"Paris remains the most beautiful city in the world," wrote Edwin Morse in 1986 - fifty years after he had traveled to Paris as part of the University of Delaware's Foreign Study Group.
Morse was one of 35 students who traveled to Paris as part of their junior year abroad, and one of the dozen alumni who returned to Paris for the group's 50th reunion. Though the original group became widely scattered after WWII, Morse tracked down many of its members and, beginning in 1970, began publishing an alumni newsletter. The Nouvelles du XIVe Groupe Delaware reunited many of the original participants, creating, Morse said, "an amazingly cohesive group of people."
The 14th Delaware Foreign Study Group, consisting of nine men and twenty-six women, came from various American colleges and universities. They studied together at Tours, and then at the Sorbonne. Two members - J. Edward Davison and Richard Schultz - were UD students, but, as Morse wrote, "in a way we were all quasi-alumni(ae) of the University of Delaware."
In 1970, Morse began his efforts to make contact with other members of the group, resulting in a series of reunions that culminated in the 50th reunion in Paris. Among those who traveled to Paris in 1986 was Bill Thompson, who married one of the Group's original students. Thompson brought his sketch pad along, and Morse included scenes of Paris in a post-reunion newsletter.
Group members had fond memories of their time in Paris, and enjoyed re-visiting the city. Among the recollections and impressions:
One senses a feeling of 'looking forward'...City generally more beautiful than my recollection. (Hope Myers)
People are courteous and helpful --seeming to understand Americans whose French is rusty! (Boone Staples Young)
The 'esprit gaulois' is still alive: taxi drivers try to come as close as possible to an errant pedestrian without touching same! (Jane Thompson)
And from Edwin Morse: Paris reste la plus belle ville du monde.
