Grandpa Roy
Written below is a article that was printed in the Newberg Oregon Graphic. As you will read Grandpa Roy is a "fixture" on the campus of George Fox University. Roy was also my neighbor for two years so I got to visit with him on a regular basis. Enjoy reading this insightful look into one of my favorite Grandpa's.
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Students call him the “campus grandpa,” though Roy Hiebert points out that it’s not an official designation by any means. Hiebert, 81, has been part of the George Fox University campus community since 1974 when he was given a job in electrical maintenance. Grandpa Roy, as students are fond of calling him, retired from his position at GFU 17 years ago, but remains an active member of the campus community. He is introduced to new students as someone to come to if they need someone who listens and is a willing substitute grandpa for students who need one. Now in his 62nd semester, as he likes to tell students, Hiebert still uses a GFU meal card to pay for his food in the cafeteria, still lives within sight of the campus and greets the children of his former lunchmates as they sit down to eat. Sometimes he offers to help students raising money for missions trips. He lives frugally, walking to most places, using little heat or electricity, and has little else to spend his money on, he said. He also volunteers. When George Fox undertook the creation of a prayer chapel in 1996, Hiebert received the school’s volunteer of the year award for spending 240 hours working on the project. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, he sits quietly in the cafeteria at George Fox, eating a meal alone at a large round table. But he’s rarely alone for long. Within minutes, a bevy of college students, almost always women, join him at the table. They talk about their lives, their education, missing their families, and missionary work. Hiebert is content to listen, teasing the young women on occasion. Sometimes he offers them a quote. “Everyone’s different, just about different things,” he quotes Will Rogers as saying. Or he tells stories, sometimes embellishing the facts just a bit. At Fort Peck Dam in Montana, he tells them, if you whistle at minus-62 degrees, it will silently freeze and fall to the ground causing quite a ruckus when it thaws in the spring. In the summer he brings a Christmas card box full of rosebuds and invites the girls to look at his cards. When they open the box he invites them to choose a flower. In the spring, its a bigger box of dahlia blooms. If it weren’t for God, and his prayers, things may have been different. Hiebert landed a job in Ethiopia after seven years as a teacher at Clatskanie High School. He told a pastor about his desire to teach in another country. Not long afterward, his pastor returned from a trip to Seattle with an offer: In Ethiopia, Hiebert could teach the children of ambassadors and doctors from 29 countries in classes where no less than 14 languages were spoken. “Kids there are not afraid to study,” he said. Hiebert accepted. He worked in Ethiopia for eight years as a high school shop and science teacher when he decided he needed a change. But he didn’t tell anyone about it — no one but God that is. One of his jobs at the Ethiopian high school was maintaining the school’s electrical system. Knowing he no longer wanted to teach, he decided he wanted to work in electrical maintenance at a Christian school. His children, both boys, had graduated high school and were ready for college. Hiebert knew that children returning to the states often have trouble adjusting, especially if their family was not nearby. “I thought it was a good time to come home,” he said. Hiebert already had some connection to George Fox. His wife, Verna, graduated from George Fox and had relatives in the school. At least one of Hiebert’s chemistry teachers at Cascade College, Elver Voth, worked at George Fox at the time. Lee Nash, a professor of history, attended Cascade College with Hiebert and had made the transition to George Fox. Not long after Hiebert made his decision to return to the states he received a letter. George Fox needed someone to fill an electrical maintenance position. Would he be interested in the job?Just like that, with no application and no job interview, Hiebert was hired. “As soon as I got here I knew I was home,” he said. Now, Hiebert eats in the cafeteria because the food, and the company, is good. “Not many have to ask, ‘whose that strange old man sitting in the dining hall?’” he said.
From Feb. 25, 2006, Newberg Graphic
By Schellene Clendenin
www.newberggraphic.com
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Students call him the “campus grandpa,” though Roy Hiebert points out that it’s not an official designation by any means. Hiebert, 81, has been part of the George Fox University campus community since 1974 when he was given a job in electrical maintenance. Grandpa Roy, as students are fond of calling him, retired from his position at GFU 17 years ago, but remains an active member of the campus community. He is introduced to new students as someone to come to if they need someone who listens and is a willing substitute grandpa for students who need one. Now in his 62nd semester, as he likes to tell students, Hiebert still uses a GFU meal card to pay for his food in the cafeteria, still lives within sight of the campus and greets the children of his former lunchmates as they sit down to eat. Sometimes he offers to help students raising money for missions trips. He lives frugally, walking to most places, using little heat or electricity, and has little else to spend his money on, he said. He also volunteers. When George Fox undertook the creation of a prayer chapel in 1996, Hiebert received the school’s volunteer of the year award for spending 240 hours working on the project. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, he sits quietly in the cafeteria at George Fox, eating a meal alone at a large round table. But he’s rarely alone for long. Within minutes, a bevy of college students, almost always women, join him at the table. They talk about their lives, their education, missing their families, and missionary work. Hiebert is content to listen, teasing the young women on occasion. Sometimes he offers them a quote. “Everyone’s different, just about different things,” he quotes Will Rogers as saying. Or he tells stories, sometimes embellishing the facts just a bit. At Fort Peck Dam in Montana, he tells them, if you whistle at minus-62 degrees, it will silently freeze and fall to the ground causing quite a ruckus when it thaws in the spring. In the summer he brings a Christmas card box full of rosebuds and invites the girls to look at his cards. When they open the box he invites them to choose a flower. In the spring, its a bigger box of dahlia blooms. If it weren’t for God, and his prayers, things may have been different. Hiebert landed a job in Ethiopia after seven years as a teacher at Clatskanie High School. He told a pastor about his desire to teach in another country. Not long afterward, his pastor returned from a trip to Seattle with an offer: In Ethiopia, Hiebert could teach the children of ambassadors and doctors from 29 countries in classes where no less than 14 languages were spoken. “Kids there are not afraid to study,” he said. Hiebert accepted. He worked in Ethiopia for eight years as a high school shop and science teacher when he decided he needed a change. But he didn’t tell anyone about it — no one but God that is. One of his jobs at the Ethiopian high school was maintaining the school’s electrical system. Knowing he no longer wanted to teach, he decided he wanted to work in electrical maintenance at a Christian school. His children, both boys, had graduated high school and were ready for college. Hiebert knew that children returning to the states often have trouble adjusting, especially if their family was not nearby. “I thought it was a good time to come home,” he said. Hiebert already had some connection to George Fox. His wife, Verna, graduated from George Fox and had relatives in the school. At least one of Hiebert’s chemistry teachers at Cascade College, Elver Voth, worked at George Fox at the time. Lee Nash, a professor of history, attended Cascade College with Hiebert and had made the transition to George Fox. Not long after Hiebert made his decision to return to the states he received a letter. George Fox needed someone to fill an electrical maintenance position. Would he be interested in the job?Just like that, with no application and no job interview, Hiebert was hired. “As soon as I got here I knew I was home,” he said. Now, Hiebert eats in the cafeteria because the food, and the company, is good. “Not many have to ask, ‘whose that strange old man sitting in the dining hall?’” he said.
From Feb. 25, 2006, Newberg Graphic
By Schellene Clendenin
www.newberggraphic.com
posted by Brian C. @ 5:29 PM
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