In Honor of Poppy

In honor of my Grandfather "Poppy," I will not post the remainder of the week.

Billy Joe Cutbirth
(October 4, 1932-July 28, 2009)
A great oak has fallen. Billy Joe Cutbirth departed this world July 28, 2009. He was the embodiment of grit, hard work, and determination and held fast to his uncompromising values. Born prematurely to parents Henry Cutbirth and Annie Jones Cutbirth on October 4, 1932, he survived by being fed with an eye dropper and spending his first days in a shoe box placed in the bread warmer of their wood cook stove. This grit and determined spirit carried him throughout his life.
Billy Joe was well-liked and respected by those he encountered, and when he talked, people listened. Even though he was given the name William Daniel by his parents, as a young boy he convinced his teachers, friends, and family that his name should be Billy Joe. And one day he proclaimed, “From this day on, call me Billy Joe,” so they did, and we did, and he lived on Billy Joe Road in Crane for nearly 60 years.
Billy Joe loved the Ozarks and celebrated his hill-folk heritage, where the figure-it-out and do-it-yourself way is held in high regard. He was a talented carpenter and accomplished farmer, able to do anything that needed done himself. He left this world with calloused hands so thick that they will never wear thin.
He loved to grow a garden, restore antique furniture, attend auctions, and “study things through” for himself and others. Active in community issues, he faithfully served on the Crane School Board for many years, as well as the Stone County Soil and Water Board.
Billy Joe understood the importance of family. He was a loving husband, father, grandfather, and brother, ensuring their needs were met. Billy Joe and wife Helen raised their four children in a caring home on the family farm in the “holler.” He exercised unconditional love for his children, and when discipline was necessary, a look from his sky-blue Irish eyes and a point from his index finger was all it ever took.
Billy Joe served as a more wonderful example of a husband, father, grandfather, brother, and neighbor than this world will ever see. He will be sorely missed by all.
He is preceded in death by parents Henry and Annie Cutbirth and siblings Laura Cutbirth, Lorene Hedrick, Freda Baker, Herman Cutbirth, Finus Cutbirth, Barbara Henson, Grace Bell, and Richard Cutbirth.
Billy Joe is survived by his wife of 58 years, Helen Chastain Cutbirth of Crane, Mo.; children Judy Berkstresser and husband Allen of Crane, Janet “Sis” Cutbirth of Springfield, Mo., Billy “Son” Cutbirth and wife Lesa of Crane, Brian Cutbirth and wife Carol of Clever, Mo.; sisters Ellie Clines of Ponce de Leon, Mo., and Neta Colleen McKnight of Crane; and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. They loved him dearly and miss him greatly.

Got Milk?

College of the Ozarks has been named to the 2010 edition of The Princeton Review’s Best 371 Colleges, http://www.princetonreview.com/.

Only about 15% of America’s 2,500 four-year colleges and two Canadian colleges are profiled in the book, which is The Princeton Review's flagship annual college guide. It includes detailed profiles of the colleges with school rating scores in eight categories, plus ranking lists of top 20 schools in 62 categories based on The Princeton Review's surveys of students attending the colleges.

The 80-question survey asks students about their school’s academics, administration, campus life, student body and themselves. Ranking lists for this edition are based on surveys of 115,000 students.

College of the Ozarks ranked among the top 20 in several categories. The Princeton Review ranked C of O fourth in “Stone-Cold Sober Schools,” and seventh in “Town-Gown Relations are Great.” C of O was also listed in “Got Milk?,” “Most Conservative Students” and “Best College Theater.”

The profile also offers feedback from current students. One student survey participant defined the average C of O undergraduate as “well-rounded, extremely helpful, friendly, down to earth, and used to earning every penny they have.”

While much of the survey was student opinion, other categories explored such information as financial need, the number of extracurricular activities offered, the admissions process and even the work ethic.

Losing my Poppy

I lost my grandfather this morning. It's an empty feeling to lose someone you lived next to and spent so much time with your entire life. I actually lived 28 of my 31 years within a mile from him. Even after I moved an hour away, I went to visit he and my granny every Sunday. Two Sundays ago, I made my normal visit, but I didn't realize it would be my last to speak to him. I had cleaned their house and washed the blanket on his favorite chair. The last thing he said to me was, "Widders (my nickname), my blanket feels real fuzzy." That was his way of thanking me, even though he didn't have to thank me.
In true Cutbirth fashion, he did not give up fighting. As his family surrounded him after the respirator was removed he lingered. I think mainly he did that to listen to us recount the many stories we had heard from him. We talked about the time when his brother chopped his toes off with an ax, when he was a little boy. Both brothers calling the either's bluff and neither relenting, an ax swipe and two toes later, Poppy (what we call him) learned a valuable lesson: his brother was as stubborn and ornery as he was. Or when he, as little boy, decided that he would no longer be called William. He went to school and told his teachers and every classmate that "from this day forth, call me Billy Joe." So they did and we did, and the road he lived on for sixy plus years, is named Billy Joe Road.
At one point, while the family was gathered in the waiting room, I stopped to take note of the different conversations going on. Although we were a distraught family, there was laughter and pleasantry. Even though we got together more than most families, I wondered why we hadn't more.
This post has not much to do about Hard Work U, except for my grandfather was one of the best rolemodels I had to learn how to work hard. I held his hands this weekend and felt their roughness, callouses so thick they will never wear thin. This will be a difficult week for me and my family. I hope it's a great week for Poppy as he not only gets to go to heaven but gets to listen to how we admire and love him.

