 Okay, well, we'll start with an easy one. What is your earliest memory of Purdue University? My earliest memory was the day I checked in to Purdue University as a freshman, and I was a very homesick little girl, and I probably, if I was a puppy, I would have followed the car home. I was so homesick, but I Purdue does such an excellent job and then did of matching you as roommates, and so my freshman roommate was a girl who was also studying pre-pharmacy, and she was from a small town also, and her name was Linda. So we were just perfectly matched, and it was a great experience. I had a floor in my dorm that the girls across the hall were older, and so they just took us under their wing, and it was the best experience. What about you? Purdue does a good job. My first as a freshman was getting on campus and realizing how large Purdue was, and at that time the Dean of Student Services had programs, which is today's The Boiler Gold Rush, but we were all attending that as freshmen, wide-eyed and possibly nervous and anxious about the experiences that lie ahead, and so we attended various meetings, and one of the meetings, the glee clone comes out and starts singing songs, and it's just wonderful, and you're going, oh my gosh, this is great too, Purdue's so wonderful, and then a future teammate of mine is coming out to sing a solo, and it hit me, oh my gosh, I'm now at a big 10 university, I'm a freshman, I've got to compete with guys like this, and the guy can even sing. What chance do I have on this campus of even making it here? So I did go home depressed, but I'm proud to say that I got to be very good friends with my teammates, and this older classman, he eventually became our best man, and we're very close, he still lives in Lafayette, we see each other often, do a lot of things together when we can, do a lot of things as couples, and his name is Bob Ford, he was a big 10 and all American, and played in the American Basketball Association before they joined the NBA. Wow, and so what made you two want to go to Purdue? Was this a high school decision, were you looking at any other universities? Mine was the easiest decision because no one recruited me to go to Purdue, so I'm from a family of five children, and I wanted to study pharmacy, and so my choices would have been Butler or Purdue, and I didn't feel that my parents could probably pay for all of us to go to a private school, so Purdue was it, and thank goodness. And you were recruited? Yes, so I was very honored that as a national recruit, Purdue came knocking, Purdue finished second in the nation behind UCLA when I was in high school, and I was recruited by the other two teams that were in the final four, and so as I said, when Purdue came knocking, and I attended the university as a recruit, seeing Macchi Arena and a number of other things that certainly locked in the deal, the other situation that occurred, on the day I was recruited I had played basketball in a summer camp with a fellow from Indianapolis, and he was also coincidentally recruited on that same day in Coach Bob King's office, and Coach Bob is a legend in high school and college basketball, and so when we ran into each other, we knew right away, and we signed and told Purdue that day that we were going to be teammates, and again, we are friends for life, talked to him monthly, we get together also with our families, and his name is Frank Kendrick, he was one of the stars of our team, and he went out also and played in the National Basketball League. So I, since we're on the topic of basketball, this season is historic, it's a dynamic team, how do you guys, I mean I'm sure you're catching every game, rooting for the team like crazy? Feeling really good, I think they're doing great, and I think they're starting to peak just at the right time, solidify their defense, and that offense obviously is pretty automatic, so I think they're going to have a good run here, whatever it is is going to be a good run. And tell us about your experience playing basketball at Purdue, that's, you know, you're managing all these different things, academics, pharmacy, basketball on top of that? You're very kind, I had the opportunity as I said to play on a great team, and while I had a number of injuries that kept me out of the starting lineup, I always tried to contribute any way I could, and we had a number of great Indiana basketball players, and of course coming from the legendary Hoosier Hysteria State, and it was a real pleasure to work with all of them, as I said we're all friends to this day, and we had such a great run that we did win the 1974 NIT tournament, and in those days there were only 32 teams that went to the NCAA, so a couple years later the NIT was folded into the NCAA, but we ended up ranking ninth in one poll I think, and eleventh in another at the end of the season, so it was a really great way to kind of end my basketball career as a championship team. Okay, so you have to walk us through the story of how you two met. So one of my fraternity brothers and I, I was in School of Pharmacy, had one of our favorite professors take us into the new computer lab, and everybody would laugh because it was monochrome green screens, and it was tied into