Today, Charles “Buck” Bybee passed on.
In the spirit of old western movies, music from The Godfather, Harley Davidson and praises to the lord… Daffy things like elaborate tales of an aggressive easter bunny, attacking dentures and other silliness…
Here is a little ditty from one of my earliest memories of Papa Bybee:

Ladies and Gentlemen! Hobos and Tramps… cross-eyed mosquitoes and bold legged ants: I’m going to tell you a story that I know nothing about. Last night a car load of bricks came to my front back door and killed a cow that was already dead. I rushed him to the hospital as slowly as possible and when I got there, I saw George Washington… eating vinegar… with a fork… at the corner of a round table.
Did I mention this was going to be silly?
Even when you know it is coming, it is hard to lose someone so dear, but I am glad he is at peace now.
I will enjoy my memories of Papa.

Much love to Granny, Mom, Aunt Kathi and the rest of the family, church family, and friends.

Just recently I had the opportunity to speak in front of the Clark College faculty and staff in support of the Clark College Foundation. The Foundation is essentially the fundraising arm of the school, and they have been responsible for my continual scholarship while on the debate team. The experience was absolutely awesome! I learned even more of the challenge of public speaking and the smaller details that come to play when addressing a crowd of several hundred. I had to keep it very short, but impactful, and hopefully have enough drive so that everyone listening wrote checks in the amount of their life-savings to the foundation. I’m not sure if I achieved all of that, but I didn’t trip, stutter, stare at the podium or otherwise make strange noises in the microphone that closely resemble badgers in mating season…

It was Winston Churchill who said, “The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” Through the work of the Clark College Foundation, I believe they are offering the tools to provide that vision to each and every student who desires to attain it.

During my earlier forays in my learning career, I never imagined the difficulty of supporting a family on top of taking classes. Over the last 6 years I’ve traveled across 3 states and between 4 colleges. At each school I passed through I never felt a connection, a sense of pride, or desire to succeed in my outside endeavors, except at Clark College. There was a period when I was convinced that this just wasn’t the time for me to be spending my lunch hours and evenings in a classroom. Life moves fast, and I didn’t want to miss anything. But, because of teachers like Dave Kosloski and the support of the Foundation, I realized that if I gave up, I would miss everything. Simply put, without the Foundation I would not be on this campus today, and there is nothing more important than that.

Scholarships awarded by the Clark College Foundation are not simply about supporting students financially. As I learned while competing on the Speech and Debate team, they are about awarding and recognizing talent above and beyond the expectations accepted during registration. My goals here at this and future schools will not cease when I earn a degree. I’ve found that education is far too important to stop. This is the true lasting effect of what they provide. Through the eyes of men like Winston Churchill, we can see that the Foundation is not only optimistic themselves, but they are providing optimism for all the students in their wake, and I’m grateful to be among them.