This is Homecoming week, and for those of us that have been at Augsburg for a long time, some of the stuff gets to be routine, year after year. Monday is the Pep Fest, the Powder Puff football game is on Tuesday or Wednesday, the Athletic Hall of Fame banquet is on Thursday, Homecoming Convocation is on Friday, and the football game is on Saturday (Augsburg vs. St. Olaf -- 1 p.m. -- BE THERE!).
And Jeroy Carlson always speaks in chapel on Thursday of Homecoming week.Augsburg Class of 48. Served his country honorably in World War II. An outstanding student and multi-sport athlete (Hall of Famer, by the way). Sang in a well-known Augsburg choral group that toured the region. Later served as alumni director and development officer. Raised millions of dollars for his alma mater. If there's a building on this campus that has been built in the last 60 years, chances are good that Jeroy had a big part in helping it get built.
And one last thing. He IS Mr. Augsburg. No ifs, ands or buts about it.
How does one become "Mr. Augsburg"? It's spending a lifetime of service above self. It's devoting your life to this institution. It's being the living and breathing heart of what Augsburg is all about. No one will ever be able to take the title from Jeroy. It's his and his forever.
This morning, he spoke in our daily chapel service, the little 20-minute respite of time we are offered each day at Augsburg. As he usually does, he shared little sayings that he has accumulated over the years, nuggets of wisdom that show the measure of a man and what he believes.
"A drop in the bucket is only a drop, a minor and moist detail,
For it cannot change the color or taste in a 10-quarter water pail,
But if that drop has the color of love and taste of something divine,
A drop in the bucket can always change water into wine."
One that he shared from a friend of his:
"My life will touch a dozen lives before this day is done,
Leave countless marks of good or ill before the setting sun,
This, the wish I always wish, the prayer I always pray,
Lord, may my life help other lives it touches by the way."
His favorite, one that he always shares every year:
"Seek without confusion clearly,
Act with honest motives purely,
Love your fellow man sincerely,
Trust in God and heaven securely.
The first letter in each line spells the word SALT,
We are told to be salt of the earth.
You never pour salt on anything, you sprinkle it.
It's like you sprinkle a little bit of self into every day of living"
Jeroy is 85 years old, and will celebrate his 60th class reunion with his classmates tomorrow at the Homecoming Convocation. His life is driven by faith, love and devotion. You go up to him and you have to hug him, every time you see him, and tell him that you love him, and he'll tell you that he loves you. He shares his devotion with everyone he sees. He is the living link between the past, present and future of this place called Augsburg.
In his homily today, he spoke of the word "sparkle." "Sparkle is what other people see in you that you can't see yourself ... Each of us is a drop in the deep blue sea; the only difference is some drops sparkle." Jeroy sparkles. He sparkles every day. And his sparkle is contagious, it spreads to others and makes them shine.
If you are currently a student here at Augsburg and you see Jeroy around campus, walk up to him and shake his hand. Talk to him about his life here, and what it truly means to be an Auggie. You will learn a lot from him.
Above my desk, I have a baseball card of Jeroy that was given out when he formally retired two years ago. It has a prominent place among the photos of family and friends that I have overlooking my workspace. I look at it whenever I think about Augsburg and what it means to all of us who either attended here, worked here or had even a little bit of engagement with this place. He is a model to me of what a truly good person can be, and if I can even be a tiny bit like him every day, then I consider myself incredibly fortunate.
That's what makes Jeroy Carlson "Mr. Augsburg." And on this Hall of Fame banquet day, he will always be a Hall of Famer in my book.
Photo by Stephen Geffre, Augsburg College Marketing and Communication
