By the time I graduated from high school in 1962, my folks had been making payments on a small farm only a decade. After Dad was discharged from US Army Air Force, he had searched for a farm to buy.
But the counselor at Earlham High School determined during my freshman year that I should aim for college. With graduation coming up, just how would we pay for it?
When Grandma Leora heard about the dilemma, she decided to cash some bonds, enough to give $1000 to each of her four adult children. The money she gave Mom paid for my freshman year at the State College of Iowa.
I didn’t realize it then but that Grandma had bought those bonds with life insurance money she received after the loss of Dale, Danny, and Junior. Those brothers helped me get started in college. I am so humbled by this.
I was the first my immediate family to get to attend college. My sophomore year was challenging because, even with a small scholarship and the job, I still couldn’t make ends meet.
I had a small scholarship, but it mainly paid for books. The college financial aid office helped me apply for a National Defense Student Loan. I learned that the new Donald O. Rod Library would open in the fall and would have jobs. They suggested I begin working in the old library over the summer after my freshman year, to secure a job in the new library. They found enough hours for me to work in three different areas in the library to make ends meet.
By working in the library each semester and each summer, one of them full-time, I graduated in 1966 with a loan to pay off.
But Grandma’s gift was just one of the legacies she blessed me with, especially knowing the provenance of those three brothers who lost their lives just about the time I was starting life.