Beverly Miller
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I graduated from Auburn in 1969 but my Auburn experience almost wasn't an Auburn experience! I grew up in a family who pulled for the Crimson Tide. My father attended a law school in the 1930's that later became a part of the U of A law school. "Roll Tide" was a common thing to hear in my family and my neighborhood. I grew up with no other thoughts but to go to Alabama and was accepted my senior year in high school and assigend a little sister. My parents were very "protective" and it was the "sixties" so I was not allowed to go to Tuscaloos to parties until after Christmas my senior year in high school. I went for my first visit and HATED it! I knew I was in the wrong place immediately. Can you imagine my family's reaction when I told them I wasn't going to Alabama?! I don't think my father spoke to me for a week. The rest as they say is history. I decided to go to Auburn and fell in love immediately. It was where I belonged! My senior year at Auburn while I was at the game, my father and my brother-in-law were watching the Auburn-Alabama game on TV. My brother-in-law later told me that my father pulled for Alabama during the game. I don't think I spoke to him for about a year. His excuse was that "Alabama had a chance to win the national championship and Auburn didn't." I told him that had nothing to do with anything! I'm proud to say that Auburn never lost to Alabama the whole time I was there..we tided (pun intended) once but we never lost! I eventually won the rest of my family over and I'm proud to say that all of my neices and nephews have gone to Auburn since. I'm proud to be an Auburn Alumni and love Auburn with all my heart. I have exchanged "War Eagle" with people all over the world and hope I will for many years to come!! |
James I.(Jim) Grantham
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I graduated in 1957, the national champ year. But, I had to go into the Navy immediately upon graduation, ended in the Mediterranean, and was not able to keep up with the season. I also am the victim of a another coincidence. I graduated from a school that no longer exists(API) with a degree(Agr. Engr.) that no longer exists!!!
You can bet I am going to the "Golden Eagles" alumni meeting on 9/22!!
Also, I was the President of the Triangle Club the year we received the charter. Much work had gone on the previous years, but we finally received it.
I am very proud of the club and the progress it has made. Unfortunately, as I have grown older, it seems to be easier to go the den and watch the games at home. But I do miss the camaraderie.
My company, CERTEK, builds modular microbiological laboratories. I started this in 1997, and after 9/11, we have become very busy. I still have not retired, and my wife(a Charlestonian) thinks I am crazy. I have three kids. Was able to get one to Auburn for 2 years, but she got homesick, and transferred to C.H. My other daughter went to East Carolina and my son chose not to go to college. I have four grand children and enjoy them thoroughly. I look forward to coming to the Kansas game - unless we go out of town. I will catch some of them this year if not Kansas.
Looking forward to meeting some of the young alumni. |
Brian Taylor
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A young kid 800 miles from home, scared, excited, confused by a new “Southern” language, perplexed by the design of the Haley Center, thoroughly enjoying wonderful Southern cooking, and never quite feeling homesick because of football fanatic, orange and blue pant wearing, RV tailgate celebrating, and free food and adult beverage supplying alumni who showed up the Wednesday before the game. I had found my Nirvana in a little spot on the map that God spent a little extra time on known as Auburn. The women were beautiful with their sing song accents and pleasant personalities. Here there would be no snow, no rush hour, no smog, and you could walk the streets amongst thousands of friends that you had yet to meet. Game days started with brunches and/or tailgates whence after you entered the colossal arena of a sport whose following, some would say, rivals religion but to whom I would say , after experiencing a stadium three times the size of most professional arenas, that they are wrong…..it IS a religion. The feeling of your internal organs being rearranged by the roar of the crowd, the dusty haze from the thousands of shakers, your pulse racing as the game sways for you and against you, the exhilaration of victory and the heartache of defeat – that lump you feel and tears you suppress when the eagle soars over the field. In victory, who can forget the celebrations at Toomers Corner when the trees were transformed, within minutes, into a surreal artificial snowscape by thousands of reveling fans. The after game band parties and late nights at the Supper Club. The Strutting Duck, Guthries, Harry’s Bar, The Flush…….Oh, what an experience. Funny, much of what you take away doesn’t rest on academic memories. Making the grade and pursuing your education was always the expectation, the job, the purpose of your tenure there. Who knew this would be the place that would educate but also form you into the adult you would become. Who but those who have attended this institution would know half the satisfaction of yelling out War Eagle! to that unknown but potential friend and the thrill when it is yelled back - that brief instance of knowing you had just met a kindred spirit. I found many things in that wonderful, little, loveliest village on the plains. I hold those memories cherishing an Auburn that helped me to grow, that enabled me to thrive, and that supplied me with means to achieve my goals and aspirations. This place, this home, my Auburn. |
My Auburn Experience