Several things happened during my months in college which had a profound effect on me and made me realize that college just wasn’t in the cards at that particular time.
The first was the “Dear John” letter I got from Nancy which I’ve already told you about. That had a major impact on me. The second thing which happened was that I lost both of my Grandmothers within a 2-week period.
Grandma Altman died on Jan 29, 1961 and I was in the middle of finals when I got the news. I remember going to see my Chemistry teacher and telling him that I had to go to a funeral and could I take my final late. He looked up my record and said, in effect, you are right in the middle of the “C’s”. Even if you flunk the final, you’ll still get a C. If you ace the final, you’ll still get a C. So, he let me off and I didn’t have to take the final. I was so sad about my Grandma, but happy about the test.
I realize I haven’t said much about my Grandma and Grandpa Altman. They were, at the time, my favorite people in the world. I loved them very much. I think I’ll devote a whole post to them and my relationship with them. I went to the funeral in Battle Creek and then came back to school. Two weeks later, on Feb 12, 1961, my Grandma Hoag died. Now, I wasn’t real close to Grandma Hoag, but it started me to thinking about life and death and wondering what my real purpose in life was. I couldn’t face the thought of another funeral and did not go home for it. I wondered later if my Dad thought badly of me because of that.
I couldn’t settle on a major. I started out majoring in Math. I had every intention of becoming a Math teacher. Then, after a few months, that didn’t seem right any more. I changed majors a couple times and finally, my counselor had me come in and told me maybe I should take a deep breath and try to figure out what I should do. He had me take a series of tests that were designed to determine what you were interested in and maybe pick a life’s work. I was thinking about writing at the time and answered the questions like writing was the answer. When I went in to talk to the counselor to get the results, he said, Good News, Jim, we have a clear signal that you should be a lawyer.
I laughed out load. You’ve got to be kidding. A lawyer? I could not see myself as a lawyer. Looking back, it might have been a good direction to take, but maybe not. I was so discouraged that I decided to drop out of school and go back home. When I told my mother I was dropping out, she was furious. I was giving up a four-year scholarship with all tuition paid. How could I do that?
I left Ann Arbor in February, 1961 and went back to Battle Creek. I stayed there just long enough to go down to the recruiters office and volunteer for the U.S. Air Force. The Vietnam War was just starting and I knew that if I couldn’t get an exemption for being in school, since I had dropped out, it was only a matter of time before I was drafted. The Air Force looked a lot more appealing than the Army.
It turned out to the best decision I had ever made in my life up to that point of my life. Stay tuned for the “Military Years”, 1961 – 1965.
Dad
I can’t wait!!!
by the way I am also shocked about the lawyer thing. I never knew that! Crazy, I wanted to be a lawyer for quite a while when I was a teenager. hmmmm