New Bookstore, Fun Project

Some of the most fun and interesting projects of the campus make their way to my desk, and I am not being facetious. One case in point, is the College's new bookstore website. Currently, the College Bookstore is receiving a much-needed makeover, including new track lighting, wood displays and cubbies, and of course new flooring. The improvements will finally bring the bookstore to the present. (Before I always felt as if I had stepped back into the 80's to shop for my collegial gear.) With the new look comes a new web presence, and my office was asked to stage a photo shoot for the apparel. One of my students in love with fashion immediately stepped up for the task. She researched catalogs, which I'm sure she hated!--now comes the satire. She ironed all the clothing until it was camera ready, as well as coordinated several students to take part in the shoot. To say the least, I know they had fun, and now the hope is that the College may have an updated bookstore website that really shows off the clothing. The newly-improved Bookstore will re-open the first week of August, just in time for the fall rush. The Bookstore website should follow shortly. Click http://www.cofo.edu/bookstore.asp to see the before, check back to see the after.

Ideas that Deserve More Thought

There's a lot to be said these days about living within you means, spending wisely, and avoiding government bailouts. Visit almost any news site and read hints about saving money on groceries to handling college tuition Weighing the Price and Value of Colleges. There are many individuals weighing in on the current recession, some with practical ideas. I'm not usually in the business of plugging politicos, but former Speaker Newt Gingrich's concepts for prosperity actually make some sense. Last Friday, he addressed the American Legislative Exchange Council and shared with them practical ideas of how to get Americans inspired to achieve three things for the nation: safety, prosperity and freedom. To do that, he insists, that we must rethink litigation, regulation, taxation, education, health, energy and infrastructure.
Read the outline of his full speech here.

He uses College of the Ozarks as a reference for improving higher education, while instilling the positive characteristics, such as work ethic, that made the United States a prosperous nation. While it would be difficult to translate the C of O work program for a state institution, there should be some thought as to what hybrid would be successful at the public level.

Student Writes a Portrait of Our Heroes

Just had to share this with everyone. C of O student Stephanie Ebling wrote this on the trip to Normandy for the 65th Anniversary of D-Day. Twenty C of O students accompanied ten WWII veterans for the trip. As you will learn, after reading Stephanie's diary entry, it was a life changing experience for both generations. Stephanie beautifully describes the men from the Greatest Generation. Please read and enjoy--simply precious.

Portrait of Our Heroes
By Stephanie Ebling

These are richly distinguished men whose poignant memories bring to life another age in our hearts. We taste the lives they once lived through their stories, but we can never understand. We only drink in the graciousness of their presence, their humble dignity, their wisdom, and an unyielding certainty that gives them each a gentle type of authority. This quiet gravity is like a mystery that draws us to them, in awe of the lives they have lived.

Their honor has been earned and appointed them, but they are burdened with the weight of the memories that still silently haunt them, that still isolate them from their wives, their families, and a younger generation. The fears these recollections keep alive are clearly a part of the sacrifice that they were proud to make. These memories are the enemy that stayed with them, following them home and through their lives all these years. This enemy remained after their uniforms were put away, after their weddings, after their babies were born. This enemy was there while they paid off their mortgages, and still there after the last child went off to college. And I think that the clarity of purpose in the war they were involved in has helped to quiet these fears over time…a certainty that must come with such a just cause. Surely that understanding has helped them as they bravely fought these ghosts of the past, making them stronger each day, year after year, decade after decade. Their faith has been strengthened by practice, and now, as old men, it is clear to me that today, they are at their strongest. And so now I realize something very unexpected. They are greater men now than when they jumped out of a plane or charged off of a Higgins boat 65 years ago. For although their bodies are slowly failing, what is left is a priceless outcome that must certainly come from such a lasting sacrifice—gentle, selfless strength. The kind of strength that makes you wonder what the hell you will ever do for anybody that will give you the right to tread the earth for another seventy years and deserve to enjoy it with such vivacious relish, this passion and fulfillment that each of these men seem to have in common.

National Trend--Colleges Launch Nursing Programs to Ease Shortage

Just realized a trend. Nursing programs seem to be popping up like mushrooms around the country. As the Wall Street Journal reported June 12, 2009 (Recession Helps Nursing Shortage, At Least for the Moment ), long-term projections indicate that the nursing shortage will widen over the next decade as the economy improves and the current, aging work force retires.

It appears that colleges and universities are responding have been responding to this need by launching nursing programs. Nancy Spector, Director of Regulatory Innovations for the National Council of State Boards of Nursing says she is hearing from state boards that a trend for new programs is occurring.

College of the Ozarks, located near Branson, Mo., recognized the need for nurses in 2003, and couple of million dollars later launched a BSN program Fall 2007. The first cohort of C of O’s Nursing Program will graduate May 2010, and the newly-pinned nurses will then take NCLEX-RN tests and be able help ease the shortage in the Ozarks region. The College’s program is one of eight Missouri programs (some BSN, some LPN) launched in the past two years.