Back when I was at Ashland, it was a very small school. I loved it. It was a great environment. The teachers genuinely cared about their students, and it made for a great experience. I ended up going to Ashland in the first place because Dr. Glenn Clayton happened to give a sermon at a church in Bryan, Ohio we were attending at the time. I talked to him after the service, and he guaranteed me that he’d make it possible for me to come to Ashland. And he did—he made it happen. While I was at Ashland, I was pretty excited about the jobs available to students. I remember cleaning the Ohio Edison plant between classes for $1.20 an hour… that seemed like a fortune to me! Having been born during the Great Depression, money was an important concern, so I was thrilled to be able to save money while I was still going to school. One of my most vivid memories is also one of my most embarrassing. Back then, outside one of the women’s halls was a lane, and in the middle of that lane was a single tree. Well, I had a car full of kids with me one day, and I happened to look back while I was driving. All of a sudden, there was this crash. I’d run square in that single tree with my ’37 Oldsmobile. I thought for sure I’d destroyed my radiator. But when I backed up and looked, I’d only bent the bumper. I got lucky with that one!
