Still, encouraging the arts--even if that meant letting students scrawl with paintbrushes along the walls of the labyrinthine tunnel system--bears fulfilling fruit.

"For 20 years, Adams graduates are a who's who in theater, music [and] journalism," Kiely boasts.

And House residents say they relished the Kielys' support of eccentricity and what that meant for artistic expression in the House.

Doug Fitch '82 says he was always amazed by the extent to which the Kielys would encourage his and other students' artistic pursuits, despite his somewhat bizarre projects and often disastrous results.

One particularly memorable project, he recalls, was a plan to create a foam rubber teapot, which necessitated something from which to make the mold. The answer: Kiely loaned him the House's silver teapot without flinching--"probably an heirloom," Fitch says. He never told Kiely about how the Plaster of Paris and other chemicals almost didn't come off the silver.

In addition, Fitch says no matter how unfortunate his art projects--the worst probably being the fiberglass bench and fountain combination that Kiely allowed him to display outside of the House--Kiely only wanted to know when he could expect a coffee table.

"It's hard to imagine a person who could take all that and still ask for more," says Fitch, now a professional artist and designer whose latest project involves edible art.