On Thursday, December 11, the Kahn Room was abuzz with activity. Retired faculty and staff from the last 30 years gathered to learn about current campus events, reminisce about the past, and have a good time celebrating their retirement. As customary of formal Rose-Hulman lunches, a three course meal prepared by the premiere ARA staff was served as Executive Director of Communications and Marketing Bryan Taylor took the podium, welcoming everyone back to Rose for the yearly retired faculty and staff “Family Time.” He started off with a few jokes about retirees present at the luncheon, such as how the words “work” and “Betty Dyer” can’t be said in the same sentence before moving on to describing items that would later be sold in a silent auction. These artifacts were said to be taken from the library archives and included such novelties as a chewed, never smoked, cigar from the Bob Steinheiser collection and an old spray starch can of Brian Piker used, not on his razor sharp slacks, but on his hair. Dr. Jakubowski said a quick prayer before introducing his wife, Lynn, and welcoming the retirees back to Rose before moving on to a more serious topic, the economic state of affairs. “These are very tough economic times,” he began before talking about the budget cutbacks and his plan to try to avoid any firings. “Here at Rose-Hulman, we are a family, we are a community.” Praise of the student body followed, including the impressive statistics of the graduating seniors and a recap of recent community service projects (i.e.: Bikes for Tykes, the annual Fiji Christmas dinner, and ACSE’s collection basket).

During the meal, former Vice President Ron Reeves described Rose as a family atmosphere with close relationships and said that “so many people just want to stay.” Dr. Peter Priest echoed the sentiments, adding, “Usually humanities people are isolated from the real people, the engineers, but not at Rose.” Barbara Mullen agreed, talking about the egalitarian orientation of the student body and the lasting friendships formed. Reeves, a ‘58 electrical engineering graduate, talked about the homecoming bonfire back before the height restrictions were imposed and construction took place where the SRC is today. Sophomores would stand on the roofs of the buildings where the triplets now are and launch water balloons at the freshmen. Apparently, previous yearly traditions were the Rose Riots, satirical sketches put on by the students poking fun at the faculty. As story after story was told, all emphasized the familial tendencies of Rose. Betty Dyer laughed when she said that she had many memorable memories, but “nothing that you could write down.” Pat Krupa told how Bryan Taylor and Brian Dyer used to brush the snow off cars parked behind Moench after snow storms, adding, “This has just got to be the most wonderful place in the world to work.” Basically, according to Mary Anne Pierce, here at Rose, “Everybody counts.”