“In remembrance of Angus Armstrong McLees, class of 1992. At Guilford, Angus was a rugby player, honors student, philosopher, beer drinker, tree climber, resident advisor, and friend. After graduation he joined the Peace Corps, studied religion, became a djembe teacher, arborist, husband and father. On this campus and in the world, Angus lived the Guilford tradition of constructive action to make both better places. May his warm and generous spirit run naked through this majestic wilderness. Peace and Love.”

Just before the hilltop that overlooks Bryan Hall rests Angus’ memorial. Angus’ rock is a Guilford gem tucked by the corner of Milner dormitory and Founders Hall. Some students stroll past it and discover the awesome description of a man who embodied the true Guilford student, while others see the memorial as just a big rock.

“I pass this rock every day and I’d never read it,” said first-year Kyndall Kelly, “but it looks like he knew how to party and study.”

Small memorial plaques and tall paintings exist all around campus. Angus has the rock.

“That’s the king of rocks,” said senior Jamie Sisk. “Usually people get plaques, he got a rock. I wonder what the geology department thinks about that.”

The inscription describes to us a man who flourished in the many spheres of Guilford, whether it was academia, socializing, Community Senate, or athletics. Angus had an ability to balance life’s variety of fields. He was a renaissance man.

“I remember that Angus would bring out the best in his teachers,” said former Guilford professor of philosophy Tom Powell. “If he didn’t understand a concept, he would keep asking until he would understand. He helped me raise my game. I knew that if he wasn’t getting it, I wasn’t doing my job.”

Angus’ seriousness of purpose never weighed down his demeanor.

“He was hugely fun,” said Mark Sparling ’92 in an email interview. “I remember sliding on the icy slick roof of the gym with him late at night (there may or may not have been several bottles of King Cobra involved) … He’s one of the few people I’ve met louder than I am. He was never malicious, mean, or in any way caused harm (although his intensity could at times be overwhelming). He enriched the lives of everyone around him.”

To complement the rock, Angus’ friends dedicated a white oak tree. The tree grows while the rock remains permanent.

“We picked the rock and tree as classic symbols of strength and resilience, and life and growth,” said Sparling. “The rock was intended to be large — not a small brick with a small plaque, but something as large as Angus was in personality and physique.”

Perhaps the tree will provide enough shade so that a student and Angus can relax together.

“Maybe one day you would be able to sit on the rock and eat a sandwich,” said Glenn Lissner ’91.

Like Angus, one could be a remarkable athlete and at the same time write an honors thesis in French or liven up the party atmosphere and engage in Community Senate.

Are current students cookie-cutting themselves into particular expectations of certain majors or athletics? We must ponder whether Guilford students are generally losing the Angus spirit — a spirit of openness and diversity.

“I don’t know if anyone could run naked through the majestic wilderness,” said Sisk. “That takes a special person.”

Angus Armstrong McLees died of an illness on Oct. 7, 2003.

He exemplified a lightness of being and to us today represents a kind of genuine student essential to Guilford’s quirkiness.

“He was a rare combination of all of the best of people: tolerant and giving, combined with all of his mental and physical gifts, a total lack of ego, and his work and play hard ethic and positive attitude are still inspiring,” said Sparling.

We need more like Angus.

“It’s important to have people like Angus everywhere,” said Vance Ricks ’92, associate professor of philosophy.

As Angus signed his letters:

Peace and Love.