by Barbra Alan
Lee Mason
“The trouble with retirement is that you never get a day off,” the late college basketball coach Abe Lemons once quipped. And that’s just how Bernard “Lee” Mason ’65 likes it.
Retiring six years ago after a career as a principal, an educator, and a coach was bittersweet for Mason. “I finally had time to do what I had wanted to do: work on the house, play golf, and build stone walls,” he said. “But I missed working with people.” Now, Mason has achieved the balance he sought in retirement. Working a few days a week at the local hardware store allows him to get to know more of his neighbors and catch up on town activities. Serving on the New Hampshire International Speedway’s victory lane committee gives the avid race fan a chance to help promote the speedway and interact with the drivers. Working one or two days a week at the New Hampshire House of Representatives as a doorkeeper allows him to use his people skills, helping the sergeant-at-arms maintain order and decorum among legislators and civilians. It also gives Mason, who has a passion for politics, a unique perspective on the legislative process, giving him the opportunity to listen to debates, learn about key issues in the state, and talk with legislators.
As if all this wasn’t enough to keep him busy, Mason also serves on numerous boards, including the Coe-Brown Northwood Academy Board of Trustees. And, fortunately for Plymouth State University, making time to serve his alma mater is a priority for Mason, who is also the father of two PSU alumni. Since 2005, he has been a member of the Plymouth State University Alumni Association board of directors and was recently named the board’s chair-elect. “I’ve had a very rewarding career because of Plymouth State, and I feel that this is a way of giving something back,” he said.
The Unlikely Student
Lee Mason never intended to go to college. In his hometown of North Stratford, NH, “you either went to work in the mill or you entered the military,” he said. Mason did both, entering the Air Force right out of high school and working in a plywood mill after the service. When a friend and coworker who was heading to Plymouth Teachers College (PTC) to take the entrance exam invited him to ride along, Mason accepted, “just for something to do,” he recalled.
But he ended up doing more than going along for the ride, thanks to Dr. Norton Bagley, a faculty member and PTC ’41 alumnus. Bagley urged the young man to take the entrance test, and that encouragement changed the course of Mason’s life. He passed the test and matriculated at the college in fall 1961, paying for tuition with money he had earned working at the mill.
As a 22-year-old former GI, Mason was a few years older than his classmates and lived off campus with other former GIs above the local laundromat. To finance his education, he worked a variety of jobs around town, including driving a school bus for Plymouth High School, which, at the time, was located on the college campus; working at a local funeral home; working as an orderly at Speare Memorial Hospital; and serving as resident caretaker of Tobey’s Motor Court.
Mason fondly remembers what the campus was like when he was a student. “It was small and everyone knew everyone. Blair Hall was new, all of our classes were held at Rounds Hall, and we all congregated at Mary Lyon because that’s where the girls were.” Mason also recalls seeing Yankees right fielder Roger Maris hit his record-breaking 61st home run on the television set in Mary Lyon in October 1961.
After graduating from college, Mason embarked on a long, fulfilling career in education—first as a teacher and coach, then as principal at the elementary school, middle school, and high school levels. He retired as principal at Fred C. Underhill School in Hooksett, NH, in 2001.
“I’ve had a very rewarding career because of Plymouth State, and I feel that this is a way of giving something back.”
Come Back to PSU
When he visits the PSU campus today, Mason is proud of how his alma mater has grown, both in size and in scope, since his days as a student. He hopes his fellow alumni also will reacquaint themselves with their alma mater, whether through volunteerism or just visiting the campus again. “We’ve got the best professors, students, and programs around,” he said. “Come back and see what has grown since you were here.”
