Digging up the past
My dad passed away in December of 2006. He was a very organized person and had all his business affairs kept neatly in files in his big rolltop desk. There was a file for lots of things - will, insurance, one on each of his kids, etc. On a visit home recently, my mom gave me the file dad kept on me.
I dug through it lastnight and there was a separate “Wake Forest” file in there. In it were all sorts of things that I had not seen in years - tuition bills and dad’s notes on what he paid when (as an aside, tuition was dirt cheap in the late 80s!), announcement cards for when I made dean’s list and a press release that could be sent to the hometown paper, a commencement program, various notes I’d written him, a letter to parents about a security issue and how Student Life was addressing it. Four years of my life. End of semester grades. Parents’ newsletter. Note from me about wanting to go abroad.
It was nice to take a brief archeological dig through the past. My dad never went to college, but he *loved* Wake Forest. This place represented all that he thought a school should be - excellent academics, intimate setting, kind and caring people. I honestly think that my coming here was one of his proudest accomplishments.
A belated thanks to Mom and Dad for all they did to help me get here.
Now I am that father (mine died 20 years ago, 1988). I keep the folders and the files. My per-semester tuition my senior year (1965-1966) was $350 and when our son was at Princeton (graduated 1993) it was about $10,000 per semester (what it cost us). Thank you to my parents as well (Saxapahaw, Haw River, Moore’s Chapel Baptist Church). I have lived now in Fairfax, VA, since 1984.
- Thursday, June 5, 2008 6:45 pm
I love this entry and the nostalgia- I know that I’ll think the same of my father in years down the road. WF truly is an amazing place, and I think people are proud to be linked to it.
- Saturday, June 7, 2008 10:22 pm