I don't think I'm allowed to name this gentleman, but if you were on the TESC campus during the mid-1970s you would probably remember seeing him. He was an older student, as in being 60-something. He came here from the Grays Harbor area and we figured he picked Evergreen because it was the closest school. His stature was short, his smile was broad, unfailingly positive and he was magically and happily clueless. For example, when he attended a lecture by feminists and it came to question and answer time, he would start off by asking, "Say there, now why do you gals ..." We learned not to walk with him in public unless we were ready for a show.

One time I was alongside him on campus when we had to move aside on a narrow walkway for an attractive young woman who was coming from the opposite direction. "Say there young lady," he chirped in his unique sing-song way, "I bet if they had a contest for the straightest posture on campus, you'd WIN!" And of course she was startled, looking like someone who had walked into a spider web by accident. He introduced himself and (oh-please-don't!) then introduced me, "And this is my handsome young friend, Steve ..." Needless to say, the next time I saw this woman as I was walking alone, I got a very strange look. He became a legend around school, and the source of considerable speculation, particularly since he was very quiet about his past. One time three of us went through his hometown while on the way to the coast, and we decided to look up his house via the phone book. And we found the address-- a vacant lot!!! Eeyow!

Flash forward a couple decades to the 1990s, after he had long since passed on. I'm cataloging material for a little local museum and I'm handling Aberdeen newspaper clippings from the 1940s. There was one clipping that made me stop cold. It was from 1948. Henry Wallace, the Progressive Party candidate for president is visiting Grays Harbor. Next to him are two local candidates of his party running for legislative offices. And it was the smile one of them was wearing, I recognized it. The would-be politician in the photo, next to Henry Wallace, was none other than our legendary fellow student when he was a younger man.