How Can I Keep From Singing

My life flows on in endless song,

above earth’s lamentation.

I catch the sweet, though far-off hymn

that hails a new creation.

                                                           Robert Lowry

Most of my writings about myself hearken back to my childhood days in Lowry.  But life after Lowry started when I went off to college in the turbulent late 60's, a time familiar to some of you with still functioning long term memories. I matriculated into Augsburg with the optimism of the typical 18 year old and envisioned a direct, unhindered path to my life's goals - as if I had those figured out. But, as everyone discovers, life’s actual path is steeped in twists and turns.

In 1965, Augsburg tuition, room & board was $1600/year. Perhaps due to multiple family alumni, Augsburg granted me a $400/year scholarship, which if you can do the math, left a $1200/year gap.  

My folks would cover the gap, but I felt duty bound to contribute. Luckily, I was able to work for my father in his plumbing, heating & electrical business during the summer. I was paid minimum wage, $1.25/hr, substantially more than I was worth. After tax take home was roughly $200/month. As I was living at home my expenses were mostly stamps for letters to my beloved who went off to the west coast.  But the 3 months summer work still left a $600 gap.

I did some part-time "roadie crew" work with the college event setup crew, which didn't earn enough to cover the debt, so the next summer I took a job with Continental Baking Company, pedaling my bike to downtown Mpls and assembly-line production of Hostess products - twinkies, cupcakes, snowballs ...  [Be forwarned: If have any intent to ever again eat a Hostess product, refrain from reading that post.]   I doubled my previous summer earnings but expenses whittled it back to zero financial gain.  

The next year, sick of the greasy duds and slimy shoes from that assembly line bakery, I took a job in the Fairview Hospital laundry, walking distance from Augsburg.  [Read that account it you are ever tempted to drop out of school]

Upon my graduation, we moved to the farm for the summer (to be clear, we were married by then) and I had decided grad school was the next step on the journey, so in the fall we went off to Bozeman, Montana. Of course, that reopened the funding gap. I was able to get a standard slave labor grad student teaching assistant position that covered books & tuition and a little coffee money. Carol went to work for the local ophthalmologist, so we managed to live frugally but debt free. 

After spring quarter, I couldn't get classes I needed during that first summer, so I took a 3 month job with the MSU's Plant & Soil Science Department. [Read Last Bus to Conrad for the story of that fiasco.]  That helped a bit with the expenses but the birth of our son put us back on the brink. 

Finally, advanced degree in hand I sat back and awaited the teaching offers from colleges to roll in. And waited, and waited ...  Perhaps from desperation but also from curiosity and a yen for adventure, we took a teaching job in Hamburg, West Germany. [Read about this adventure in  Brain Drain.]  Advice: you should only do such things when you are young, foolish and feeling invincible.

A year teaching in Hamburg convinced me to continue to teach, preferably auf Englisch, so back to the USA and another income-expense gap to manage. First for coursework at U of M, Morris to get Minnesota teacher certification. [Read Thistledew story.]  And then 7 years before a chalkboard (a story for another time) before a move to the software world for 35 years with Control Data; Honeywell; 2 startups - the 2nd acquired by PTC. [Read about the backend of those stints in A Tale of Two Startups.]  

I have now been retired for roughly 10 years and as a wise man said, 'He has had a happy life - which doesn't make for good stories.  What better way to reflect on gratitude than a hymn by a man named Lowry.  

As ear worms go, this one isn't bad.

1. Through all the tumult and the strife,
   I hear that music ringing;
   It finds an echo in my soul—
   How can I keep from singing?

Copyright ©  2025  Dave Hoplin