On Feb. 9, 2013, I was listening to NPR news and heard the story of the 50-mile walk that Robert Kennedy made as part of the fitness program being promoted by President John Kennedy. This reminded me of the 50-mile walk that I made at UNT.

In February 1963, two other classmates (Edwin Kuehn and George Jones) and I started walking on a 50-mile loop outside Denton.

Charles Ludeman made several trips to check on us. He also kept Dian Hoppe of Crumley Hall informed of our status and told her that I would like to take her to a basketball game that evening. That changed our relationship, and our 49th anniversary will be this year.

Unfortunately, my two good friends had to drop out of the hike but I did finish and ended up with my picture in the Campus Chat.

After graduating, we moved and I lost track of our North Texas friends until a year or so ago when I found them on the Internet. As we were filling in the stories of our lives, we all recalled that dark and chilly night when we departed on the President's walk.

Gary David Schill ('65)
Mercer Island, Wash.