I was delighted to attend the U of M President's Club Heritage Society dinner Wednesday at the McNamara Alumni Center, Minneapolis. I had not been on the "main campus" for some time. Oh, that's a faux pas, as Morris-oriented people are not supposed to say "main campus." It is easy in fact to slip and say "main campus." If it was not "main," then why in heck is the traffic so thick down there?
One drives through Minneapolis between 4 and 5 p.m. on a weekday - shudder - en route to the McNamara Center event. Not that I am some rube who has no familiarity with city driving. It's just that I haven't driven down there in some time. Just haven't had any reason to.
I studied directions meticulously so there was no confusion on that front. But I found the heavy traffic to be a little traumatizing. Lane changes are never routine to make. The directions coming off I-94 to McNamara were complicated. Part of the problem was that University Avenue is one-way. So, one has to cross University Avenue, go a few blocks and then curl around to get on University Avenue to get to the appropriate parking ramp. In text form, those directions were especially confusing. Fortunately I found a little map that eased some of the confusion.
In the absence of that map, I might well have chosen not to go. But I showed an intrepid spirit. I am abundantly thankful having made the trip. As I explained to Erin Christensen while there, the Williams name should always be actively associated with the U of M.
Names of new Heritage Society members were shown on a big screen in the banquet area. There I was: "Brian R. Williams" with the middle initial always essential because it's for "Ralph" which was my father's name.
My father's involvement with the U went well beyond his work getting UMM established. He got his undergraduate degree from the University of Minnesota in 1939 and taught at the U's St. Paul School of Agriculture in the '50s, yes those marvelous 1950s. I was preschool age. We went back there for a reunion back in about 1987. We were seated at the head table. I felt rather foolish as my name was announced. There was a murmur throughout the room after my name was announced. Something was up with that and I don't know what. I never asked. I wonder if my health or the health of my mom was endangered at the time I was born.
My mother had a stillborn child before me and could not have any children after me, I was told. We barely discussed this but I was always aware of it. Thus you might understand my parents' inclination to dote on me. As a very young child I'd sometimes wake up in the middle of the night coughing uncontrollably and struggling to breathe. My father would hold me as I recovered. I must have grown out of that.
We rented a house in St. Paul one winter, the owners of which went south as snowbirds. They left us with their cat, "Pepper," who did not take to us. I remember my mother saying she was scared to go downstairs to do the laundry, as Pepper would be lurking down there, not accommodating. I remember when the owners came back and the wife was so delighted to be reunited with Pepper. I remember the look on her face in fact. I wish the love had been shared among us all.
Maybe it was no coincidence that we turned into a dog-oriented family. We had three small house dogs through our time in Morris: Misty, Heidi and Sandy.
We rented a small house on Lake Minnewaska when we came out here for the start of UMM. It was only for six months, as I was reminded years later, but in my memory it seemed longer.
We moved to Morris and rented two different houses before getting established on Northridge Drive. So I embarked from Northridge Drive Wednesday to visit the "main campus," sorry, of the University of Minnesota. I was reminded of the very special atmosphere on the grand old campus.
There's a large plaza outside the McNamara Center. From there I got a glimpse of TCF Bank Stadium and had conflicted thoughts about it. Sure it's a wonderful feature of the campus, but we learn more and more about how the young men playing football are gladiators who can pay a severe price, even costing them their lives, for the sake of entertaining us. I absolutely can not countenance that any more.
Remember the old Memorial Stadium? I attended one game there back in 1973, a soft non-conference game. Tony Dungy was our quarterback and Keith Fahnhorst played tight end. I remember a leather-lunged fan behind me who kept shouting "throw the ball to Fahnhorst!" I don't think our offense was structured to do that much. Our coach was Cal Stoll who did yeoman's work in a time when the U was losing its ability to be a top-tier team. In the present day, competitive parity is really setting in. All major colleges can tap a variety of revenue streams.
