The 1970s were a period of ups and downs for the Friends School of Gloucester County (not yet called Friends School Mullica Hill). One of the highs came early in the decade when one of their students won the 44th Scripps National Spelling Bee! On June 10, Jonathan Knisely, who had begun at Woodbury Friends School student and had moved to Mullica Hill with his class, won the 44th Scripps National Spelling Bee. He was the first-ever student from New Jersey to win, but he wanted to use his moment of fame to say something beyond the world of spelling. So, after winning, Jonathan and his father, Samuel Knisely, joined the Quaker Peace Vigil in front of the White House protesting the continuance of the Vietnam War. As they predicted, their presence spurred national publicity to the Peace Vigil, including a story in the Washington Post. Jonathan would go on to study at Yale University and then the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He is now a radiation oncologist who teaches at the Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City.
In the 1960s and early 1970s, Woodbury Friends School and then Friends School Mullica Hill regularly participated in the National Spelling Bee. The first stage was a spelling bee within the School, which was organized for many years by Hanshi Deshbandhu, a sixth grade teacher at the time. The winner or winners of the school contest advanced to another event in Gloucester County, which was hosted most years by the Mullica Hill Grange. The winner of this spelling bee advanced to a regional competition of students in the greater Philadelphia area hosted by the Philadelphia Bulletin, a long-running but now defunct daily newspaper. The winner of this contest advanced to the National Finals in Washington, D.C.
The first Friends School student to advance to the National Final was Alexander Knisely who won the Greater Philadelphia regional in the Fall of 1968 and came in 17th in Washington, D.C. the following year. Alexander’s younger brother, Jonathan, won the local competition at the Mullica Hill Grange three years in a row, beginning when he was in sixth grade. On his third attempt, Jonathan, still only twelve years old, won the Greater Philadelphia National Spelling Bee regional and advanced to the finals, to be contested in the summer of 1971.
According to the Howard-Scripps Newspapers, which sponsored the National Spelling Bee, there more than seven and a half million participants in the 1970-1971 school year. By June, the number was down to 77. Jonathan and his seventy-six opponents travelled to Washington for the two-day competition, which was set to begin on Wednesday, June 9th. Jonathan survived the first day. On the second day, the contest came down to Jonathan and Susan O’Malley, a thirteen-year old from Phoenix, Arizona. According to J. Y. Smith’s story in the Washington Post, O’Malley stumbled over “gigot.” Smith understatedly wrote that gigot was a word the English language “has borrowed from the French, but not used much.” Smith said that Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary noted that “gigot” was pronounced “jigit” in English and “zheego” in French and was defined as “a leg (as of lamb or mutton) esp. when cooked.” O’Mally spelled the word incorrectly as “jigot.” Jonathan, however, still had to spell both gigot and a second word in order to win. He calmly spelled gigot and then “without hesitation” spelled correctly the word, “shalloon,” which the St. Petersburg (Florida) Times noted was named after a French town and meant “the fabric of a coat lining.”
Spelling, however, was not the only thing on Jonathan’s mind while he was in Washington, D.C. According to Jonathan’s later recollections, the “National Spelling Bee contestants were taken on a tour of the White House and went through a receiving line where I met Pat Nixon. I asked her (because Richard Nixon claimed Quakerism) when the last time she and President Nixon had attended meeting for worship. She didn’t answer the question, but talked about how they had attended many churches through the years.”
The next day, after Jonathan won, he knew that his victory would be covered in many newspapers and was a moment during which he might be able to do something than merely promote correct spelling. “After having won,” Jonathan recalled, “my father and I went over to the White House where Quakers were mounting a Vigil for Peace (protesting the war in Vietnam). I wanted to go and express solidarity and use my moment of fame to help promote peace.” As Jonathan and his father, Samuel Knisely, hoped, the visit was indeed covered in national and local media. Smith’s Washington Post story was particularly extensive.
Jonathan Peter Knisely is only 12 and it was only on Thursday that he won the 44th National Spelling Bee. So what did this laconic tow-head of an eighth-grader who likes to play baseball do next?
Well, first he called on Sen. Clifford P. Case (R ) of his home state of New Jersey (“He was really proud of me”). Then he joined the Quaker Peace Vigil on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House. That was also on Thursday.
Yesterday, between a luncheon where he missed a chance to eat, and an appointment with photographers, he went back to the peace vigil.
“If the war isn’t stopped, I might have to go to Vietnam if I can’t become a CO,” he explained. “I’m almost old enough to draft, and if the war doesn’t end soon, I may have to go kill someone.”
Jonathan is a Quaker. As he spoke, he stood behind a sign that read: “We utterly deny all outward wars and strife…. for any end… Quaker Peace Testimony.”
Asked if that accurately represented his views, the boy hesitated. “Well,” he said, “I have to admit that I get into a couple of fights a week with my brothers and sisters.”
But no, he added, he really is against war. Not just the war in Vietnam, but all wars.
Now that he is a spelling champion, it appears that Jonathan is expected to know about all manner of things.
One reporter even asked him to comment on President Nixon’s statement yesterday that he would not compel rich suburbs to accept housing projects for the poor.
This was obviously a long way from Jonathan’s particular area of expertise, so his father, Samuel, a glassblower who makes scientific instruments for an oil company, stepped in and said:
“He really doesn’t know anything about this. He’s never been exposed to it. He goes to an integrated school.”
That integrated school was, of course, the Friends School of Gloucester County (soon to be called Friends School Mullica Hill).
This historical entry is part of a series chronicling the history of Friends School Mullica Hill on the occasion of the School’s 50th anniversary. The entries begin with the first arrival of Quakers in the region and continue all the way to the present under the leadership of the School’s ninth Head, Matt Bradley.
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