To the editor:

My Oct. 25 walk through Lawrence was a trip down memory lane. Homecoming brought me to the city and campus I last visited in the mid-1970s.

The students resembled those of my KU days of 1967 and beyond, with improvements in hair styles and clothing.

After the game, accompanied by former college buddies from Kansas City and Iowa, I visited our old haunt, The Hawk.

Many in the jam-packed bar offered welcoming smiles to three old men in KU caps. One curious coed approached and asked, “What was it like in your day”?

I spoke briefly of concerns about Vietnam, an anti-war protest march on Jayhawk Boulevard and arson that all but destroyed the student union.

What I wanted to impress upon her and countless other students I viewed with envy that crisp fall day is: Savor your days in Lawrence. When you near retirement age, maybe sooner, you will fondly recall it as the happiest time of your life.

Rock chalk, Jayhawk !

George R. Wilkens,
Wesley Chapel, Fla.