FACET's Eileen T. Bender

Yesterday I interviewed FACET founder Eileen Bender at her office in the English Department at IU South Bend. Several weeks ago in the cafeteria lunchroom FACET (Faculty Colloquium on Excellence in Teaching) director David Malik, who is also interim Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at IU Northwest, said to me, “Since you are an oral historian, how would you like to interview the woman who started FACET?” She is retiring from teaching this year, and he wanted her remembrances recorded for posterity. He offered to pay me but the terms of my retirement plan prevent me from earning any extra money from IU. I was in desperate need of a new computer, however, so I heard him out, and agreed that the interview might become part of a larger project. To learn more about FACET I interviewed Don Coffin, who had been an active member since 1989, as well as current campus liaison Charlotte Reed, and Malik himself. Tome Trajkovski and Aaron Pigars provided camera work and then produced excellent DVDs of the interviews that could possibly be part of a documentary or put on FACET’s electronic Website and/or Newsletter. I contacted Eileen and we set up a time and date.

The weather yesterday was threatening, but we plunged on. Aaron was a recent graduate of IU South Bend and navigated while Tome drove us in his new BMW. We made it to campus in under an hour. I packed ham sandwiches and Fritos for each of us. Eileen proved to be a charming woman with much to say. At one time she was special adviser to IU President Tom Ehrlich, who supported her vision to honor excellent teachers and bring them together as an unofficial leadership cadre to encourage teaching innovations on their respective campuses. The interview went on for nearly two hours. Each year in May new inductees and those already members of the organization go to a weekend retreat. For the past several years this has taken place in French Lick, a former spa in southern Indiana that now boasts a casino. Various sessions and workshops take place that involve teachers having to learn new skills outside their discipline. One such collaborative effort involved making pieces of a quilt. Another involved participants making silkscreen segments. As Eileen recalled, in 1998 her assistant “smuggled out” a snapshot of her, which was enlarged and cut into squares. People worked on and made abstractions from nine little screens not knowing what the larger picture was. The collage was unveiled at the closing session and now hangs in a lounge near Eileen’s office. Eileen said, “It has taken me years to be able to view my abstracted multicolored image with good humor. I’m amused when holding a class in the lounge when a student asks warily, ‘Dr. Bender – is that YOU????’”

Thanks to Vice Chancellor Malik I now have a state-of-the-art MAC (version 10.6.2) 27-inch screen computer with 4 GBs of memory. In the past couple days I’ve worked out most of the bugs and gotten used to it thanks in large part to technician Velate Sullivan. I love it. The old one had been freezing up every half hour or so. So far I have showed it off to Steve, Anne Balay, and other visitors to the Archives. Malik is also going to pay for Aaron, Tome, and me to attend next year’s retreat so we can do interviews and capture some of the highlights on tape. Malik was at today’s Holiday Party (you don’t say Christmas!) and I introduced him to 89 year-old Bill Neil, a surprise guest who mentioned that he, too, had been Dean (as it was called in 1971) of Academic Affairs until an idiot, Robert McNeil, became Chancellor (and Bill was not exaggerating). Chris Young sat at our table. His field, early American History, was the same as Bill’s, so they got along famously. Also at our table were Ken Schoon, who (as I pointed out to Bill) wrote the excellent book “Calumet Beginnings,” which combines his expertise in geology and history. Zoran and Vesna Kilibarda, who moved to the United States from Yugoslavia in the 1980s, were our other companions. Bill recalled some of his former Serbian students (what a memory), and Zoran expressed regret that after Tito’s death his country disintegrated into a half dozen little states with little power or influence. He knew Bill from chairing the 2009 Arts and Sciences Research Conference Committee that approved my Plenary Session on the history of the university featuring Bill, Paul Kern and me. Vesna thanked me for giving them my Retirement Journal and said she found it interesting. I mentioned in volume 40 that Vesna was a Voodoo Chili fan who danced to my son’s band at the Roadhouse, that as Chair of the Math Department she gave Lary Schiefelbusch the Gary Pictorial History and Ron Cohen and I co-edited, and that at grieving session in the wake of Robin Hass Birky being killed in an auto accident, she was so moved she could barely control her emotions (she wasn’t alone).

Next week will be the A & S Holiday Party, and last week was a Retirement Reception for Business Prof Bert Scott (didn’t know him very well) and an Information Technology secretary. Three other retirees failed to attend, including good old Mary Bertoluzzi, who was hired in 1978 to work in a unit that was later abolished and never promoted into a position that would have used her considerable talents. Usually try to provide witty anecdotes at such events, but kept my mouth shut. Have been reading with pleasure Gore Vidal’s “Burr,” told from the point of view of a young would-be biographer who works in the former vice president's law office. As in "Lincoln," the main character frequents a fashionable D.C. brothel. Picked up and skimmed through “Everything’s Changed” by Gail Collins about women’s history since 1960. In that year a judge kicked a woman out of his courtroom for wearing slacks. There’s a photo of a sexy stewardess lighting men’s cigars. How times have changed.

