RICHARD DYER: when did you retire, Gerri
JERRI LYON: I retired in June ‘84
DYER: Has this been planned for some years?
LYON: yes, it was no surprise to me or anybody else,
I think, I had planned to retire then. The main thing is that I was sixty
in March of ’84. And that was the first time that I felt that I would be able
to retire at a certain retirement salary and staying didn’t help it that much
as far as improving it—some, but not a lot.
DYER: Well, you spent your,
what was it…last two years, at the dean of instruction was it?
LYON: Well, no, I did spend almost, well it was a
year-and-a-half, but almost two years as dean of instruction, but that was in 1979
and ’80.
DYER: ’79 an ’80 huh? Well, even though, this maybe
is out of order, why don’t you explain how that cam
about.
LYON: Well, there had to be an emergency appointment
and I was, well I think I was on a committee that we were searching for people
and it was pretty well decided that it would have to be someone on the staff
because at that particular time of the year it would have been impossible
to go out and find somebody else. And this particular committee…I don’t know if
you were on it…Mel?
DYER: No, I was not.
LYON: Mel was on it. That is the only person that I
can remember sitting there and we were looking at each other.
DYER: Mel Simmons.
LYON: Mel Simons.
DYER: Math teacher.
LYON: And we had to write down suggestions—like
three or four staff members—and we all arote them
down. And I, you’d really have to ask someone else, I wa not involved in the counting or anything else, but
apparently my name came up on most of the lists—more than anyone else’s.
So that may have been the reason. As I say, I was really not a part of
the picking process.
DYER: What about the thought of assuming that
position did that uh…
LYON: I didn’t want to assume it and I really
believe I assumed it…it was my understanding that it would just be until the
end of the year, until June. That was January. But believe it or not,
that very June Dr. Rhode retired and they hired a new president, and when he
came—when they interviewed him and selected him—he would not consider a new
dean of instruction at the same time he was a new president, and so insisted
that I stay one more year, which is what happened. And I did leave then
at the end of the next year, I had planned to anyway. I wanted to go back
to the classroom, and so I did go back to the classroom. I enjoyed it,
although I would not recommend it necessarily for calmness and serenity of…
DYER: Well, you brought serenity and stability
because of your organizational ability and your capacity for work. I can
understand why so many votes were for you for that position.
LYON: well the only, really, thing that I brought to
the school, was that I tried to be here early and I tried to be here late for
the staff that was coming and going, so they can get to me and so that decision
could be made. I’m a firm believer in almost making decisions, even if
it’s the wrong one at a time when a decision needs to be made.
DYER: Well, good for you… good for you.
LYON: I do not believe in outing anything off.
DYER: I wonder it that’s
the characteristic of the classroom teacher or the professional administrator,
but it’s obvious that you heart was with the classroom and that after you spent
your almost two years as the dean of instruction you went back to the classroom.
LYON: Right.
DYER: Same position?
LYON: Same position.
DYER: With a lot more happiness and…
LYON: In fact I taught the summer after that in
order to get back into the classroom I said I’ll
teach summer school. No one really volunteers for it very much and I said
I’ll teach summer school just to get my hand back in the feel that I’m back in
the classroom. So that summer after the June of ’80, I suppose, I taught
that summer and then came back into the classroom and taught the same courses
although my being…as being head…it was interesting thing going on in the
business department. Because I was dean we were able to hire Candice full time, for the first time with a
contract.
DYER: You see I didn’t realize that…
LYON: She had been teaching a 60% contract until
that time and we never put her back after that. We interviewed her and
hired her after that time—we had enough work that she became a full-time member
of the staff after I was dean.
DYER: So she taught all those years on a part-time
contract. I did not know that. Interesting.
So then in June of 1984 you…
LYON: I retired.
DYER: …retired and became a
student.
LYON: And became a student is right. I’ve
taken part in a couple of Elderhostel programs where…
DYER: Now, you have to tell us about that though
because that’s something that is almost unique. So what’s Elderhostel?
LYON: Well Elderhostel was made up of people who are
sixty or over and 90% of them take place on a college campus of some kind. And
that college offers a few…two or three short courses, and usually that’s the
courses that they’re the best at offering in that particular area. And
the people who are sixty or over are able to go there for a week or ten days
and for a very minimal price—around $200 a week—they get instruction for the\at
week and room-and-board for six days and nights.
DYER: That’s Sunday through…
LYON: Sunday afternoon through Saturday morning.
They eat breakfast and then Saturday morning they split. It’s a unique
program and I’m really glad that we are going to have it here. I will
plan to do some more of that. I think I should get in here while we have
time that I have continue to teach part time
here. And probably will finish out my five…you are allowed to do that for
five years of we retire when we are sixty. And so this is my third year; I’m
teaching now. In fact I’m going to be teaching an average of nine units this
spring which keeps me fairly busy.
