Top 10 for Homecoming 2010 - University of Montevallo

Guest Guest Essay Essay
By Mary Louise Rice Dabbs ’56
Founders’ Day keynoter
issues challenge to serve
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Village, to name only a few. But you don't have to be well-known to
be of great service.
Determine in your minds that no matter what your vocation is —
that you’ll find a way to serve those who are put in your path. You
will leave this school with a quality education that fits you for a life
of service. Service is a calling we should all share.
Selfishness is a force that can drive our lives if we’re not careful.
Sometimes I just want to do what I want to do, when I want to do it,
where I want to do it, and the way I want to do it. Who in the world
am I serving then? Certainly not others. I read that Albert Schweitzer
once said: “The only really happy people are those who have learned
to serve.” My husband had a real servant’s heart. That’s something
that still needs work in my own life.
Back in the ’50s, we had a college dean who told a story that
made a great impact on my life. Dean Powers spoke at a Laymen’s
Day program at my church in downtown Montevallo. He said that
he was straightening up things one night after his little boy had gone
to bed, and he picked up a globe and took it back to the child’s room
where it belonged. Then in the dark he heard a little voice from the
child’s bed: “What are you doing with my world, Daddy?” Wow!
How would you answer a question like that?
I’ve sometimes wondered if God is asking me that question.
“What are you doing with My world, child? The world I gave you?”
If it’s all about me, probably not much.
Do we really want to serve others? When you give yourself in
service, you’ve given someone a great gift. What will you do with
this world — or your small part of the world? Criticize it? Pollute it?
Ignore it? Or serve to make it a better place? I like the Danish proverb
that says: “What you are is God’s gift to you. What you do with
yourself is your gift to God.” That’s service to others.
We can’t expect a university to teach us everything we need to
know, but this is a great time to learn what you can and get some
things settled in your minds. Determine what is important to you and
set goals to reach. Compete with yourself, doing better today than
you did last year, last week, or even yesterday. Learn from the mistakes
you’ve made. Live in such a way that you’ll have fewer regrets.
That’s wisdom. Be the kind of person who will make your future
employers hire others just because they graduated from Montevallo
also.
While at UM, you’ve probably made some good friends. Spend
time developing those friendships. Special relationships are very
important now and can be for the rest of your lives. One of the most
important things you’ll take away with you from Montevallo will
be the friendship of classmates and professors. I think the bond of
Montevallo graduates is very unique. We don’t have a football team
to bring us together with football fever, but there is something about
the Purple and Gold spirit that claims us. There is an excitement
when you meet someone and find that that person graduated from
UM. It doesn’t matter how many years ago or how recently — there’s
a connection. So find an
alumni group in the area
where you settle. Find it for
fellowship and to see how
you can serve your alma
mater. Keep in touch with
classmates and come back
to Homecoming and other
events.
I’d like to invite you
right now to come back to
Founders’ Day next year
and join us for the third
annual Class of ’56-sponsored
Day-Before-Founders’
Day Event. Just yesterday
about 20 or so of my 1956
classmates, joined by about
30 more college friends,
husbands, and others had a
luncheon and a tour of The
American Village. Last year
we did the train ride from
Calera.
Mary Louise Rice Dabbs ’56 of
Montgomery was the keynote speaker for
UM’s 113th annual Founders’ Day convocation
Oct. 8.
My class keeps in touch
all year through newsletters, e-mail and phone calls — plus two or
three get-togethers on campus. I’ve been serving as our class representative
for many years and now share that job — since our 50th
reunion — with my first college roommate. We keep up lots better
now, and I call her the e-mail queen!
What is one of the biggest benefits of my Montevallo days? The
friends I made in college and still have today. You’ll be alums before
you know it. Plan now to enjoy the experience, keep up with your
friends, give to the University, and come back to campus!
But first you must graduate! Make Montevallo a better place
because you were students here. Study hard and make your moms
and dads proud. Make your alma mater proud, too. She has served
you well — now you go and serve others.
And may God bless you as you go on to make your part of the
world a better place.”
Montevallo Today u Winter 2010 23