Wednesday ended with a wintry blizzard. It took my son Dave 90 minutes to get home to Portage from East Chicago Central H.S. and he begged out of bowling in place of me. I have been nursing a pinched sciatic nerve but drove through the snow and wind to Cressmoor Lanes and bowled a 509 series (194, 182, and 133 with four splits in the third game). The Engineers won one game and series for three points, and Dick Maloney beat me out for high series above average by a total of four pins to win the five dollar pot. Had two Leinie drafts and then a couple Goose Island 12-ouncers while listening to an Owl City CD and proofreading my forward to the an autobiography I am helping someone put together.

IU Northwest: "Celebrating 50 Years"

Friday’s “Celebrating 50 Years” event at IU Northwest came off OK after a rough start. Activities were spread out all over campus and entertainment included the IUN cheerleaders, songs by campus daycare kids, and the Emerson School Jazz band. There was no parade as originally scheduled or formal program like I wanted to reflect on the past. I had been told Chancellor Bergland would give his welcoming remarks on the stage at the library courtyard at 12:45, but he went on at 12:15 with hardly anyone present. Had not library director Tim Sutherland and Physical Plant director Jefimenko not given most of their staff the afternoon off, the place would have been dead.

After Sheriff Roy Dominguez arrived, I asked Bruce if he’d like to introduce him, but he said it would be an insult since the crowd was so small. The Sheriff shook hands and passed out little badges similar to the wings airlines used to give kids. He seemed to know half the folks, including the m.c. for the afternoon Carolyn Jordon, and was thoroughly enjoying himself. Event coordinator Toni Lieteau asked if he wished to say a few words, and he was great, mentioning that he was an IU Northwest grad and if it weren’t for Special Services counselor Elsa Rivera and professors such as Bob Lovely, he wouldn’t have had the opportunity for future success. He mentioned that he met his wife Betty on campus and got his start in law enforcement in the campus cadet program under Andy Lazar. He reserved special praise for Professor Gary Martin, who subsequently became his Chief of Police and close friend. Dominguez is considering running for governor in 2012 and showed me a Website called him “Indiana Roy” and illustrated in a way that is a take-off on Indiana Jones.

Around two o’clock 89 year-old Bill Neil arrived. Fifty years ago he was acting director and in charge of the campus immediately after it moved from downtown Gary to Glen Park. Since the Chancellor was not around, I introduced him between acts, mentioning that his association with the campus went back over 70 years to when he first enrolled at the old Gary College that held classes at Horace Mann High School. Bill, who hired me 39 years ago, then got up and said that someone once defined history as “One damn thing after another” but with IUN it has been “one great thing after another.” He was terrific.

There weren’t many faculty around, but I did introduce Bill to English professor Anne Balay and Gianluca DiMuzio, who is acting as Chair of the History and Philosopher Department since Diana Chen-lin is on sabbatical. Kathy Malone greeted Bill warmly and showed him a tree dedicated to his former secretary Lavern Gutsch. He seemed touched. Somebody was filming the entire program – perhaps the Gary cable station – so I’ll have to see if Bill’s remarks have been saved for posterity. Several nice items were raffled off including a shirt autographed by former White Sox star Ron Kittle (married to Laura on our committee) and a framed South Shore poster. The last three digits of my ticket were 440, and three times the number drawn was in the 440s. Otto Jefimenko won the poster and then gave it away to computer guru Mark Uncapher, who had told him beforehand that he'd really like to win it. By four o’clock a considerable audience had gathered, including many families, as Asian and Mexican folk dancers and an African-American percussion group performed. So the final hours were worth all the hard work Toni Lieteau’s committee went to in “Celebrating 50 Years.”

Yesterday's Post-Trib carried an article about Harold Okone by Jerry Davich entitled, "Area veterinarian: 'Jer, I've had a remarkable life.'" Davich writes that when they'd have lunch, Hal "would tell me another chapter of his incredibly interesting life." One story involved a dalliance with Diane Mitford, the wife of controversial British politician Sir Oswald Mosley. Davich writes, "Diane bought Hal a new suit for their date and even took photos of him at a racetrack." Davich mentioned having a copy of the first episode of Hal's proposed TV sitcom "For Love of Harry" in his filing cabinet.