the supercomputer I think in Illinois, and there were pharmacy lessons to do on that, and the sophomores I think at that time, because I'm the host, I was a senior and Linda was a sophomore, she happened to be one of the students that was in the lab, and I paid more attention to her than I did the professor describing the computer, so on my way out I checked on the board there what her name was, and then when I got to see her in the hallways I would say hello Linda Hi, how are you, and I think you're probably the rest of the story. Yes, and I had no idea who was standing behind me watching me because it was organic chemistry I believe, and it was hard, and I was very concentrated, so I did not notice that somebody was noticing me, but because pharmacy is very small school we pass each other in the halls the different classes, and this tall guy would say hello and and my name, so I had no idea who that was, but days later, weeks later I happened to be going to school early to study before a test, and he was coming out and we had a moment that neither one of us had anything else that we had to be doing, and so he then introduced himself and asked if I'd like to go get an ice cream, so I did go, and I did not study for the test like I should have right then, but he took me to Hort Park and we sat on the bridge, that little bridge, and had an ice cream together, and we've been together since, so that was our beginning. That's the first love story that we've heard on This is Purdue, I love that. So when you think about your experience at Purdue, do you have any mentors or favorite professors or classes that really made an impact on you? We had many, obviously the same professors, and so we have talked about this many times of who we who meant a lot to us, and Mary Losey was very important to me. I even got to extern with her as a fifth year student, and she she's a remarkable lady. Nick Popovich was a young, very nice looking young professor, and we all enjoyed his class, and he has even written us a note recently, so we've been in touch a little bit with him. Purdue, the pharmacy school is so good about caring about their students that we felt like, but they didn't have to, we didn't know we were being mentored, but we actually learned so many good things from them. I just add to the story what she's saying, they were very caring mentoring people, and so I could name the entire staff, and again because of the close-knit group and the family feeling with the small classes we had, you got to know them well, and even their wives. And in my case, I got to know their kids, because as a traveling student-athlete, I had to take tests early, I had to take tests late, I had to do labs on Saturday morning before pre-game dinners or lunches, and so I wasn't given anything, and I argued for a couple grades, and I lost, but nonetheless, they would bring their kids in when I would take the test sometimes, in another room, in their offices, but again it was because of all those professors, and like I said, named names, but we kept in touch with them, and that's as you'll hear many times from us today, Purdue family, they were part of our family, we were part of their family, and that's something that you don't forget. I also had the fortune opportunity of having non-athlete roommates, which I deliberately chose because I hung around with all my friends from basketball, it was nice to go back and you know, have some other roommates too, and they really helped me understand, appreciate campus, so I got involved in old masters, and I became a part of ODK and a fraternity, and because of that, I got to know a number of people in administration, in food service and everything else, and so those experiences later paid off after basketball, when I was a graduate assistant, and again I kept in touch with many of those people my entire life, and I still do if they're still alive because they're important people, and they meant a lot to me throughout my life. Yeah, it sounds like that's very close knit family and community within the pharmacy. Absolutely, absolutely. Do you guys have any favorite Purdue traditions? Maybe back when you were students and even today, I don't know if they differ or? Pretty similar, we're pretty basic on that. Yeah, we love tailgates, okay, and being part of president's council, we have tailgates of our own now, but we had family tailgates for years and years. Purdue campus is just the best place to be, right, in the fall, a football game, I can't imagine a better place to be. Those are wonderful memories for us, for me. And bringing our kids to all those events and getting two out of three to go to Purdue, and then having all their friends come to the tailgates and eventually their spouses and things, and having that again shared memory is really fun, really nice. And so, you know, you both graduated from Purdue, you had super successful careers and a wonderful life after Purdue. How did Purdue serve as a catalyst to kind of kickstart your life after graduation? I think Purdue gives you the opportunity to learn how to learn. We don't have all the answers, and we certainly did not as students, but we learned how to find them. It taught us how to work with