excerpt from Appendix J of
Colin Gunn, Class of 1916
Among the many fine people I {Dr. Ehrlich} have been privileged to come to know since leaving the University of Missouri and joining the University of Florida, are Reverend and Mrs. Benson Cain, now ``retired'' in Melrose after spending many years as missionaries to Japan. Mrs. Cain fortuitously happens to be a daughter of Colin Gunn, who attended the University of Florida from 1912--1916, graduating with the Bachelor of Science in Agriculture in 1916.
We are lucky enough to learn posthumously from Colin Gunn himself about attending the University of Florida. What is not revealed in this oral history transcript [1] is that to help with college expenses, Gunn and another student ran a small business on campus where they would take the coats of students, press them at night in the basement of the dormitory, and have them back ready to wear the next morning to class, freshly pressed.
Here are the portions of the interview [1] which pertain to Peter Rolfs!
- Interviewer:
- Since you were in agriculture, you will remember Professor [Peter Henry] Rolfs, [Dean of the College of Agriculture].
- Mr. Gunn:
- Oh, quite well, yes.
- Interviewer:
- Did you know him at all well? Did you have much contact with him?
- Mr. Gunn:
- Well, I knew Professor Rolfs quite well, I think, yes, Director of the station. I worked in the experiment station building a great deal as a student. I did everything---preparing charts and running mimeographs, laboratory work, and everything else that is in that building, you know, for different individuals. I remember one incident [chuckle]. Two incidents, I remember. The first one, there was a man by the name of [John] Belling [Editor and Assistant Botanist to the Experiment Station] who was a scientist and who was working on velvet beans. The old Florida velvet beans were full of sticky spines, you know, and hard to handle. And Dr. Belling, who was English, at the time had undertaken to, some way, to work those spines off of the Florida velvet bean. Part of my activity as major student in the university was working with Dr. Belling in the laboratory, picking the beans from the field and then counting the dead ovules and other things that were factors in the laboratory. And [chuckle] on one occasion, one of the scientists from the third floor---Dr. Belling's office was on the second floor---came in with a specimen---I don't remember what it was---of some kind that had been sent in for identification. And he came along and asked Dr. Belling if he could identify this and he said,
``No, no. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.''
Well, he said,
``Well, all right, thank you,''
and he walked out and went down to the director's office which was Rolfs, you see, old Rolfs was a domineering character, a wonderful man, and he came back up and stopped in and said,
``Mr. Belling, would you be interested in knowing what the chief said?''
``Oh, I say, I do, I would. It would be interesting. It would be interesting.''
``Well, he said it was so and so,''
and he had two long names, you know, and Belling said,
``Oh yes, yes, yes. So I thought at first, too, but it isn't, it isn't, it isn't [chuckle].''
It didn't make any difference to him what the chief said. Yes, I knew Mr. Rolfs quite well. He spoke to my wife and I about going to Brazil at the time that he went down there. But we had other ideas. I knew the Rolfs' family. There was Mrs. Rolfs and the two daughters. They grew pineapples down in St. Lucie County, I believe it was; they used to talk about the pineapple operation down there and all that. But I did some work for Mr. Rolfs. I remember one thing he said to me one time. I was working for Mr. B. F. Floyd [Plant Physiologist, Agricultural Experiment Station] in physiology, plant physiology, the plant physiologist, on the third floor and he said,
``He's got some work he wants you to do. Suppose you go down and see him? He'd like you to get some work done for him.''
And I went down there and he had some drawings he wanted made. And I said,
``Professor Rolfs, I'm honored that you asked me to do this and I would enjoy doing it, but I don't draw anything. I can't, I just don't do that at all. I just can't do it. There's no use my undertaking it, because it would't be successful.''
`Well,'
he said,
`You can do that.'
`No,'
I said,
`I am embarrassed, but I just can't do it. That's all there is. I just don't draw anything.'
And I says,
`Sir, it'll be ridiculous.'
`Well, that's all right, take it out.'
Well, I come back with some drawn lines made on a piece of paper, and there was this old gentleman and he looked at the stuff and he looked at me and he say,
`Well, Gunn, are you sure you can draw your breath? [laughter]'
- Interviewer:
- Well, he wasn't lacking in a sense of humor anyway.
- Mr. Gunn:
- Oh, no, he was not lacking in any sense of humor. He was all right. He was a good friend of mine. I got to know him quite well.
The transcript [1] goes on to talk about Gunn's other ventures and how things were during the Depression. One thing Mr. Gunn did append to the transcript was the following written material:
``Additional information: after two years of working to make money to come to the University of Florida, I had made $67.50. I put $7.50 in a railroad ticket from Marianna to Gainesville, $60 in my pocket, and came to the University of Florida and graduated in four years with very little help from the outside. I received a bachelor of science degree in agriculture, membership in Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, and Alpha Zeta Agricultural Honor Fraternity. Some years after graduating, I received notice of election to Gamma Sigma Delta National Honor Society.''
| Florida Pictures | | Florida Web Page | | S&L's HomePage |
This page and all its contents � 1998
S&L's Adventures Emporium. All rights reserved.