Being Lucky: Reminiscences and Reflections

Preface to the 1992 Reprinting of Being Lucky

Preface to the 1992 Reprinting of Being Lucky I HAVE CHOSEN the device of a second Preface to note some minor corrections, to record some outward evidences of change in my life, and to reflect a bit on the evolving University around me. In a recent rereading of Being Lucky I discovered that some printing errors had escaped early detection or been compounded in succeeding printings. These I have sought to correct. Although I am in my 90th year, I continue to go to the office daily when I am in town and work without interruption for five or six hours. Even then it is difficult for me to keep up with the volume of correspondence that the mails bring and the many appointments scheduled by request of persons seeking advice and counsel, information, an interview, or to convey a message from an individual or group. I shall always be grateful to the University for allowing me to continue to work and for supplying the means by which I can work effectively-that is, an office, an administrative associate, and two secretaries. I try to engage in worthwhile projects by way of recompense. I also try to do useful work because I have great affection for the University, and I rejoice in its progress. I continue to chair certain University committees, such as the All-University Committee on Names, the Beck Chapel Committee, the Executive Committee of the Indiana University Foundation, and currently the Advisory Committee for the Wendell Willkie Centennial. The University will observe the centennial of Wendell Willkie's birth with a major publication, a conference examining the relevance of the One World concept to the world of today, and events on each of the University's eight campuses. Willkie, an alumnus, was a candidate for President of the United States in 1940. In addition, I try to be active as a board member of the Riley Memorial Association (which is, of course, of great interest to the University and its Medical Center), of [xiv] Preface to the Reprinting of Being Lucky xv the Indiana Historical Society (with which the University has had a long and happy relationship), and of the Lilly Endowment (which the Lilly family created for the benefit of society, especially in Indiana). Since I have no line responsibilities, I am free to accept special assignments from the University and the Indiana University Foundation, anything from being a host to addressing a particular group or maintaining contact with certain important alumni and significant donors. In recent years I have begun to involve younger and more active members of the Foundation staff in my relationships with significant donors. This transfer represents a kind of finale to the Campaign for Indiana, the recent major fund-raising drive by the Indiana University Foundation that exceeded its goal and for which my co-chairman, Danny Danielson, and I each received the University's most cherished honor, the University Medal, in a surprise ceremony. The decade since Being Lucky was published was the decade of my eighties. In the early years of that decade, I was still able to continue meeting committee and board responsibilities in Washington, New York, and elsewhere. Also, I was able to visit the eight campuses of the University regularly and to attend important functions in various parts of the state. As the years go on, however, I find travel increasingly onerous, and so my travel now is largely between Bloomington and Indianapolis, with an occasional visit to the other campuses. In the early years of the decade, I took tremendous pleasure in hearing the great variety of lecturers that came to the Bloomington campus. They often introduced new points of view and usually enlarged my knowledge of many different topics. As the years have gone by, my impaired hearing has curtailed my attendance at lectures, a change I have made reluctantly and not least because I like to give evidence of my interest in the various divisions of the University. With hearing aids, I can still enjoy music but the theatre is quite impossible. A more visible impairment, the toll of arthritis on my mobility, has awakened me to the access barriers that confront the handicapped. My inability to attend all major University functions now is a source of great regret for two reasons: I still enjoy them, and I heartily approve of the ceremonial aspects of the University as they are now performed by our dynamic President. My longevity has made room for new...