The Big Question
| CONTINUED Roy Sexton ’95 My “I survived Brand Launch 2021” gift to myself was a Victrola record player, plus the Black Stallion soundtrack among other vintage vinyl finds. I finally have a good way to play all my old records. Robert Ivancevich ’72 Renting a 500-year-old house in Southern France for a month to immerse in
Van Gogh and Gauguin.
WAYNE HOOVER ’ 73
One of my biggest splurges was deciding to venture into the Omo Vally of Ethiopia to photograph many of the remote tribes there. It was a fabulous experience, but one that I am afraid will not be there in its present form in the future.
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Trevor Young ’14 I got into motorcycling about two years after Wabash. When I started, I bought an old bike from Kentucky for $1,000, rebuilt it, learned to ride it, and traded it for a better bike a few months later. I was never satisfied with either. I somewhat enjoyed the Honda I got. It had a bigger seat and more leg room for my tall girlfriend. I traded that one for my first Harley, a totally custom Dyna Street Bob. I loved that bike, but she hated it. I got the bike when I started in the motorcycleclub world because it was American-made, had a powerful motor, and was light and maneuverable, which is important when you ride in packs. It had little room for my girlfriend, though. I caved after our wedding and traded it for a brand-new 2019 Harley Davidson Road Glide Special—massive motor, all black, stereo, big fairing, comfy seats, and backrest. It was the first new vehicle I had ever owned, and by far the most expensive. My now-wife was not thrilled when I told her what it cost, but the next ride she went on with me, she abruptly changed her tune.
Eric Rowland ’86 My summer job during high school and college was mowing lawns in JOHN ROBERTS ’ 83 my neighborhood. I’d get $20 per Definitely a two-week cruise cut and $25 if they wanted me to and land trip to Alaska. collect the clippings. I took care of Worth every Benjamin to several lawns in the neighborhood, ride in a de Havilland Beaver and during the summer between my bush plane to a glacial lake freshman and sophomore year, I made and then hike the glacier. more spending money than I thought I would need at school. After a few conversations with my dad, I decided to splurge on $500 in Apple Computer stock. At the time, that seemed like a pretty risky investment because IBM had just introduced its personal computer and John Sculley had just been hired to lead Apple. The stock didn’t do very well at the beginning. My dad’s advice was to not pay investment. I checked with my dad’s broker, attention and wait to see what happened. who is a family friend. He revealed that A few years later when I was in graduate my dad had never sold the stock as we had school, the opportunity came up to study discussed, and after the introduction of the at the École des Beaux Arts in Versailles, iPhone, its value had ballooned to several France, but my dad wasn’t convinced it was hundred thousand dollars! really a studious endeavor. I told him to sell It turns out that my lawn mowing my Apple stock to help pay for the trip and money helped my wife retire earlier than to try to convince him that I was serious planned, and it has allowed us to enjoy about the effort. He agreed and I had a many experiences we might not have great—and studious—year in France. felt comfortable doing otherwise. It also He and I never mentioned the stock reinforced my understanding of my dad as thereafter, even though it had almost hit a thoughtful and caring man who loved his junk status. Unfortunately, dad contracted kids very much. lung cancer and died in 2000—12 years after my trip. Ken Ogorek ’87 My wife had a battle with breast We tend to spend money we don’t have cancer in 2012. We were fortunate to have on experiences likely to be good family insurance cover most of the medical costs, memories for our kids. A few summers ago but the ordeal was stressful and changed our we drove out to the western U.S. and back— priorities a bit. We became more focused on different routes—when our oldest wasn’t too finding experiences we could enjoy together, old and our youngest was old enough. As and she became more interested in pursuing young adults they now refer back to that trip retirement. We had done a pretty good job with fondness and appreciation. Experiences of planning for retirement and funding our like that are worth splurging on. kids’ education, but early retirement wasn’t something we had really factored in. John Moyer ’77 Apple started paying dividends in 2012 In 1985 I received a large annual bonus from my employer at the time, Siemens. I and we received a check from them in the decided to split it with my wife, and use mail. We were a little puzzled because Sally my half to pay for something that I had and I had some Apple stock in our portfolio, wanted to do since looking up at airplanes but we had given our broker direction to as a child—take flying lessons and obtain reinvest the dividend. It was also odd that the my private pilot’s license. The classroom check was addressed just to me rather than learning was about as intense as freshman both of us and its amount was substantially biology at Wabash, but with a really cool lab. higher than what it should have been for our
One beautiful fall day, late in my training and after being signed off to fly solo, I rented a now-very-familiar Cessna 152 and flew over the Wabash campus, Shades State Park, and Turkey Run, enjoying the beautiful fall colors spread out before me in every direction. Later, while a salesman for a manufacturer’s rep agency, I rented a Cessna 172 and flew it to cities in my multistate territory whenever it made sense and the weather cooperated. My boss at the time didn’t care how I covered the territory, as long as I did it. Nearly every small airport has a courtesy car, which I used to get from the airport to my customers. My wife appreciated that I was able to leave home at 7:30 a.m., visit a big customer in Erie, Pennsylvania (for example), and be home for supper at 6 p.m. the same day. I never did what would have been an even bigger splurge, owning an airplane. As much as I wanted to, it just didn’t make sense financially. So, I continued to rent airplanes at Indy Metro Airport in my hometown of Fishers, Indiana, and never got to know what they say are the two happiest days in an airplane owner’s life: the day he buys his first airplane, and the day he sells it.
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