Got an email from former student Tim Jackomis, who is now Director of Surveillance at Blue Chip Casino in Michigan City. He wanted a copy of “Steelworkers Tales” because I published an article he wrote about his father in it. Unfortunately that Steel Shavings issue is out of print but I did Xerox some pages for him in a section called “Horseplay.” One story his dad told him was that in winter men working outside would light fires in oil drums. One guy on a scaffold above the fire liked to drop balloons onto the drums. When they exploded, they sounded like gunfire and would send sparks all over. Mill workers, he said, sometimes took oxygen tanks holding over a ton of pressurized oxygen to the shore of Lake Michigan and strike the valve off with a sledgehammer, launching the tank toward the water like a torpedo. Jackomis added: "My father remembers a mill worker who on paydays would raffle off a shotgun. He would take 52 playing cards and cut them in half. After selling the half-cards for five dollars a chance, he would put his half in a hat and hold a drawing, from which about 80 dollars was profit. Sometimes he would raffle off fishing tackle, deer rifles and jewelry."

It would be great to get "Steelworkers Tales" back in print, perhaps with nre information added relating to the research Anne Balay and I plan to do. After volume 19 came out, some officials at Bethleham Steel wanted IU Northwest to force me to stop its circulation because of material about sex and sexism there. Chancellor Peggy Elliott stuck by me, and the crisis passed. One of the interviews I did for the issue was with Valerie Denney, and I subsequently used quotes by her in several published papers, including "Indiana Women of Steel" in the Spring 2009 issue of TRACES. I recall she had a bad cold the day of the interview and almost begged off. One funny story she told was about a guy who cooked lunch out of his locker, which contained, she recalled, "a full-size refrigerator plus a microwave and two picnic tables with paper table cloths. He'd serve two or three types of sandwiches and all kinds of pop and candy. He did doughnuts and coffee in the morning. He would make these marvelous pork sandwiches. He would do take-out orders for other departments. Then it would get too big, and management would crack down on him. Then gradually it would start back up again. He was black, and workers called it the Black Hen Pantry. He worked at night, too. He had a snow plowing service in the winter. He would be out in the parking lot starting batteries. He was constantly trying to make money."

Harold Okone, R.I.P.

My friend Clark Metz is grieving over the death of Doctor Harold Okone, a Region veterinarian for over 50 years and a great raconteur. In his heyday when he went to dinner at one of his favorite watering holes, if he didn’t know everyone when he arrived, chances are he did by the time he left – and bought most of them drinks. For years he talked about writing the script for a TV series based on his years as a young student in France and the women in his life then. He sought help from me, radio and TV personality Tom Higgins, and most recently Jerry Davich of the Post-Tribune. I thought it would make an interesting movie with an old geezer, a Burgess Meredith type, relating his youthful escapades from his hospital bed when his wife isn’t listening. At the service for Hal Clark told one of Doc’s favorite stories about hearing that his son Brandon wanted a new yarmulke. Impressed that he was getting into his Jewish religion, Hal bought him the nicest one he could find as a present. Brandon opened it up and said, “No, dad, I said Yamaha, not yarmulke.”

Sheriff Dominguez is planning to come to IU Northwest’s 50-year celebration tomorrow. He is a graduate and winner of the top IU alumni award. There will be popcorn, face painting, tug of war, and free copies of “Educating the Calumet Region” by yours truly and Paul Kern. I think I have Bill Neil lined up as well. He attended IU as a student 70 years ago when it was known as Gary College, and after serving in World War II and earning a PhD from the University of Chicago, he became a History professor when IU’s “Gary Extension” was downtown in Seaman Hall. When the institution moved to Glen Park in 1959, Director Jack Buhner had a two-year sabbatical so he could finish his PhD, so Bill was in charge of the campus. He jokes that parking (in an unfinished lot) was even a worse problem then than now. The lone building then, called Gary Main and later Tamarack Hall, was condemned a year ago because of the flood. He hired me in 1970 and while driving me to a motel in Miller described what a great retirement plan the university had.

Nicole Anslover thanked me for a bunch of books on the 1960s that I gave her. I wouldn’t mind talking to her Sixties class about northwest Indiana during that tumultuous decade. Most of the books deal with protest or the counter culture, but I included a biography of Lyndon Baines Johnson called “Big Daddy from the Pedernales” by Paul Conkin, who taught at the University of Maryland while I was there. Conkin calls LBJ “larger than life” and that he was. He is the first famous politician I saw in person – my freshman year at Bucknell when on the steps of a courthouse in Lewisburg, PA, LBJ told voters to vote for him and Kennedy because they’d be able to get more done through the Democratic Congress. I wasn’t all that impressed with “Big Daddy” on that occasion or later when he Americanized the war in Vietnam.