DR. DAVID SHI

David: Well in many respects, White Oaks became the front door to Furman University. It was one of the first places all the freshman were to visit as a group, and was the public face of Furman in that every year over 100 events are hosted at White Oaks. Most of them are university events but also events on behalf of Greenville organizations and Greenville charities. So literally thousands of people circulate through White Oaks and its beautiful grounds each year, not only learning about Furman, but also learning about White Oaks and the Daniel bequest.

           So over the years, I think its safe to say that we along with others in the Furman community tried to humanize White Oaks. Probably the foremost example of that is the annual freshman picnic that occurs at White Oaks. The 700 some odd freshman are shuttled out here from campus by buses. So we solicited volunteers among the orientation staff, the so-called “O-Staff.” These are mostly sophomores. They readily agreed and they positioned themselves around the various rooms around the house. But over the years we began to realize that the sophomores developed a mythical ritual in that as they welcomed the freshmen into each room, they developed increasing elaborate stories about what happened in White Oaks over the years, after the Daniels moved in.  With each passing year they told incredibly outrageous stories and tales about what supposedly happened in this house: that it was haunted, that the former presidents ashes are in the urns above the mantle, that Mary Poppins was filmed here, that the Daniels had a daughter who supposedly committed suicide by jumping off the 3rd floor. Unfortunately the stories became so outlandish that the freshman, naïve as they were, accepted them as they were. Many of them that very evening rushed to call home and tell their parents about this haunted home where the Furman President lives.

            We also developed an annual routine of inviting a senior student or two to live in the guest cottage by the pool. Those students became part of our extended family and also helped us out on various occasions when we had special parties and events at White Oaks. We also created what we called the White Oaks Concierge Team, and these were student volunteers who would help us orchestrate big events, whether it was trustee dinners or large parties for alumnae. We would have 10 or 12 students who readily volunteered, in fact we had so many who wanted to do it that we had to turn them away. But they too became part of the extended White Oaks experience and part of the Shi family. We have a number of students who actually had a passionate interest in organizing social events and preparing the food. And a number of our students were exceptionally talented in food preparation and event management. Several of them have gone on to have promising careers in that field as a result.

            The student gatherings were always the favorite. We would invite the Bell Tower Boys, they would perform Christmas carols here for the students. They very creatively transformed the Mr. Grinch song into President Shi. Very funny. Very entertaining. Students loved it. Very good spoof of the president.

            The Furman President has the benefit of having great support. Both staff support faculty support student support and alumnae support. We had a White Oaks team, that is we had a woman named Barbra Kaminski who was the inside staff member at White Oaks who helped prepare the house for all of the public functions that it provides. Then we had an outside team of gardeners and handy men who took care of the grounds. At the same time, Susan Shi as first lady of Furman assumed primary responsibility for coordinating and organizing the events. She did a fantastic job preparing for literally scores of events each year whether it was a small luncheon with a donor or visitor, or whether it was an event on behalf of the community where we might have 1000 people here. She was primarily responsible for organizing, planning, and coordinating the events. My role was to show up and smile.

            Several months after I became president I suggested that the dozen or so college or universities that were beneficiaries of the Daniel’s philanthropy, that we produce a book honoring the Daniels. They all readily agreed and we proceeded to do so. The process of producing that book necessarily generated a lot more information about the Daniel family, about White Oaks, and about their commitment to philanthropy.

            When Mr. and Mrs. Daniels still lived here they host then vice-president Richard Nixon, and we call one of the bedrooms where he slept the Nixon bedroom.

            Probably one of the most interesting structural feature of White Oaks is the hidden staircase, and I love to alert students that there was such a hidden aspect to White Oaks, even though the students would later embellish that with fictitious stories about the role of the hidden staircase, it actually is part of the main stair case in the foyer. That is, up on the second level there is a door, along the turning staircase, with a private staircase down to the kitchen. It was designed with the purpose of allowing the serving staff when the Daniels were hosting parties to be able to go up and down between the main floor and the second floor without interrupting the party. So it was intended for servicing purposes. Another secret aspect of White Oaks that few people know about because it is hidden in the bowels of the basement is a huge walk-in bank vault. When we moved in in 1994 we discovered that inside the bank vault was a room about 8 ft. by 12 ft. in dimensions and it were cases of wine and champagne that the Daniels had accumulated over the years. In addition there was a gallon mason jar of moonshine that somehow the Daniels had acquired. We don’t know the story of how or why. Also there were dozens of bottles of old whiskey dating back to the 1920s. The most interesting of which was called Ye Old Puritan Whiskey.

            White Oaks was a magisterial gift to Furman from Mrs. Daniels after her death. She was far sighted enough not only to leave the home to the university, but  to leave a substantial endowment to subsidize the expense of owning the home. It is a perfect location for Furman events that Furman’s president necessarily hosts, and we were able to make effective use of it not only behalf of the extended Furman family, but also on behalf of the Greenville community.