others, terribly important. It taught us that everyone wasn't like us and that there's so much to learn from others in that way. I think Purdue does an excellent job of that to this day, probably even better, because they're more cognizant of it now than we were then. I think that's what helped us, me at least. Yeah, no, just to add to Linda's comments, it taught you basic problem solving and how to think on your own. And you know, it's okay to fail and you're going to fail. I mean, it's hard to get into Purdue, and it's even harder today. You know, we may not have gotten in, I don't know, but the point is, it teaches you so many valuable life lessons, and the idea of competing in today's world, I think, it is competitive. And you have to rely on all the skills that you get to start your career, but then you have to have the skills that you were starting to develop at Purdue to really become a better worker, a better person, a better employee, or employer. And again, I think it's a lifelong learning and Purdue continues to offer that. What advice would you give to a student maybe coming into Purdue today? Take advantage of as much as you can. I think that's a regret that I didn't take advantage enough of what's going on. I think look around, get your head up, because there's a lot to see, a lot of people to meet and study hard. But have fun. Yeah, and have a lot of fun. You can't miss the fun. Make as many friends as possible. That's what life's about. And as you grow older, those friendships mean so much, and they're very rewarding. But that takes work, and you have to keep in touch with friends. But again, the experience on campus, as I said, competing, failing, getting up, succeeding, doing things with other classmates that are good memories, and that's why we continue to enjoy those at Purdue through President's Council on Things, where we have those opportunities to rekindle our friendships, start new friendships, because no matter what phase in life you are, those types of things, again, are so rewarding and actually help, I think, sustain you. Yeah, and having friendships for 20, 30 years, I mean, that's incredible. 50 years. 48, I think. 48, yeah. But I'm celebrating my 50th year from being a freshman. True, that's true. 1972, yes. 1972. So you guys had an interesting career path. You served as a pharmacist, you worked at Eli Lilly, and then you two decided to open up McDonald's franchises in the Indianapolis area. That's an interesting path. So can you tell us a little bit about that and what went into that decision to start that? Basically, I think as you get older, you develop different skills. And fortunately, I had a wonderful career at Lilly and great bosses and lots of opportunity. And it allowed me to really hone in on business skills and working with people. And I enjoyed many of my jobs there. And we had some issues with some family members' health. And we were moving all around a lot. And the opportunity came for us to maybe make that change. And many people make these changes around 38 to 42 years old. And we were in that category. So we talked about a lot of things. And having had some business experience at Lilly and looking at businesses and companies, I started looking around at some business and companies, see if we could move back and again help some of our relatives and other things. And McDonald's kept popping up. And I was looking at other businesses, but this one just kept popping up. And it was a very community oriented business. And it could be one that I could even pass on to my children. And we had the opportunity to come back to Indianapolis after I spoke to these people. And so it seemed like, well, this would be a great fit because we've got a lot of friends there. We can keep some of our old friendships. And we're even closer to Purdue. Yeah, more tailgates. Yeah. And we can get back up there and see our old friends as well and enjoy that. And hey, maybe we'll get a couple kids to go to Purdue. So that just all kind of seemed to fall into place at that time in our life after a lot of discussion. And have you done a paper on it on McDonald's in school? Ironically, yes. I crannered in my master's degree for strategic management. I did do a paper on McDonald's comparing it to other fast food franchises. And got an A plus on the paper from Dr. Arnold Cooper. And I still have it. And it's pretty true to what I'd written back then. And so I guess that's why I was always kind of thinking about them in the back of my mind. So no matter where I traveled with Lily, I might stop into a McDonald's and have a Mcmuffin and a cup of coffee. Sure. And so it just seemed to be a very compatible franchise with what I thought I wanted to do. And yet get back to Indianapolis, dig into the community. And it allowed Linda also the opportunity to help in the community with the new zoo. The new zoo, which is now 30 years old, probably, but at the time the zoo was moving from one location to River Park. And so I was, I got to be involved in that. And I read that you started or helped start the big zubalations event. That's an event in India. That is a huge event. It wasn't called that then, but and the zoo itself took it over. But it was started by a group that