The philosopher George Santayana once wrote, \Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.""
Fortunately, John Holcomb Sr. and his son, John Jr., got the message.
On May 15th, the father-son duo will finally receive their bachelor's degrees in history from UW-Madison after leaving school early to pursue their careers. For John Sr., this is the result of a university career that started in 1953 yet took a 47-year hiatus before finishing up his requirements this past year. All of this would not have come to fruition if John Jr., hadn't decided to return to Madison to complete his degree requirements left incomplete 12 years ago.
""If John [Jr.] hadn't returned and asked me to come back, I would have never done it,"" the elder Holcomb said. ""But the minute he got in it, I figured I might as well get in it. Because I wasn't going to sit home all alone, you know?""
Holcomb Jr. had left Wisconsin for Los Angeles, Calif. to pursue a career in television show production. However, he said he had always hoped to become a teacher down the road back in the Midwest. But in order to do that, he would need to finish what he started over a decade ago.
Holcomb Sr., on the other hand, never really had any intention to return to school. After failing to complete his foreign language requirements in 1957, he left school to enter the world of work. Eventually Holcomb Sr. ended up with Factory Mutual System, a multinational corporation specializing in infrastructure management, where he worked his way up to senior vice-president of the Indianapolis branch. After retiring in 1995, Holcomb Sr., moved from Indianapolis back to Madison due to the fondness he always had for Wisconsin's history and the university.
""I moved back to Madison after 47 years as I was a divorcee and wished to return to my family roots,"" Holcomb Sr. said.
So when his son announced that he was returning to school, John Sr. was happy about his son's choice, but according to John Jr., was not exactly interested in returning himself. It wasn't until John Jr. and Assistant Dean of Student Academic Affairs Christopher Lee presented the elder Holcomb with a plan to convert his credits from 1953-57 into up-to-date credits to graduate.
""The University of Wisconsin is a very special university. I could not believe how they went after getting John [Jr.]'s education. To enable him to graduate this spring is ... just fabulous,"" Holcomb Sr. explained.
""Just to drop my classes the way I did [in 1993] ... I was amazed that they would take me back anyway,"" Holcomb Jr. said. ""And to recruit my dad, that was huge. It wasn't me. There was no way I could talk my dad into it.""
Due to the fact that the university restructured its general graduation requirements twice since Holcomb Sr. was last in school, there was a fair amount of conversion and compromise. In the end, by taking a full course load of classes in history, music and Swedish, Holcomb Sr. would be allowed to graduate with the degree he left unfulfilled almost five decades ago.
""We're very lucky to have this dean, Christopher Lee,"" Holcomb Sr. said. ""By the time I walked in to see him, he had the whole program set out for me. He had my microfiche file from 1957. So they let me in on probation. He and [History Department Head A.J. Dubois] have been so supportive.""
According to Lee, cases of people returning to finish up their degrees are commonplace on the UW-Madison campus. He cites studies showing that current students are more likely to finish their degrees because they are more likely to extend their courses for five to seven years. Unlike today's standards, past college students faced the option of finishing school in five years or leaving.
Thus, he has seen people returning to finish up the coursework they abandoned as far back as the 1930s. But thanks to what Lee describes as a ""generous"" policy by the UW System, students who did not finished their degree and want to return can do so, provided that they show a willingness to complete their work.
For anyone returning to school after such a long layoff, it would seem a bit intimidating to return to school with a group of students young enough to be one's grandchildren. But Holcomb Sr. relishes interaction with the younger students. And he has received nothing but support from his friends, old and young.
""My friends all have supported my decision, probably because they're all masochists and figured I would collapse and die going up Bascom Hill after smoking for over 50 years,"" said Holcomb Sr. He added jokingly, ""[Once], I fell into a the bushes near North Hall twice, but with the help of some young students, I recovered and reached the summit and reached Van Hise!""
While John Jr.'s post-graduate plans ironically include a return to Los Angeles to possibly develop one of the shows he left behind before pursuing graduate school in 2005, his father plans on taking classes after graduation for fun. While that concept seems foreign to UW-Madison students, Holcomb Sr.'s experiences have taught him that constant education inside and outside the classroom can prove to be a constant joy in one's life.
""It is what you learn after you know it all that really counts in life,"" Holcomb Sr. said. ""This opportunity to go back to Wisconsin opens a door for me to continue trying to learn a little more because I know I don't know everything.\
