Roland Begins his Transition into Retirement!

February 29, 2016 was Roland's last day of employment at the University of Tennessee. Since then we have been celebrating 32 years of service to UT and enjoying some new found flexibility in our lives.

After Roland came home from UT on that last Monday at the office, we sat down in our living room with an envelope our children sent us. Inside were thoughtful notes of love and appreciation from each of them. It was touching and we shed a few tears while reading these letters. Also they sent us a total of $1,250 to be spent on a trip.  We have often talked about going to Maine during Whale Season, but Whale Season is the end of August, right when the school year at UT begins, so it was something we weren't able to do.  Perhaps this year it will happen.  With other plans for the remainder of the year, it's difficult to be certain. Thankfully, we can be flexible.

In the evening, our friends Cindi and Corbet Curfman took us to dine at Bonefish Grill to celebrate Roland's retirement. They have been such good friends for many of the years we have lived here in Tennessee. There we enjoyed Bang Bang Shrimp so Roland can say "he went out with a bang!". We don't often get an appetizer when we go out to eat, but at Bonefish, the Bang Bang Shrimp is a must.

Us with Cindi and Corbet on the left and on the right we see Roland enjoying the Bang Bang Shrimp!

We had made plans to explore and hike along the Tail of the Dragon and Cherohala Skyway for the next few days. However, because of a weather forecast of thunderstorms and a request I received from Delton Gerloff on Monday to send him pictures for a slideshow the department would be showing on Friday at a reception in Roland's honor we decided we could be flexible and revised our plan. Tuesday, we planned to vote in the primary, get the pictures to the University and enjoy a trip to the Nashville Temple.  Once more our plans needed to be changed. Then on Wednesday and Thursday we would do some hiking. But lines were long at the polls and when voting took about three hours, flexibility was once more the theme of the day. Instead, after voting, we headed off to Nashville and spent the night in Lebanon. In the morning we completed our trip to the temple and enjoyed a session. It was now noon and we had planned to take a hike in one of the beautiful state parks between Nashville and Knoxville on our way home. We stopped at Longhunter State Park and found a hike and as we were exiting the car to go hiking, Roland discovered he had left his Tilley at the hotel. There would be no hiking without a hat on Roland's head! Thankfully, we had not gotten as far as Lebanon, so we drove on to the hotel and decided that since there is a really nice state park, Cedars of Lebanon, we would visit that one instead and hiked a pleasant trail called "Hidden Springs". By now it was a little later in the day, and perhaps the Tilley wasn't even necessary! But we enjoyed the hike and found the hidden springs. I'm so glad we were able to complete this hike!

One of the hidden springs.

The second hidden spring. Who knows?? There might be a third--but is hidden better!

Roland on the trail in his handsome Tilley. He's lookin' mighty fine on his second official day of retirement!

Enjoying the good life--hiking on a weekday!?

 We spent Thursday at home and kept busy tending to various responsibilities. Roland made a trip to the University. A friend of mine's brother had just died and she asked me to come over and help her pack to travel to the funeral.

Friday was the day of Roland's retirement reception at the University. Emily drove over from Nashville to share this time. The event was a memorable tribute to Roland's UT Career. Students, faculty and staff were all gathered to share the memories and the good food.

Several colleagues spoke and shared experiences revealing Roland's character. There were four stories in particular that I want to always remember.

Two were experiences Jim Larson shared.  He told of a car trip that he made with Roland to West Tennessee. On the return trip home, with Roland at the wheel, a deer carcass was lying in the road. Roland was following a semi truck and trailer and the semi's clearance allowed it to drive over the deer. Roland then saw the deer carcass, felt there was no time to check and switch lanes and made the quick decision to speed up, get momemtum and ram the carcass. Jim was more than just a little surprised! He felt his decision on the road reflected Roland's style of making decisions and acting. "Quick and full speed ahead!"

The second he shared was an experience Jim had with Roland and Burt English early in Jim's career at UT.  Roland has been a caring mentor for many of the faculty and students. Jim said that his style has changed over the years. Roland was nicer now than he was back then. Early in Jim's career at UT, before he was tenured, as the leader of a project with Roland and Burt, Jim was summoned to the Dean's office because the Dean had received several phone calls from irate farmers about a survey they had mailed out. He asked Roland and Burt to go with him for support. Roland and Burt were confident the research was well designed and useful. Nevertheless, as the three of them waited for the Dean in his office, Roland said to Burt, "I'm sure glad I have tenure right now. Aren't you?" Burt agreed that he wouldn't want to be untenured in a situation like that. What a fun memory!

Kim Jensen spoke of Roland's service as the Director of Graduate Studies for the department. He worked with a committee to select the students from those who had applied. He often would stick his head in her office for her input. She had been impressed over the years by his desire to have agreement among the committee members and the solidarity it helped to bring about in the department.

Among the things Burt English spoke of was what a fine professor Roland was in the classes he taught. Burt used a letter he wrote as an outline for his comments.  From the letter: "Roland has had a huge impact on our graduate students. I believe that his discussions with them about Economic Theory have made them far better economists than they would have been had he not been here. Did you know, Roland taught the students twice a week Monday and Wednesday from 3:40 to well when he got done. When he gave an exam, he would stay up in his office until he finished grading them. I am sure this took him at times well past 9 pm. The exams would be outside his office the next morning when the students got to campus. That is dedication." I can attest that many times it was after midnight before he got home. The students who were present at the reception were openly appreciative of his kindness and support.

Roland received several gifts from the department among them a framed beautiful print of the Smoky Mountains. We have loved and enjoyed the Smoky Mountains for the past 32 years and this gift is treasured.

We are so grateful for the blessing of living in Knoxville and Roland's position at UT. What a wonderful life we have been able to live among the good people of Knoxville and UT! We have loved the hiking, exploring and recreation here in the Appalachian mountains. They have provided so many of our family's activities and memories. I am personally grateful to be able to have shared all the experiences we've had together and am soooo proud of him!

We're so grateful for our health, family and life together and we've got sooooo much to look forward to!