This is not an amazing photograph by any means, but it certainly captures an amazing experience of mine.  For ’08 commencement, I was seated up on the platform with the bigwigs;  in fact,  I sat right next to President F. Gregory Campbell himself!  Note for future planning: Never seat two people named Gregory beside each other. There was a rather comical moment early in the ceremony when we heard someone behind us loudly whisper “Greg!” – and our noses sort of collided as we both turned to see who so urgently needed our attention. Of course, it was someone- Paul Hegland, in fact- calling to President Campbell, not to me – to make him aware that he had prematurely introduced the student speaker and inadvertently skipped over the anthem by the Gospel Messengers.  (The President acknowledged the error at his first opportunity and helped usher in the Messengers with commendable smoothness.)  Then a little bit later, while the diplomas were being handed out, I heard again the loud whisper “Greg!”  but this time it was directed at me.  This time, it was Paul wanting me to pass on a quick message to Ed Smeds, the President of the Board of Trustees.

By the way, that moment with Paul led to what you might want to call a wardrobe malfunction.  I couldn’t quite read Paul’s lips, so I actually slipped out of my chair and stepped to the back of the platform and then bent down to better hear what Paul was saying.  And as I did so, I heard the sickening sound of RRRRRRRRRip . . .  I split the crotch in my slacks.  (Good thing I was wearing an academic robe.) It was actually my second wardrobe malfunction of the day.  That morning, right after I first got to Siebert, I stepped into the restroom to get myself securely tucked in and decided to give my belt a good tightening.  RRRRRRRRRRRip!  I suddenly found myself with 2/3 of my belt around my waist and the rest of it detached in my right hand;  I tore the belt in two!   (Before you call me Hercules- it was one of those braided belts and it was sort of on its last legs.)  It’s a good thing I had some suspenders down in my office or I could very easily have spent half of commencement day with my pants around my ankles.   (Not a good thing ever, but especially not a good thing on commencement day. The college trustees tend to frown on such things.)

The reason I was up on the platform for commencement is that I was the faculty host for Weston Noble.  Whenever anyone is given an honorary doctorate, they are appointed a faculty host who is with them basically all day long, attending to their needs, making sure they get where they need to be – and they also get to participate in the ceremony where the doctorate is officially bestowed on the recipient. I was thrilled and honored and amazed to have been selected to be Mr. Noble’s faculty host – especially since I don’t have a doctorate of my own.  What business did I have helping to give one to someone else?  But the invitation was given all the same and I gratefully agreed, knowing full well that it’s very likely the only time this honor will be mine.

Going into it, I mistakenly thought it would be a far easier assignment than with most faculty hosts who are usually hosting someone who has never been to Carthage before and don’t know anyone or anything about the campus.  I was “hosting” someone who had taught here for the whole school year, so I felt like I would be spending most of the day as a hood ornament- as a symbolic host with not much to do.  WRONG!  Keeping track of Mr. Noble and keeping him on schedule proved to be a substantial challenge – especially on the two occasions when I “lost” him for a few minutes.  Fortunately, the lost was merely temporarily misplaced and Mr. Noble ended up being every place he really needed to be and more or less on time.

Going into the commencement ceremony itself,  I started to realize that I hadn’t really received detailed instructions on what exactly I was doing – but fortunately, I had seen a few of these honorary doctorates given over the years- and on this particular day, Mr. Noble was going to be the second recipient.  All I had to do was watch Psychology Professor Dan Miller do his thing for the President of Loyola University and try to do the same when our time came.  And really,  it wasn’t anything terribly complicated.  It mostly meant standing just behind Mr. Noble as his list of amazing accomplishments was read off by the Dean – beginning with this:  “He was the conductor of Nordic Choir of Luther College for 57 years, the longest continuous service in the history of American choral music.”  I knew a lot about Mr. Noble and his greatness in the field,  but this I did not know until I heard those words spoken by the Dean.  I had to swallow – and I also shook my head in wonder at that point that it was little old me standing in his shadow for this great moment.   And once the Dean had finished and President Campbell spoke the words conferring the degree, I handed Mr. Noble the doctoral certificate itself,  and then placed the doctoral hood over his head.  And as that was done, the place erupted in applause – not the polite but restrained applause given to the President of Loyola, but sustained and warm applause. . . especially from the musicians in the room.  And in an instant, the entire band and choir were on their feet, along with all of the singers in the senior class.   It had to be one of the sweetest moments in Weston Noble’s 85 years on earth. . . and certainly one of the sweetest in my 48 years, that I could be a part of that.   And as the applause swelled,  the President threw his arms around Mr. Noble in a truly warm embrace –  and then Mr. Noble walked over to me and gave me one of the most vigorous bear hugs I have ever experienced.

After it was all over, Mr. Noble had literally dozens of special guests to greet – including two of his siblings, as well as some cousins, and a whole host of Luther alums and special friends who made the trip.   For every single one of them, Mr. Noble had a warm, beaming smile and a welcoming embrace.   And after a beautiful formal dinner in his honor that evening and many more hugs,  Kathy and I were dragging our tired butts home at 9:15 while Mr. Noble headed for downtown Kenosha with the Vaalers and the Nelsons for still more more fun. . . fresh as a daisy and as happy as a man can be.

And I consider myself incredibly blessed to have had a ringside seat for this magnificent day.

pictured:  I snapped this picture as surreptitiously as I could from my seat on the front platform.  This was the moment when the class of 2008 was asked to stand just before they began coming forward to receive their diplomas.