College

BOB WENT TO COLLEGE

Graduated high school and decided to go to Iowa State College to study mechanical engineering. I spent a year, and the school taught me two things. First, they taught me how to design a bridge, so it does not fall. Secondly, it taught me ‘that I don’t want to do this the rest of my life.

MISTER AMBASSITOR YOU STINK

I lived on campus in Iowa State and had a roommate. He was, as you say, ‘a man of color’. You need to realize there are very few blacks (2%) in the State of Iowa, and he was the first black I met. As roommates, we became friends, and it was a learning experience. My roommate was ‘Tesfay’ from Ethiopia, and his father was in Haile Selassie’s cabinet. Haile Selassie was Emperor of Ethiopia (1930-1974). Tesfay’s father arranged for an American education for his son at Iowa State. One day, Tesfay said that he did not like the American Negros because he was not a Negro. When he was in Chicago, a Negro called him a brother, then stole something from him, so he did not like Negros. I said, ‘What do you mean you’re not a Negro? Look in the mirror. You’re as dark as the ace of spades.’ Tesfay said yes, he said he is dark, but he is not a Negro. He said he is Caucasian. He said, ‘Look at my thin lips, look at my nose, it is the nose of a Roman,’ and indeed he had a Roman nose and thin lips. Then Tesfay said he is a member of royalty and the upper caste. In any case, it turns out that the father had plans for Tesfay. He sent him to be educated in America, and in time, Tesfay became the Ambassador to the United Nations for Ethiopia. Tesfay had an outgoing personality and he loved to dance like Fred Astaire. He also was odoriferous because it was not the custom to shower in Ethiopia. We threw him in the shower. He asked, ‘Why did you do this?’ and I said, ‘You need to shower daily because you stink.’ Can you imagine we threw a future UN Ambassador into the shower because he smelled bad?

INTENSE HARD NOSE NO NONSENCE SCHOOL

The second school year, fortunately, I was granted a State of Iowa four-year scholarship to any school in the state of Iowa, regardless of the cost of tuition. I am grateful to the state of Iowa for the scholarship. Well, I transferred to Coe College in my hometown of Cedar Rapids. I studied Physics; the student-to-teacher ratio in the Physics Department was 2 students to 1 professor. The tuition was very expensive – today it’s $50K/year – about the same cost as Harvard at $52K/year. I lived at home to keep costs low and studied Physics. The courses were difficult, intense, and demanding, but they taught me physics. Optics, mechanics, nuclear physics, thermodynamics, statistics, dynamics, electronics, magnetism, acoustics, and quantum mechanics were all challenging courses, but I learned a great deal. The state grant provided four years of tuition, so I took advantage of the opportunity, took a fifth year, and picked up degrees in Business and Mathematics. Later, I used the first and second derivative math equations in electronic circuits and made millions. In the Business Administration degree, I learned accounting, business law, and how to detect embezzlement. Embezzlement might sound crazy, but if you’re running a company, you’ll want to know if your accounts are embezzling from you. With business law, I learned that the merchandise could transfer to the buyer on your loading dock if you quote FOB (Freight On Board). This relieves you of delivery responsibility and provides a lot of other valuable business knowledge.

Physics Building
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When I went to Coe College, I joined the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity to prevent myself from being a geek. In my spare time, I put together the Coe Radio station. Alongside attending school, I worked as a quality control chemist at Waconia Sorghum Mill. So, I attended college during the day and worked at Waconia Sorghum Mill at night. Since I could study at night between my sugar measurements, I studied and achieved excellent grades. After five intense and demanding years of physics, math, and Business Administration, I graduated and suddenly found myself with nothing to do.