College Years

The Initial Independent Years

In my sophomore year in college after a very difficult freshman year my dad came to my rescue again. The company he worked for, The Upjohn company, had a program for the sons of employees who were willing to work nights as a janitor. It was a form of scholarship. They offered us a full-time job, accommodated our studying needs and paid us well, as long as our grades were a B. average or better. I held this job for about a year and a half and although I had to go to work every day 5:30 PM and didn’t finish 12:30 AM, but it was worth it. We really only had about two hours of work to do, and the ability to use all the office facilities and equipment for our homework and we had weekends off to enjoy college life with everyone else.

This job helped in several ways. It probably kept me out of trouble. But more importantly it provided me with enough income to join a fraternity, and move into the fraternity house I was a TKE. Now, I was beginning to become an independent adult.

I would be remiss if I did not mention that even though I moved out of the house mom insisted that I bring my dirty clothes home to let her wash them and I spent most Sundays at home with mom and dad and we always visited Grandma and Grandpa with all the other children, aunts, uncles, cousins and grandchildren every Sunday. These experiences always kept me centered and recognizing the value of family and everything that we do. As I recall the experiences with our large family there were several mentors who in their own way helped me realize my successes and failures in life.

Joining the fraternity provided me with another experience that would be valuable in later life. When I joined the fraternity we were living in a very old wood frame home that was condemned. Fortunately the fraternity had paid off its mortgage and had enough money saved for a down payment on a beautiful historical Mansion. When we moved into that beautiful I was elected House manager and pledge trainer. Now I was beginning to understand the value of becoming a good mentor. I not only had to make sure that our house will was kept financially sound but also was responsible for making sure the property was maintained properly, and all of our brothers had adequate housing and food. In addition, I had the responsibility, to our brotherhood, to develop the new pledges that were invited to join our organization.

Lessons learned:

1.The importance of family.

2. How to manage a household.

3. How to mentor young men.

4. How to recognize the many mentors that came from family and friends.