DYER: Now, what courses are you teaching?
LYON: I’m teaching medical terminology. I got
involved in starting our medical program here. And I’m teaching business
correspondence, which is an English type course about how to write business
letters, and then I’ll be teaching the night typing, which we don’t start until
March 16th. So I will be teaching an average of nine units
through the spring semester.
DYER: Do you detect a following of people that
continue to take your courses?
LYON: Not necessarily. I think we have good
teachers here and the people in the office occupations and even the people in
the management bookkeeping area continue to be close here. We don’t always
agree one-hundred percent on everything, but we are a rather close
department.
DYER: that’s one of the joys of being a small
institution.
LYON: And I wanted to mention, being in a small
institution, I noticed that from the first day I arrived here that we’ve had a lot
of individual freedom, that if I didn’t have that, I wouldn’t have been so
happy in my teaching career here. We had to do a few things to be legal,
but then we were in a pretty free ring—arraign really—to do what we though best
in the classroom, and I’ve always appreciated that.
DYER: Yeah, I think those of us who have taught
elsewhere, even under ideal circumstances, feel that Columbia compares rather
favorably with other institutions.
LYON: And I know some of our teacher up here that
have taught at other junior colleges have a complete sense of freedom up
here.
DYER: Well, you know, also a student, and had been a
student for a long long time at the college, tell us
about the kind of courses you’ve taken…
LYON: Oh, I’ve taken Spanish. I’ve
taken…mostly I’ve taken physical fitness. And when I was dean I had a major
part in establishing that program. It was already being worked on before I
became a dean, and I (_____) out. And so I
had a lot of personal interest in that program; we spent quite a bit of money
on it at the time. And I’ve always been in a lot of the classes over there,
which I this is one of our outstanding programs here—physical fitness program.
And I continue to take that every time I have the opportunity; I’m taking it now.
DYER: Can you say something about hat program in
Spanish?
LYON: No (laughing).
DYER: that wasn’t fair was it?
LYON: It’s not about that program.
DYER: Okay. But you’ve been with that…
LYON: We started…well, my roommate tells me that she
was in the first class and it started in 1978. Bob Gibson started it
then, but we actually bought the equipment and everything for it—we were adding
it—but we did it in 1979. We added the equipment and established the
program at the armory at that time.
DYER: That’s something.
LYON: And I’m sure they’ve had…well they have three
or four hundred different students every semester. But I’m sure that
there have been thousands in this county that have improved their physical
shape by taking that program.
DYER: And mental.
LYON: And m…it does something for you mentally.
DYER: Now, how about you travels?
You’re a great traveler between California and elsewhere, I think you think
elsewhere is Texas.
LYON: Mostly Texas. Well I go back so see all
my relatives. I’m gleaming to go in May to my 46th high school
reunion. And I was in an organization in high school called Edinburgh Sarginettes, which was the first girl team in the United
States of that importance.
DYER: Like the Dallas cheerleaders?
LYON: and we will have the original teacher
back. Her name if Kayteer Crawford and she has taught all of these years out here in Huntington
Beach. She is the outstanding authority in the United State in drill
teams and they will be celebrating their 50th anniversaryif…
DYER: That’s incredible.
LYON: So we’re going to have a big celebration down
in South Texas and she will be there.
DYER: Isn’t that something. She’d retired and lives….
LYON: She’s retired, but she’s only around five
years older than I am. In other words she’d just gotten out of college
and come back to her own home high school and started this drill team when I
was coming in to high school.
DYER: Young and eager and…
LYON: Young and eager. And so that’s …we’re all
looking forward to that. But mostly I go back to see all of my relatives.
I’m very involved in missionary-type things through my church and they do a lot
of work in Latin American countries and so I do go down to South Texas
which is kind of a kick-off point for that and I’m doing that a lot while I’m
down there.
DYER: So you’re doing the work yourself, not just a
financial contribution.
LYON: No, I’m doing a lot of it myself.
DYER: I think that’s great to hear that
you’re… Well, I’ve really enjoyed talking with you Gerri, and I think
that maybe we can stop at this point and we wish you well as a student or as an
instructor and as a tourist.
LYON: Thank you very much. Enjoyed
it.
END OF TAPE
General
Information:
Interviewer:
Dyer, Richard L.
Interviewee:
Lyon, Jerri (Business Instructor)
Name
of Tape: Faculty Interviews in the
History of Columbia Junior College (CC_hist_13_1)
When:
3/6/1987
Transcriber:
Ariella (9/2008)
Transcriber’s
Note: n/a