Doors close and doors open

Even though I have classes today (Friday) and will give final exams next week, yesterday (Thursday) was ceremoniously the end of my college teaching career. After stints at four-year colleges and universities, including being a member of the Graduate Faculty at Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Alva, Oklahoma, I landed my first and last community college job when I took the position of Sociology and Criminal Justice Instructor at McCook Community College in January of 1995. That ended with an official retirement reception put on by the college in the Event Center yesterday.

Jim Garretson and Jim Hall were also honored for retiring at the same time and that means in just a week, almost 97 years of college teaching experience will be lost to the college. No one is irreplaceable and, in fact, new hires have already been made for all of us, but that's still a lot of teaching experience to walk out the door at the same time.

The retirees didn't really know what to expect yesterday since there was no formal program but it turned out it did have a structure that worked pretty well. The first thirty minutes were spent eating three large sheet cakes made for each of us with our names on them and drinking either lemonade, coffee or water and then the speeches started. I was surprised at the community turn-out although I probably shouldn't have been. The people of McCook have always supported McCook Community College and yesterday was no different. I'm not going to name the people in attendance for fear of leaving someone out but the political, business and social sides of McCook were well represented.

Dr. Jody Tomanek, the Instructional Dean for the entire Mid-Plains Community College area which includes both North Platte and McCook as well as satellite sites located around western Nebraska, was sort of the emcee of the program and so she started with me and proceeded through Jim Garretson and Jim Hall. After she made her comments, other people were asked to voice their thoughts about us and each retiree had several people doing that.

It concluded with a sharing of remarks given by the retirees themselves. It didn't seem long or boring because there was a lot of humor interspersed in the speeches and on the other side of the coin, some tears were shed too. Each of us was presented with a plaque commemorating our service to the college along with a McCook Community College blanket, a card of appreciation, and a money clip. Many attendees brought cards and gifts for us too.

My oldest son Michael drove ten hours the night before to be able to spend my special day with me and he's making the long drive back today because he's going with his mom to see a Paul McCartney concert in Little Rock Saturday night. The drive from Arkansas to here and back is not an easy one and I'm so appreciative of the sacrifice he made to be with me. Unfortunately, my youngest son Will and his wife Erica had to work and could not attend but they sent me text messages in support of me.

So, all in all, it was a pretty perfect day. We all wished more of our students would have attended but still remembering how it is to be young, retirement parties are not at the top of ANY young person's things I have to do list. But friends and family WERE there and that's what made it special, including the wonderful support we've always enjoyed from our new young team of administrators. MCC is in good hands and, in my opinion, will continue to prosper as the oldest community college in the state.

For everyone who participated yesterday in any way, you have my heartfelt thanks and gratitude!