Jerry Gill's Enduring Questions

MY CURRENT FAMILY

            As one gets older the circle of family and friends surrounding you tends to shrink. I am now pretty much down to my wonderful wife Mari, a couple of neighbor friends, two estranged sons, and a sweet young granddaughter who writes back from time to time. Except, that is, for my fantastic Zoom Class comprised of about six or seven of my special former students. It is this class, which meets weekly on Saturday mornings to discuss philosophers whom I choose, that now pretty much constitutes my current family.

            We have been meeting now for about a year, reading and sharing thoughts about thinkers whom most of my students have encountered before in one or more of my undergraduate classes over the years. I am writing about this group because they represent my last contact with the academic world, and because they stimulate me to keep thinking about big issues in the world of ideas. Aside from some political and athletic interests on television I essentially have no other contacts or inputs. I do very much enjoy my regular days and evenings with Mari.

            In this class we have read and discussed the thoughts and works of Alfred North Whitehead, Soren Kierkegaard, Nikos Kazantzakis, and currently Michael Polanyi. We spend at least an hour and a half each Saturday morning and share what we have encountered and thought about the thinker we are currently reading. No papers are written except for my own class notes and ruminations.

What is especially interesting about this group of former students, in addition to their all being around 65 years of age, is that they come from quite different timeframes and locales in my teaching career. I have taught full-time in seven different colleges from Washington and California to Tennessee and Florida, to Pennsylvania and New York. Del Wisdom, an occasional auditor now, was in my very first group of students at Seattle Pacific College back in the early 1960s. Del had to drop out of graduate school during his first year in order to take over his aunt’s farm in Eastern Washington.

Gary Dunbar majored in philosophy at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida during the 1970s and went on to graduate school in psychology and a stalwart career as a professor at Central Michigan University. I am sitting in on his current class on the brain and consciousness. Kathy Meacham, who earned her Doctorate from Temple University, has also been an occasional “listener-in” and was also a member of Gary’s class at Eckerd College. Teresa Howard, whose husband Michael is also in the class, studied art and philosophy at Eckerd College in the 1early 1970s before earning an additional degree in geography at the University of Texas. 

Dennis O’Neil studied with me at Eastern University before he went on to Theological School and to preaching, teaching and coaching in New Jersey/ Pennsylvania area. Brian Hamilton, also a philosophy major at Eastern University, studied at The New School for Social Research before earning his Bachelor’s of Divinity degree and serving churches in Chicago and now Washington D.C. Brian has popped in a couple of times. David Ray, another sometime auditor, after his studies at Eastern did graduate work at both Western Kentucky and Temple Universities before spending many years working with the CARE Foundation. These fellows were my students during the early 1980s.

Tim Doherty and Brendan Lalor both studied philosophy with me at St. Rose College during the early 1990s. Brendan went on for a Ph.D. in philosophy at the Albany branch of the State University of New York. Tim also earned his interdisciplinary Doctorate degree at SUNY. Brendan invited me to speak at the colleges where he taught during the following years. Tim and I have been involved together in various educational programs in and around Tucson, as well as in Greece and China. He now directs a program for refugees in Albany, N.Y. Finally, there is Stella McKenzie who was an outstanding student of mine in numerous classes here at the Pima Community College in Tucson. Although she does not have the broader academic background that the other members of the class have, Stella makes solid contributions to our regular discussions.

I do not have the words to express what participating in this “class” over the past year has meant to me. The discussions are open and interesting, and even quite humorous at times. We laugh a lot. Moreover, even though we have had to reorganize our schedule a few times, bye and large we have just agreed to plow ahead and keep on learning. These folks have been and are the lifeline for my mind, as well as my spirit. I am eternally grateful to you all. Thanks so much!!