Donor Stories
Bill Armstrong
It was his return to EMU after only one semester there, returning after four years in the Air Force. He was waiting in the biology department line at spring registration in Bowen Field House when he spotted a familiar face, Dr. Bert Johnson. In a couple minutes, Dr. Johnson would rise, extend his hand, and say, “Bill Armstrong, welcome back. Nice to see you again.” Bill was impressed that the prof had remembered him.
In that spring of 1958, Bill little realized how much this small, slightly pudgy man with rimless glasses was going to enlighten him and alter the course of his life. As the semesters rolled by, Prof. Johnson delved deeply into all aspects of form and chemistry. He provided Bill an intellectual platform upon which he could relate to all of natural history. Of his teaching, Bill says: “Bert Johnson was a profound biologist and an incomparable pedagogue.”
Bill reflects on that time: “Those years in Ypsi were a delight in every way. I had the GI Bill to help pay bills, and I worked at Mr. Morgan’s McKenny Hall Bookstore for 90 cents an hour; also for Dr. Belcher, biology Chair, as a lab assistant. I made the usual college friendships, never suspecting that most would be carved in stone and endure until now, 50 years later. Our affection for beer lured us to the Huron Inn, the Gingham Inn, and the Central Bar, now the SideTrack, where we often gathered for 15-cent drafts. Some of our group studied for exams in taverns, and I believe the results were extraordinary. Our gang all went on to become teachers, professionals, professors. We enjoyed hard work and camaraderie, and our laughter echoes still in my head. The whole experience in my memory is of halcyon days, halcyon years.”
Bill Armstrong wanted to reciprocate and give back to Eastern a gift, a tribute to both the school and to Prof. Johnson. He established a legacy-gift in the form of a bequest that will create a memorial scholarship in Prof. Johnson’s name. This planned gift allows Bill to both make a gift to EMU and retain control of his assets, perhaps resulting in eventual tax savings … while—in Bill’s words—“pleasing Bert Johnson’s ghost.”
As to career, Bill ended up in biomedical research at the University of Michigan. When he retired he settled into 40 acres of majestic white pines and red oaks in Alcona County, Mich., with his companion, Portia, a golden retriever who is a legend in her own mind. “And in mine,” Bill says.
