Life at Willis Creek Ranch: Retirement Reception

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Retirement Reception

Daddy (and Mama) retired (again) at the end of June. A lovely retirement reception was held for them on Friday, June 29. We had a lot of family members in town for this special event and even scheduled our annual family reunion for the same weekend.

The reception was held from 2:00 to 5:00 and it was quite a gathering. It was so wonderful to see so many people and have the chance to visit and catch up. Plus, the food was AMAZING!!!! (thanks to Steve Kolb!!)

Around 3:00 the reception line was halted so there could be a few brief remarks. A lot of very nice folks said some very nice things about Daddy and Mama and their years of service not only at ATSU, but at Truman and beyond. One big surprise came at the end when Daddy and Mama were honored to receive the official titles of President Emeritus and First Lady Emerita from ATSU. That is even more special because they received that very same honor when retiring from Truman back in 2003. As Daddy said, that signifies another powerful link between those two institutions. Truly wonderful.

We took so many pictures that even after narrowing them down, the album for this event alone contains 365 photos! But, there were so many people to see and it was easy to get a little snap happy. :) I can't wait to see all the photos from Kelly Rogers, the official ATSU photographer. He did send a few through already and I will share them here with you, as well. Thanks so much Kelly for taking such incredible photos that day and every day! Be sure and check out his websites at http://kellyerogers.zenfolio.com/ and www.kellyrogers.com.

I am so proud of my parents and this was truly a joyous celebration of their life's work. Thanks to all who were able to be there to celebrate with us.

Here are links to stories from local news sources. I don't know how long these links will remain active, but I want them here as a record.

ATSU Says Farewell to President Magruder
http://iconnect.atsu.edu/?p=7215

Our View: Community owes much to Magruder
http://www.kirksvilledailyexpress.com/topstories/x1762347756/Our-View-Community-owes-much-to-Magruder

Magruder's Retirement Ceremony (photos)
http://www.kirksvilledailyexpress.com/photos/x1762348897/Magruders-retirement-ceremony

A fond farewell to Jack Magruder
http://www.kirksvilledailyexpress.com/topstories/x1762348909/A-fond-farewell-to-Jack-Magruder?zc_p=0

Magruder hints at future goals
http://www.kirksvilledailyexpress.com/newsnow/x1762348911/Magruder-hints-at-future-goals?zc_p=0

Magruder retires from second stint as college president
http://www.heartlandconnection.com/news/story.aspx?id=771325#.T_4gso7Ul6l

Video of the ATSU/Kirksville retirement reception
http://a4.g.akamai.net/7/4/29070/v1/multicastsmb.download.akamai.com/29070/EVENTS/Magruder_Retirement_Ceremony.m4v

And here are a BUNCH of photos. If you want to see all of them you can click this link to go to the online album.

Daddy and Mama

Photo by Kelly Rogers - Gov. Nixon sent a video greeting.

This was cute - ATSU gave them the Lucy and Desi movie 'The Long, Long Trailer'
to watch in the fifth wheel when they head to New England this fall. :)