I just realized that I have not given a truly autobiographical post in quite some time so here goes. This one is about my college years and particularly how I earned a major portion of the money needed to pay for my education.
When I was in college now fifty years ago one of the things that almost everyone, or at least those in the dormitories, complained about is how bad the food in the cafeteria is. Its kind of like hospital food I guess. You are not supposed to like it. But, as usual, I take a different stand. Without cafeteria food I would not have gotten a diploma from Purdue University. An so the story begins.
My first trip to Purdue in 1965 was a week before that year’s classes were to begin. In those days we had orientation programs to prepare us for college life. That trip to the campus was in the back seat of one of my high school friends new convertible. He was not going to college but instead intended to work in his father’s gas station. Being a new minted high school graduate in the 1960s with a new car meant that he went FAST wherever he drove. This seventy mile jaunt was in the back seat of the convertible going 100 mph down a state road with me clinging to all my worldly possessions contained in a cardboard box and a small suitcase. But, I am getting off topic here so back to the subject of food.
When I first stepped foot on campus I had enough to pay my first semester’s room and board and tuition and a little more. I had no idea how I was going to pay for the rest of the year let along the rest of my college days. Living in the cheapest dorm on campus meant that I ate all my meals at the Fowler House Dining Room. I thought the food was pretty good but heard so many comment about how bad it was! Compared to my cooking it was better. I did most of the cooking for Dad, my brother and me in my high school years. Being on a limited budget and the fact that Dad only like his meat and potatoes I wasn’t subjected to much of a variety of foods.
Anyway, I soon discovered that the cafeteria used students as the majority of the labor needed to put out about 7,000 meals a week. I was a shy guy back then and held off for a few weeks before I applied for a job there. Within a few months or so I was working about 40 hours per week at 90 cents an hour. I would continue in that mode for the five years I was there. But I did eventually become the head waiter which was the highest student position and that paid almost $2 per hour. But it was enough, along with my summer jobs to barely get me through those years.
For the first time in my life I made many friends working in that dormitory cafeteria. When I last visited there in 2015 the building housing the cafeteria was still there but repurposed into a child development center. The dormitory buildings had been torn down and replaced in the 1970s and even that replacement building was torn down an replaced in 2010 or so.
My college years were a hard time for me but also some of my most joyous years of my life thanks to the relationships I had in the cafeteria.
I spent a very enlightening part of my life between the years 1965 and 1970. Those were the years I was at Purdue University supposedly learning how to be an engineer. It was there that I was first exposed to the diversity of life. I met people who were very different from me. For the most part those experiences made me a better person. On this post I want to concentrate on a few of those I encountered during those years.
My first dormitory room-mate was a high school classmate. He got married at the end of the first semester and was replaced by Knute. Knute was a Norwegian and spoke broken english. He worked his way over to the U.S. from Oslo Norway on a freighter and that was impressive to me. I later learned that his father owned the freight lines but that only slightly stained the story. 🙂 Knute loved to party, I never actually saw him study much. He came over with a half-dozen or so buddies. They exposed me to people from other countries for the first time. After that final semester of 1965 Knute went over to live with his friends in a rented house. I don’t know if he ever graduated or just partied his way through college. Six of one half-dozen of the other I imagine.
Bob was my room-mate for the final four years. We got along very well. That was very important when you understand that unlike today we shared a 10 x 12 foot room so getting along with your room-mate was critical to your sanity. When we graduated a group of us vowed to get together five-year later on our graduation date but I didn’t make it there for whatever reason. I don’t know if any of them did or not? I lost track of Bob and have been unable to find him in the forty years since. I wished I had done a better job of keeping track of folks from those years. I would be interesting to discover what Bob made of his life and to just reminisce about the good old days at Fowler Courts residence hall and dorm kitchen where we both worked throughout those years.
Another very memorable person during those years was Ginny. I admired her on several different levels. She was the secret love of my life. I did date Ginny once, we went to a campfire/cookout with several friends. One of the main regrets of my life is that I never told her how I felt about her. I was just too shy around women and the emotions I felt for her were very new to me. Ginny also worked in the dormitory cafeteria where I became the head waiter. Ginny was a year or two behind me and when in my senior year it came time to recommend my replacement I chose her. But… there had never been a female head waiter there before and the management just didn’t see that as being the time for one. I often wonder how my life would have changed if I expressed my feelings towards her. Don’t tell my wife but I still think about her now and then.
When I stepped foot on the campus in the late summer of 1965 I was a skinny naive country boy who had never had a conversation with anyone much different than me. They simply didn’t exist in my world up until that time. I was never challenged to think outside my box that was already built around me. My progression to a guy who “questions everything” was a gradual thing that happened over the years but the five years I spent there was very enlightening.
