Baylor alum finally gets his commencement ceremony — 50 years after graduating
The end of spring means graduation season. Future Bears are preparing to transition into college life, and our newest alumni are preparing for life in the “real world.” But there’s another group of Bears who also participate in commencement ceremonies: the Baylor Heritage Club.
Every year, the newest members of the Heritage Club are welcomed on the 50th anniversary of their graduating year. During a weekend in spring, they join current Heritage Club members at Baylor for a dinner, a tour of the likely very-much-changed campus, and a formal ceremony presenting their “golden diplomas.” This year, it was the class of 1966’s turn.
For one new member, the ceremony was especially touching. Nick Jimenez, BA ’66, had finished his degree in January of 1966 and was invited to join the rest of his class at the May graduation ceremony – but by April, he had been drafted by the U.S. Army, and by the end of the year, he was in Vietnam. For 50 years, he felt remorse at missing that major milestone — until he received an invitation from Baylor to attend the 50th reunion of the class of 1966, an invitation he says he “couldn’t turn down.”
In a column for the Corpus Christi Caller-Times (where he has been a reporter and editor for more than 40 years), Jimenez described the experience:
“Not all members of the Class of 1966 were present. It’s easy to surmise why. Fifty years after graduation, there will be some blank spots in the roll call. Some, no doubt, can no longer travel. There was a good amount of white hair. Some were a little stooped now. But all stood tall at the moment they went up on the stage. This was an indulgence in nostalgia. But it was a very satisfying indulgence.
“As the ceremony got started, ‘the graduates’ lined up alphabetically, ready to hand our name cards to the person who would announce our name, in a shorthand version of a true commencement. Except in this commencement, some of the grads couldn’t quite make it up the steps to the stage. It was OK. We’re all there now.
“As I got closer to the front of the line, my thoughts began to drift to 1966. My father, a butcher, and my mother, who worked in a children’s clothing factory, had sacrificed so much so I could attend a private university. This was the substitute for the ceremony they never saw.
“But Maria was there and so was our oldest son, David, as I went up to receive my ‘golden’ diploma. The circle had been closed.
“May all the graduates celebrate their accomplishment and may their families share in the triumph. It is a moment to relish.”
Sic ’em, Nick Jimenez and the class of ’66!
[Photo courtesy of Egon W. Schlottmann]