keeper of the Woods: Dr. Marr gives back to Grether
Emilie Lindermann
Issue date: 10/20/05 Section: Features
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By the light of a full yellowy moon, stand on one side of the brook near the Zeta Chi Friendship Bridge in Grether Woods.
"And looking into the vapor you'll see a portrait," Al Wangemann, curator of the Catherine M. Krueger Museum, says of the legend.
"In the mist of the brook you'll see the face of your intended: the man or woman you'll marry," clarifies Dr. Kathleen Rath Marr.
And she should know. Though Marr has yet to see a vaporous visage in the mists, she has devoted enough time to breathing in the vibrant colors, sounds, smells, and textures of the woods to earn the unofficial title of "Keeper of the Grether Woods."
Associate Professor of Biology and self described "faculty brat" (her father was the late Biology Professor, Dr. Rath), Marr has surrounded herself with the Grether Woods since her days living on campus as a child. She is as knowledgeable about the legend and lore, much of which dates back to the late 19th century as she is about the ecological makeup of the woods.
In fact, a chapter of her recently published book, "Into the (Grether) Woods," is devoted to the legend and lore of the Friendship Bridge. Dubbed "Across the Mists of the Brook," the essay relates the history surrounding the quaint legend.
The bridge over the brook began as a modest footbridge built in 1915. A yellowed newspaper clipping displayed in the Catherine M. Krueger Museum pays tribute to a gang of guys in sweaters, dubbed the "Fifteeners," who constructed the proto-Friendship Bridge.
Fast forward 60 years. The year 1975 marked the completion of the original Zeta Chi Friendship Bridge, built in honor of a fallen Zeta who found friendship in the fraternity before his untimely death at the age of 19.
Shawn Hansen, former Zeta Chi president, recalls the lore of the Friendship Bridge. "It was something of a Muskie folklore or a bit of an urban legend," he says from his California office desk over a telephone interview.
As a freshman pledge, Hansen remembers hearing of this legend from upperclassmen in the fraternity who had had a bit too much to drink. "I'm sure they saw anything in the full moon fog after a few beers."
When Hansen was an upperclassman, the bridge collapsed after a large oak tree fell during a storm. As president, he helped finance the rebuilding of the Friendship Bridge during the summer of 1994.