He was enrolled at San Diego State with a major in accounting and I was in the second semester of my second and last year at Grossmont. Christmas was just around the corner and Donnie and I were taking Basil's Mother Christmas shopping when a young man, who had recently been discharged from the Navy because he had epilepsy, hit us broadside in an intersection. I was thrown into the windshield, resulting in a severe neck injury. They put me in Mercy Hospital and knocked me out for ten days. I had severe headaches which bothered me for several years afterward.
I finally gave in and dropped that semester. Later I received my AA degree (in social studies) in 1962 and transferred to San Diego State as a Junior with a major in accounting.
I graduated from Grossmont with honors. Even the kids liked me! They elected me to the student council.

After graduating from Grossmont, I still wanted to do more, so I enrolled at San Diego State University as a junior, with a major in accounting, which was also Don’s major. We wound up in some of the same classes which didn’t seem to bother Don. My headaches from the car accident became so severe I was forced to drop several of my classes. I started volunteering in the Bureau of Business & Economics Research. Dr. Archer asked me if I would check over a book written by Dr. Ken Sharkey and correct any spelling or grammatical errors. I told him I would be glad to.
That was one of the most fun things I did in college. Dr. Sharkey had an accent (I don’t know what nationality) and I really hated to take those parts out. College reading shouldn’t be all dull—a few eccentricities make it more interesting and probably more surely to be read.

When I finished the book, Dr. Archer asked if I would take on the job of assistant to Dr. Hodge who had planned the new School of Business building. I told him I would, and became a state employee. When I first saw Dr. Hodge’s desk, my heart sank. Papers were piled almost two feet high on all but a small spot where he could write!
Sometime later, Dr. Hodge went out of town for a meeting and I took that time for a chance to clean up that desk. Some of those papers were five years old! I Looked each over for importance and threw most of them away. I filed those I felt he needed to keep (his previous secretary was lousy) and the rest went in the trash. After it got to where I could see the top of his desk, I cleaned the top to a shine and placed only one folder on it. When Dr. Hodge came back, he took one look at his desk and said “Evelyn! I can see my desk!” Before, there had been space about the size of a letterhead for him to actually use. The papers I threw away were never missed.

Dr. Hodge was a wonderful man and I admired him very much. He was a brilliant professor and in addition to teaching courses, he was also the Dean of the Graduate School of Business. He designed and oversaw the construction of the School of Business building at San Diego State. The School of Business at San Diego State was one of the best in the nation, and we had many outstanding professors--Dr. Vern Odmark, Dr. Heiko Wijnholds (from the Netherlands), Dr. Arthur Brodshatzer, Dr. Si Reznikoff, Dr. Maury Crawford,Dr. William R.Sherrard, Evangeline LeBarron, Dr. Jack Archer, Dr. Tom Atchison, Dr. Thomas R. Wotruba and so many others that I can't possibly name them all.

So I started attending all those meetings with him and soon discovered working with him and all the others on the Graduate Committee wan not only hard work but fun.
Dr. Hodge’s health was failing, and it also became my duty to screen applicants, by mail and in person. Two things were taken into consideration: Test scores and grade point average. Primarily, we offered the Master’s degree, although in some cases we worked with UCLA on doctorate programs.

I loved that job—I was a half-time student and half-time employee. Working in the Graduate program underlined my opinion that a degree behind your name meant nothing without the real knowledge of the subject.

I will always remember a black girl who worked at San Diego Gas and Electric, who came in for an interview. She had flunked the ATGSB test and was, therefore, ineligible to enter graduate studies. I told her that I was not the last resort—she could talk to Dr. Hodge and/or the Dean of the School of Business. (I believed she had what was necessary to succeed in the program.) She shook her head and said “No—I’m going to retake that test as many times as it takes to pass it.” I never saw her again, but I hope she did finally pass that test and get her degree.

When I started working with the Graduate School of Business, we worked out a deal with the Air Force. They would send officers to us to earn their Master's degrees within a limited amount of time. It was a great deal for the officers if they sincerely wanted that degree, and a good deal for us, since the Air Force paid us well. In all the time I was involved with the Air Force program, we only had a couple of officers who didn't appreciate the opportunity the Air Force was giving them enough to really work at it. This is not to say they didn't have fun--they did.
Basil and I were invited to all of the Air Force parties (but didn't always go). I remember one party we attended when Basil over-extended his drinking capacity and I wasn't sure we were going to make it back to Rancho Bernardo in one piece. We did, though. One of the Officers in Charge, Col. Joe Poe, gave one of the parties. Those guys worked hard, but also played hard. All of them were courteous. Joe Poe told about the plane he landed in a rice paddy. When you consider the dangers they faced in the Viet Nam War, you have to admit they were entitled to have some fun along the way. Officially,I was liason between San Diego State and the Air Force. Unofficially, I was Mother Superior to the Air Force officers enrolled there.

Needless to say, I did not finish my degree. I didn’t feel I needed to, since I was already in a job that I loved in the Graduate School. Dr. Hodge was the first graduate dean and Dr. Wotruba was the second. We got along just fine, but when Dr. Wotruba left to write a book, it was no longer fun. The professor who took his place was brilliant and fun, but just not my type of boss. I stayed with the Graduate Program for a while, but decided to quit. On the way home from work one day, I asked Basil if he would mind if I quit my job. He said that would be all right by him and I replied “Good—I just did.”

To regress a little I recall the time our son Don was more or less floundering a bit during his first two years at San Diego State University. His problem seemed to be the malady of the period: I don't know what I want to do with my life.
What a choice! I would have given my eye teeth to have been able to make a choice when I graduated from high school, but even with a scholarship, I couldn't have gone. None of the proper clothes. No money for books and supplies. During the Big Depression, we were not given any choices about college.

Don Duncan, Don Young and Marlana all got married in the late sixties. Don Duncan married a girl from Canada. Don Young married Becky Eliot and Marlana married Michael Martin. These marriages resulted in two girls (Desha and Maleea)for Don & his wife, two girls for Don and Becky (Lisa and Cynthia) and a boy and girl (Shea and Genee) for Marlana and Mike

Don Duncan joined the Air Force and was stationed in Sacramento. His wife worked in the governor’s office. He got out after two years and they came back to San Diego, and still are here. Don Young got a job in an engineering office in Oakland. Becky was a sweet girl and we loved her, but things just didn’t work out between them. She has married again, but Don hasn’t. Marlana moved back to Pennsylvania (his home state) with Michael. They were both too spoiled to get along, and that marriage gave up the ghost. I’ve never known a marriage to prosper without a lot of give and take on the part of both partners, and both of them were better at taking than giving.