The president of the U in 1973 was Malcolm "Mac" Moos who had been a friend of my father when the two attended the U. My father enjoyed it when "Mac" visited Morris and alluded among colleagues to the old friendship.
My father was immersed in music when at the U. An old family scrapbook includes memorabilia of marching band activities from around 1937. He sent a postcard back home to his mom Carrie in Glenwood. His mom was a widow, having lost her husband Martin way too soon in 1933 when Martin succumbed to cancer and died an unpleasant cancer death. My father, the youngest of five sons, would have been a junior in high school. I suspect that the reason we never visited Glenwood Lutheran Cemetery - at least I don't recall any such visits - is that my mom feared it would bring back memories for Dad of both his parents' deaths.
Last Christmas Eve day, I was overjoyed visiting the cemetery and locating the Williams plot which has a central monument that just has "Williams" on it. On one side is a monument for my uncle and aunt, Howard and Vi. Then on the other side, with flat markers that are way too small, we find Martin and Carrie. The markers are weathered, too much so, especially Carrie's which is odd because hers was placed in 1949 and Martin's in 1933. I plan on doing something about this.
Back to the present: I told UMM Chancellor Michelle Behr that the Heritage Society event was "the highlight of my year." President Eric Kaler took a turn sharing remarks. This was after a student speaker shared very informative and inspiring remarks, so Kaler joked that he "never wanted to follow a student speaker."
"I'll have to talk to the event organizer about this," he further mused.
The welcome was delivered by Michael Goh, VP for the Office for Equity and Diversity. After dinner we heard from Kathleen Schmidlkofer - it's an awkward last name to type, sort of like "Bruininks" - and she's the president and CEO of the U of M Foundation. Then we got the brilliant student speaker: Stephen Mylabathula, a computer engineer guy. Seriously, Kaler did quite well in his own presentation.
Words cannot describe how thrilled I was to be part of this, even though I'm only there as an extension of my late parents. Like I said, the Williams name must always be relevant with our University of Minnesota.
It's always fun seeing John and Nancy Lindahl. Our Bill Robb was there, who with Erin is always promoting the UMM end of things.
Does UMM have issues? An institution can never escape issues. Is it true, as alleged, that UMM goes after left wing-oriented students from the big bad Twin Cities too much? Well heck, I don't know. I have written on my blogs more than once that students at UMM should not be so political at all, whether it's "left" or "right." And, all that can really just become a game. Could you imagine my late father being involved in such things when he was at the U? Oh no, not at all. He had a summer job at Glacier National Park.
Today so many students seem to strangle themselves with debt. Today's world is one which my father would have a hard time imagining. But then again, how well can we today relate to the Great Depression? My father graduated from high school in 1934 and from the U in 1939. For the rest of his life he watched every nickel, a common trait of those folks. Some of that attitude rubbed off on me too. I could never go into debt.
Now we hear that interest rates are almost certainly headed down again, perhaps into a new phase of "quantitative easing," which I thought was only an emergency measure. I don't get it, because our president says the economy is strong. So what gives? We hear it might be because of the president's tariff tactics which will cause duress. So, interest rates must be lowered to lessen the impact.
Or, is it really being done for Wall Street and the "one percent?" Lower interest rates mean less interest income for me. Also, lower interest rates mean increased inflation and that will create challenges for all of us. Maybe I will have to slow down in my giving to the U of M.
On the whole though I feel blessed. God bless our University of Minnesota and all its leaders in 2019. We wish the incoming president Joan Gabel well.
Addendum: The photo at the top of this post was for a trip that included the U of M football team defeating Michigan 39-6 for the Little Brown Jug!
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| Ralph E. Williams is at center helping administer initiation of "new trip members" for the Ann Arbor trip in 1937. The name of the band member at left is written on back of photo but it's hard to make out the handwriting with the last name. I think the first name is Ray but it could be Roy. |
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