I was returning from the new Student Services building and a gentleman came up to me and asked me for directions to the library – where I then escorted him. On the walk over to the library we had a very pleasant conversation and I got to know him a little bit better. I found out that he graduated from IU in 1935 and eventually became a judge in Nobel County (Judge Kenneth King). He retired in 1964. We got to discuss the comparison between this depression and the one when he graduated. Like then as it is now, universities seem to be immune to the problems the economy is stricken with, except the cost is higher now for education – he paid only $32 a semester.
I asked him how old he was and he said he’ll be 99 years old in March. I asked him what his secret to life was. He said there were two things that probably helped him:
1) he never smoked and
2) he walked a lot.
He then asked me to direct him to the computer lab because he wanted to get on the Internet. I took him to the library and set him down in front of a computer that he seemed to be comfortable using. As I was leaving, he was “Googling” away. On the way to the library, I did happen to take a picture of him by the Mastodon statue. If you happen to see this gentleman, feel free to engage in a conversation with him. He is a neat guy.
