Mark Keller had probably done every possible job both at the Yale and Rutgers Centers, small and big. Going through the Mark Keller Papers again feels like a blast from the past, as they are now safely stored in the Libraries Annex.
In one of the boxes I was pleased to find something that used to be in my office at the Center: the shiny photo album commemorating Keller’s Recognition Dinner held in 1977, full of colorful snapshots of the event. The photos capture the ceremonial part with the illustrious guests from all over the world, such as Marty Mann, Brinkley Smithers, Griffith Edwards, and Jorge Mardones, along with Rutgers celebrities at that time and soon-to-be big names in the field alike. The skilled photographer also seized the odd moment here and there to reflect the general atmosphere.
Among the gentlemen in black suits and tie, a short-haired woman wearing a striking red dress stands out in a few pictures. Even without the caption providing names to each photo, the similarities are unmistakable: the chiseled nose and jawline, the slightly tilted neck, and the almost-smirk smile. She is Ruth Gay Surry, E. M. Jellinek’s daughter, caught on camera.
Her red dress attracts the eye in many pictures, but my favorite is the one featuring Keller with “the Bunky,” i.e., Jellinek’s bust, which comes with the Jellinek Memorial Award, the highest-ranking recognition in the field of alcohol studies. Ms. Surry looks pleased as Keller shares the moment with her and her husband.
Other than her tragic death, there’s not too much known about Ruth Surry, whose mother, Thelma Pierce was Jellinek’s second wife. The couple met at Yale, and after their divorce, Thelma kept in touch with Mark Keller as proven by their fascinating correspondence. A lot of what we know about Jellinek as a person is from Thelma and Ruth, as the latter was also commissioned by the Smithers Foundation to look into the details of Jellinek’s life. A brief summary she submitted leaves many blanks in the Jellinek biography, calling researchers and the public for speculations to date.
The final, full-page image in the album, this photo concludes the story of Mark Keller’s Recognition Dinner as told by the moments captured at the event and additional, related items in RUcore.