also did graduate work at Canisius College in Education and Administration prior to going to the Hathaway Brown School in Shaker Heights, Ohio, where he was Head of the Upper School, Chairman of the History Department, and modern European History teacher from 1979 to 1984.

Most of Harry Schooley’s career has been spent at Buffalo Seminary. He arrived in 1967 and taught the freshman World Civilization course for twelve years, the sophomore-level Modern European History course for 26 years, United States History for five years, and numerous senior electives: Ancient Mystery, Historical Novels, The French Revolution and Napoleon, British History, histories of Russia and China, The World since 1945, Economics, and Fact and Fiction. He also simultaneously taught two Advanced Placement courses – AP Modern European History and AP Art History.

In addition to his academic responsibilities, Harry Schooley has been advisor to the Drama Club (1967 - 1970), advisor to the Student Council (1984 - 2010), and has acted in numerous school plays and musicals, as well as performing in many Morning Meeting events that became beloved traditions, including Signore Schoolini’s Columbus Day Tribute, the reading of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” and the recitation of the Gettysburg Address. Forty-three years after first teaching at Sem, Mr. Schooley has retired, to the great surprise of his students who expected him to continue forever.

His interests away from school are reading (history), writing, bicycling, model railroading, and communing with his cockatiel, Churchill. Harry met his lovely wife, Lon, when they were high school students at Wyoming Seminary, and, as they say, “the rest is history.”

F. Curtis Miles,

Buffalo Seminary, Class of 1972