Last night when I got into my hotel room, I called and ordered flowers to put on the graves of my parents, and my two aunts and uncles that are buried next to my parents: Bill and Mary Swisher and George and Lottie Roop. After breakfast, I went downtown to the flower shop and picked them up, then drove to the Roop Cemetery south of town about a mile and a half. I placed flowers at the three grave sites, then got out my other camera and took photos of headstones of many of the Roop folks buried there to post on Find-A-Grave when I get back home. My dad’s Uncle Vernon, his Grandfather and other relatives are buried there, in what use to be the Brethren Church Cemetery, land for which my great-grandfather gifted to the church. Now it is called the Roop Cemetery.
Before I left the hotel I called the CMU Foundation office and set up an appointment with Pat Smithson, the director of development under which my scholarship under my Dad’s name falls. I had set up that meeting for 11:00 and when I finished at the cemetery it was only about 10:15, so I stopped at the new Kirkpatrick Library and asked if I could talk to someone about leaving my genealogy stuff with them when I croak. The woman I talked to directed me to the museum curator, Amber Clifford-Napoleone, whom I approached after entering the museum. I asked these two questions: would they be interested in having copies of my books; and would they be interested in having my research files and data base that I had built over the course of my work. Her answer was a emphatic yes, on both counts, so I went to my car and got two books and deposited them with her. It is a comfort to know that I can deposit all of the stuff I have accumulated and it won’t be lost or thrown away.
From there I drove the short distance to the Foundation for my meeting with Pat. I talked with her for a while, verifying all the information that she needed, and arranged to meet with Jose Mercado, the Dean of the Harmon College of Business and Professional Studies, under which the department of economics resides. By the time I finished up both of these conversations, it was past 1:00 so I was overdue for lunch. I drove downtown to Heros, a local lunch spot and pub, and had a very nice ravioli salad and a beer for lunch. As I was finishing up, I got a call from the receptionist at the Foundation telling me that the President of the University, Roger Best, was free that afternoon and would like to meet with me at 3:00 at the Foundation.
Before that, however, I had plans to drop off a copy of the Christian Roop book at the historical society, so drove around until I found Main street (which is about four blocks west of Holdren Street, which is really the current main street) and parked at the old court house. The Historical Society of Johnson County and Museum is housed in a building next door and the sign on the door said that they were open on Thursday afternoon from 1:00 to 4:00, but the door was locked. There were numbers to call, so I called Lisa, who left he job briefly and come over and opened up the museum. I delivered the book on Christian Roop and thanked her for taking the time to open things up so I could drop off the book.
Then, while waiting for my meeting with Roger, I drove around the Pertle Springs area, noticed that fraternities and sororities were again in houses standing alone (the University for a while had collective houses where frats and sororities were all housed in one building). Pertle Springs was once the site of one of William Jennings Bryant’s famous campaign speeches, which now houses the UCM golf course. A bunch of us use to go skating on the ice when the pond froze in the winter when I was going to school there.
By this time it was close to 3:00, so I drove back to the Foundation for my meeting with Roger. I first met Roger when he came out to Washington in 2011 representing the foundation; we met again during my 50th reunion when Jane and I came in 2013; again when I was back here in 2016, all before he became President of the University. I was flattered that he took the time to visit with me. We had a nice chat. He also use to have a Mazda Miata.
After I left, I went to Old Barney’s pub, downtown, just to reflect on how many hours I had spent there while in school. It’s much the same, though the shuffle board game is gone — too bad.
I went back to Players for dinner and plan to get up early and head off fore McPherson, Kansas in the morning.