I was with. Amazing. And you're both so involved in the community, both, you know, with Purdue, obviously, but also in Indianapolis. What does it mean to you guys to give back? And why are you so passionate about that? Well, I think we live by that the way we were brought up and our Christian values that you should pay it forward. You should give back. And therefore, it's just a part of who we are. And we'd like to think our children will be in our grandchildren as well. But, you know, many people, again, going back to Purdue, I have that same giving feeling. And I think again, it starts with traditional values. And that was supported at Purdue. And as we grew older, we found the fun in giving back, even anonymously or openly. But it does great things, I think, for the soul, as well as for the people you're helping. Sure. That's amazing. Okay, so we're here in Naples. And we're celebrating the 50th year of the President's Council. And you guys are the co-chairs. Tell us, you know, your experience starting, I don't know how long you guys have been associated with the board. But, you know, then you took over as co-chairs. Tell us about that journey. And again, you know, why, why you're so passionate about this and still being involved in Purdue after this many years. It's an important concept started 50 years ago. And it's giving to help scholarship students for getting scholarships to students, helping faculty. We get to travel together as a family of Purdue people, which is really wonderful. We just think that the President's Council, you can join at a $1,000 level and continue on. It's just a vast group of people starting 50 years ago with 70 people giving. And now we're up to 19,000 people in President's Council. So it's, it's a great opportunity to meet a lot of people who care a lot about Purdue and have a giving heart. Yeah, and just to add to that, I think we were here when President Art Hanson was here with his wife, Nancy, a delightful couple. And Purdue's been so blessed with all the presents we've had here because their student involved, President Mitch Daniels today is that same person that takes the time to really try to talk to students, understand students, but then has great visions about the future and the strategy that we should all, and the vision that we should be seeing for us as one of the top institutions in the country. And as we know, that's, that's what other people say about us. So we don't have to say it ourselves. It's true. But Dr. Hanson started that here, President Hanson, and as we're saying, this is our 50 years where we celebrate all those people that came before us, all the things they've done. And as Linda said, from supporting professors programs initiatives on campus, new buildings, that adds to what the university needs. And again, I think it's so nice to get the alumni to help the very place that we all started and to give back and to see that happening in the 20 year plan. And the Purdue for life is so rewarding, exciting for us as alumni. And do you guys have a favorite story or memory as as you've served as co-chairs the past couple years? Well, I love to travel. And we have had some amazing trips. We are just missed out on South Africa was supposed to be this January, but we're rescheduled and we will go. But we have Egypt coming up and we have France coming up and Charleston, South Carolina, just it and the people you meet all have the same love of their university. And so you have that in common, no matter if you ever are of different ages or never had met them before, traveling with people is a really lovely way to get to share. So that my favorite memories are the travel. And, you know, we serve now during the COVID year, which was a different kind of year, but we were able to still stay in touch through zoom, but not see faces. So we're so happy to be celebrating outwardly the 50th. And we're here in Naples, as you know, now. And these are great annual events where we get 4500 of the Purdue faithful to come in and celebrate with President Daniels and the board, the trustees. And again, it's reunion. It's the family getting back together. And then we offer the back to class, both here and in West Lafayette in October. And we get a lot of people come back so we can keep that learning, that lifetime learning that we started at Purdue. And so those are great opportunities again for us to get together. And as long as the pre pre pre game tailgate parties, Purdue sponsored events, the three minute thesis, we just had Dr. Feinberg come in who the value of the life that Mitch moderated, you know, all these things are available to President's Council members and the public. But it's again, the opportunity to see your university through different eyes and different events. And you've touched on President Daniels. Tell us a little bit more about what you think his leadership, you know, has done for Purdue and continues to mean for the Purdue community. I just think he's the right person at the right time. And while we've gone through the unusual COVID situation, obviously, it's his vision, as I said, and his strategic thinking, as well as his contacts throughout the United States and other things that brings more industry, more