Welcome to my blog, or should I say to the ramblings of an old man. I doubt that my ramblings are of much value, but at least I have an opportunity to share them.  So, please be kind and humor me. If nothing else of value stands out in these thoughts, I hope that you at least sense the value I place on a daily walk with the Lord.  That walk is what has provided me with motivation and a sense of purpose throughout my lifetime.  My prayer is that you, too, are experiencing this direction and joy in daily living which is available to everyone who puts his trust in Christ.  So, thanks again for joining me.  Please don't go without leaving some comments here so I can get to know you better as our paths intersect today in this blog.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

A Special "Grosse" Day

Last Friday we had to travel to the Sunbury area to deal with some business following the recent death of my wife's stepmother. We had some extra time so my wife suggested that we stop at Susquehanna University and visit the bookstore. I have such great memories of the four years that I spent there, almost a half-century ago. It is still a very beautiful campus. I didn't find anything at the bookstore that I needed - I have more than enough shirts and sweatshirts, although none are from SU. Then we decided to walk through some of the buildings where I had classes. I saw two of the three dormitories that I had stayed in. One was brand new when I was a proctor there. One is now administration offices. The other burnt to the ground many years ago. As a physics and math major, most of my classes were held in Steele Science Building. That has been completely remodeled, but my physics classroom had the same walls and that brought back good memories. The classroom where I had math was turned into offices and I missed the view of the beautiful mountains that drew my attention many times during class. Then it was off to see the brand new science building. It is huge and amazing - computers are everywhere. It is incredible. Finally we decided to see if my old physics prof was still there. Dr. Fred Grosse is an amazing man. He came to SU in 1960 and we were the first class of physics majors who had him for all of our classes. He has now been there 51 years, one third of the time that SU has existed. Grosse was instrumental in bringing computers to Susquehanna and teaching students how to use them. He also coached tennis and became known for riding his bicycle to campus regardless of the weather conditions. And he has become a legend for a number of other things. The chapel was built the fifth year he was there. When they wanted to put the steeple on it, they brought in a crane to reach over the big roof of the lower chapel. He had his physics class calculate whether the crane, knowing the weight of the steeple, could reach over and set it down. They found that it couldn't, and sure enough, when they tried to set it down, it started tilting. They finally had to use a helicopter to get it on there, and the whole campus was there to watch. The kids figured out what to do with the crane. The next day when they arrived on campus, the crane had 150 brassieres strung from the top of it. Anyway, when we found his office last Friday he wasn't there and I began to write a note for him. While I was doing this, he walked in. He hardly looked older than when he was my teacher 51 years ago. And surprise, he remembered my name and my association with the basketball and football teams while I was at SU. Now I tend only to remember those students who were exceptional students or those who were problems. So I was surprised that he remembered me. I did, however, earn all A's in my physics classes but I wasn't exceptional. Maybe he remembered me because he felt sympathy for a struggling student and gave me breaks in my grade. I just don't know. He did help me realize that engineering really wasn't for me. I really enjoyed spending a few minutes with him and talking about times that were very special in my life. Then he shared a "secret" with me. He has decided to return for one more year because he has been told that there are some exceptional underclassmen heading to his classes. I can't imagine teaching 52 years, but his time there has been extended by the fact that he loves teaching, loves students, and he gave up all his administrative duties years ago. If I had done that and if I could have taught on the college level, maybe I would have made more than the 39 years I put in. But then I would have missed all the exciting things that fill my life now. Thank you Dr. Grosse for good memories.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

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Pat said...

What a remarkable story!! And Dr. Grosse has to be a very remarkable man. What a blessing to have people like him in the classroom. If that's a recent picture, he must have begun his career when he was two!