I became a Logger the day I stepped on campus and was greeted with a smile from every student I walked by. After winning an award from the Boys & Girls Clubs, I got interviewed by the newspaper about where I was going to college, and I announced that I was Puget Sound bound, and that was the moment I became a Logger-at 16 years old. I had a lot of great options for college, like Berkeley, the Air Force Academy, and even Harvard, but Puget Sound won me over. I remember telling my coach, “I am going to college here,” as I already felt at home. As I toured the halls and competed in various rooms around campus, I was mesmerized. When our team deboarded from the van on Jones Circle, I looked around in awe at the beautiful buildings and became enamored with the natural beauty. I had lived near campus but never visited before. I was a sophomore in the debate club in high school, and we had a meet at Puget Sound. My favorite memory of my time there was being on the first Pacific Rim and Asian Studies trip with Dr. I never wavered from nor regretted that decision. That week- end, I told my parents I wanted to attend Puget Sound. One was attending a morning worship service in Jones Hall with my father, and all those male voices singing “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.” The second was the beautiful campus. I have two special memories of that weekend. We lived in Spokane, and traveling to the other side of the state was exciting for a 9-year-old. My birthday always occurred during conference week, and that year, I had a choice of having a birthday party or going to the conference.
In June 1962, I went with my mother to the annual conference of the Methodist Church at the University of Puget Sound.
When I asked at a gas station for directions, I was only a few blocks away. The next morning his family pointed me toward Tacoma and said, “Look for the signs”-but this was before GPS and before there were signs for UPS. We caravanned together and arrived in Bremerton in the middle of the night. I worked with someone in Logan who had family in Bremerton. We couldn’t afford another trip to Washington, so I never saw the campus before arriving for Preludes and Passages in August 1988. I applied because I wanted to become a physical therapist and it was a smaller school. I didn’t know Puget Sound existed until later. I had visited University of Washington on a college tour with my mom and loved the area, but it was too big for me. I heard about UPS from a high school friend while living in Logan, Utah. All the pieces seemed to fall into place, and it wasn’t until after my acceptance that I found out about other students from my hometown, including one of my oldest friends, who had also decided to attend. Walking through the majestic stands of trees, rain-softened air, and elegant architecture on campus felt like coming home, and I was struck by a longing to return and explore further, not just at Puget Sound but through the travel and study opportunities it could offer me. Then I made a visit to the Northwest during my gap year and stopped at Puget Sound on a whim. I had decided to go to a small college in Colorado after an exhaustive search. I graduated in 1975, grateful to have changed my course and to land where I was able to learn and grow while developing some lasting friendships. Barb popped into the admissions office of the legendary George Mills ’68, MS’72 and asked if I could come back with her in January 1973 and he said, “Sure.” As I recall, there was no reapplication I simply showed up with my check to cover tuition, etc., and was shown to the basement quad in Tenzler. Here is the part that always makes me smile and points to a simpler time. After my unhappy start in a college outside Boston, Barb convinced me to give Puget Sound a try for a semester. Unlike her, I thought the PNW was too far away from our home in Massachusetts. My sister, Barb ’73, was already a Logger in 1971 when I was accepted to UPS.
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