partners to come to Purdue University because of that reputation and his personality to get them to come here. And then again, I think the fact that we can rejoice as a group that the success that Purdue has had in the past and that we look forward to the next 20 years in our strategic plan are what's going to make Purdue legendary, thanks to him being the current president here. And again, we've been blessed to have so many great presidents. Absolutely. So we've talked a little bit about your family. You said two, two of the three kids went to Purdue. And what did that mean to you when, you know, they kind of followed in your footsteps? And do you think they felt they had to follow in your footsteps? Obviously not the one who did not come to Purdue. I don't know that they felt they had to, but I think that it was such a, they knew our feeling about it. Sure. So I think it was a fairly easy decision for them. And we were blessed with two son-in-laws that are Purdue students, were Purdue students that they they one met here, met at Purdue, and the other one brought him from high school with her. So we were blessed to have them two as Purdue graduates. And then we have eight grandchildren, and we're hoping that all eight attend Purdue. We're pushing for that. That's amazing. So when you think about, you know, Purdue and the role that it's played in both of your lives, and that's how you two met, and you have children and grandchildren, and kind of set this whole trajectory, what, what does it mean to you, the spoiler maker spirit in this community? It's a family. We say that over and over, don't we? And we are so living the Purdue for life. We met here and had our first little date there on the bridge at Hort Park, and we have our building a home in Providence. So steps away from Hort Park. Literally across the streets. Steps away. Yeah. So we, and we hope to, you know, end at Purdue and keep learning. I mean, that's the Purdue Lafayette campus has always been something that we thought we might want to come back to because you can continue learning. And we can probably somehow get ourselves to every game we can possibly get to. So I think we, we are living that Purdue for life. We believe in that. And I know they're building a retirement home nearby in a hospital. So we may just, you know, just take a few more steps to that eventually, but after we get into this home. That's right. Matt Falk, the Vice President for Development has just announced some of that. And again, that's up at the Purdue Service Center as well. Not too far from where we met. All these things will be open markets, brewery, perhaps in Squirrel Park. But again, it's the whole picture, the whole scene that really is the circle of life. And we hope to enjoy that and all the educational partnerships in our golden years. And someday, I'm sure she might even be willing me down the block to the retirement center and saying, I'll come back and visit you tomorrow. But I'm still in the house over there and everything. But no, I think, you know, that's kind of exciting, because again, because of the fun we had at Purdue, the memories we had there, it's just kind of making sense for us at this time in our life to eventually get back up to Purdue and see what's the next phase of life. And you lived all over the country. You moved a lot. What made you proud to be a Boilermaker, even if you weren't living in Indiana? I think the university has a great story. And people are not aware of where it is if you're out of Indiana. It seems like they all think it's a very high rated private school. And so we, it has a great reputation. And we enjoyed that. We lived on both coasts. And we were always proud to say that we were from Purdue and people were kind of interested in where is that and what is that? So we got to tell that story. Yeah, I always laugh because up in Wisconsin, they thought, is Purdue a private school? You know, when I was first coming down here, and of course, I kind of has a reputation. And because of who it is and the reputation it had throughout the country, when people learn it's public university, they're very amazed, again, because of what we've done here as a university, publicly. So I think it is something that you take in your heart. You're proud to be that person, that pride, the respect, and the love for your alma mater. Is there anything else I miss that you guys want to say or discuss? I think again, we appreciate our days at Purdue, the people that are here, that make it a real place, the opportunities that we were given, because of those people. And if you put the work in, you express your desire to learn. It's the place to be. And it was for us. And it will always mean a lot to us. And we're just two of many stories, just like this, right, that we're representing today that there are so many love stories that come out of Purdue, so many couples and so many friends to be made through the university. And we're very honored for this interview, and we hope we've passed on what so many other couples and people feel about Purdue as well. Just one of many. I'm proud to be a part of that. We're thrilled that you joined us, and we loved hearing your story. Thank you, Kate. Thank you guys.