On June 5, 1933, Delbert Phillips left his parents' home in West Lafayette, Ohio, at 6 a.m. to drive to Athens in the 1929 Model A Ford coupe his father had given him as a graduation present. Six miles into the trip, one of the axles broke and a wheel came off. Delbert never made it to commencement.
 
 

Delbert Phillips and the Model A that kept him from attending his graduation.

So when he returned to campus 63 years later to watch his grandchildren Stephanie and Matt Phillips graduate, the day was particularly special. During that ceremony, when Ohio University President Robert Glidden asked Delbert to stand, the 1933 graduate had a chance to relive a missed moment of his youth.

"It did feel a bit like coming back for my graduation," says Delbert, who is approaching his 88th birthday. "While I was down there standing, I just felt so very proud of my two grandchildren."

Delbert was born Nov. 9, 1911, into a farming family in Coshocton, Ohio. His older sister had taken classes at Ohio University in the 1920s, earning a cadet teaching certificate, and his parents insisted he attend college. His father drove him to campus in the fall of 1929.

Since there were no menís dormitories on campus,  Delbert joined the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity house at 50 E. State St. and paid $40 a month for room and board. Tuition was $45 a semester.
 
 

Lyntha Eiler Pictured in front of Memorial Auditorium are (from left) Craig Thompson, Steve Phillips, Carla Phillips, Matt Phillips, Stephanie Phillips Thompson, Delbert Phillips and his wife, Mary Phillips.

In those days, Monday nights were spent dancing at the Varsity Inn and evenings meant a stop at the Betty Shop ice cream parlor. There were no bars on Court Street because of Prohibition, so students who chose to drink relied on whiskey bootleggers. On weekends, students packed the stands of the football stadium, which opened in 1929, to watch the Bobcats play.

"Quite a few students had to drop out because of the Depression," Delbert recalls. "I know my folks really sacrificed for me, and I used to work at the fraternity house serving meals and washing dishes so I could receive free meals."

Delbert used his education degree to land a teaching job, spending more than 37 years at New Philadelphia High School.
 
 Delbert's two children, Steve and Deborah, opted to study at Bowling Green State University. But in 1966, Steve accepted a job as director of student services at Ohio University-Chillicothe. To further cement the family's ties to the university, Steve's wife, Carla, enrolled in Ohio University's School of Nursing and was a member of the first class to graduate from the program in 1977. Two years later, she joined the School of Nursing faculty.

"Ohio University always has been an integral part of our family's life," Carla says. "Steve, who now serves as assistant dean of the Chillicothe campus, has worked for the university for more than 33 years. I have been a faculty member for 20 years. This place is home to us all."

Carla and Steve's daughter, Stephanie Phillips Thompson, AB '90 and BSN '96, started serving as a mascot for the Ohio University-Chillicothe basketball team when she was 6. She persuaded her future husband, Craig Thompson, to attend the university, and he graduated in 1996 with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice. Today, a Bobcat flag hangs outside the couple's home in Galloway, Ohio.

One of Stephanie's most memorable moments on campus was her graduation ceremony in 1996 when she received a bachelor's degree in nursing. The same day, her brother Matt received a bachelorís degree in industrial hygiene. The two walked side by side into the Convocation Center, sat together during the ceremony and listened as Glidden recognized their family and all three generations of graduates.

"That moment was extra special for my sister and me," Matt says. "I just felt so proud of my family and proud that I was a part of the tradition of graduating from Ohio University. I had goose bumps all over. I wouldn't trade that day for anything."