Bob Wise , pictured at an Old Johnsonians reunion .
Above : Johnsons House in 1955 , with legendary Housemaster Ernie Groves and his wife Marjorie ( and Bob , inset ).
REMINISCENCES OF A JOHNSONS BOY
Carol Forder was a great mentor and careers adviser to me . I really wanted to go to the Royal Naval College Dartmouth . Forder very bluntly told me : ‘ Forget it , you do not have the academic capability and you will only be disappointed .’ What he did say , however , was that if I really wanted to go to sea , why didn ’ t I join the Merchant Navy ? So it was . I took the entrance exam to Warsash Maritime School and with the help of Jockey White I got a place . I graduated one year later and joined a shipping company as an indentured cadet on the princely sum of nine pounds per month with all found !
After about ten years at sea I was married with a son and not enjoying being away three months at a time . I swallowed the anchor and started life in the City of London . It was horrible , so I changed professions again into the fast-developing world of radio communications which eventually took me to Hong Kong for five years with RCA , a US company . I was recalled to the USA and I have been here ever since . I retired to Texas in 2004 when my wife said she wanted to go home to be with her family .
At school , I was very much involved in the plays with Carol Forder . It was fun and with rugby , cricket and other sporting activities it ’ s a wonder I passed any exams at all !
Ernie Groves at Johnsons was a huge influence in my life . He and his wife Marjorie were the rocks that made it such a great boarding house and taught me so much and , although I didn ’ t realise it at the time , attitude changing . Ernie Groves took a personal interest and enormous pride in all who were under his wing . We still see his daughter Pat at some of the Old Johnsonian reunions and it always reminds me of what a good teacher , mentor and friend he was to all who knew him .
Bob Wise ( OS 1953 )
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