David Collins: Another distinguished Black graduate never celebrated by Connecticut College

Oct. 19—I wrote not long ago about two remarkable Black people who honed their artistry at Connecticut College, but despite the resounding acclaim they earned beyond the New London campus, have never been appropriately honored by the institution that helped shape them.

Indeed, painter Barkley Hendricks, who taught at the college for almost four decades, is a still-rising star in the international art community, his paintings now selling at auction for millions of dollars.

The college has done next to nothing to honor such a distinguished faculty member, who died in 2017.

Likewise, the Black writer Gayl Jones, a 1971 Connecticut College graduate who has been hailed as a literary genius who changed Black women's literature, has received no honors from the college.

A reader made me aware of another distinguished Black graduate of the college who never achieved the fame of Hendricks or Jones, but whose life work, first as a Navy hero, serving in three wars, and later, in his second career, teaching at Waterford High School for more than 20 years, inspired so many people.

Carl Kimmons, who joined a segregated Navy at a young age, essentially waiting on white officers as a mess steward, was stationed in Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked. He signed up for the submarine service for the duration of the war, earning numerous medals for his bravery in the silent service. He remained in the Navy through the Korean and Vietnam wars.

He rose through the enlisted ranks before attending school to become a commissioned officer, becoming the first Black officer in the submarine service.

The college did a brief profile of him in the school magazine in 2011, but there's no mention of him on the school's website.

Kimmons graduated magna cum laude from Connecticut College in 1973. He began attending after finishing his Navy tour as a lieutenant, having served locally aboard the Submarine Tender Fulton when it was stationed in New London and at the Submarine Base.

He earned his master's degree from the University of Connecticut before starting his second career, teaching young people at Waterford High School.

The dozens of tributes posted online with his 2016 obituary help tell the story of a man recalled by former shipmates and students as: "kind and gentle," "extremely gracious," the "best teacher at Waterford High School,' "amazingly profound," "a great role model," "a sweet man."

He flew as a hobby and kept a plane at Waterford Airport.

He volunteered at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital, where he was remembered for "his kindness and a smile that always greeted patients."

He also volunteered as a driving instructor for seniors, and one of his former pupils recalled how he taught her that you can't hit pedestrians even if they are walking where they shouldn't and the best way to merge onto the highway: "pick your spot and take it."

His former students recalled how, if he caught you running in the hallway, he made you go back to where you started and walk instead. When students started to get up from their seats when the bell would ring, he told them to sit back down, that the bell was only a reminder to the teacher that the time was up and he could excuse the students when he was ready.

"Being in his classroom was always my favorite part of the day," another student wrote, decades after she had left his classroom.

The accolades were just as rich from Kimmon's friends and colleagues from the Navy.

"Sailor, rest your oar. Your shipmates have the watch," some of them wrote, invoking the traditional Navy memorial tribute.

I wish Connecticut College could remember and celebrate the achievements of the many remarkable Black members of its community as it presides over what appears to many as an overwhelming white culture at its hilltop kingdom in New London.

This is the opinion of David Collins.

d.collins@theday.com