“I came to the university thinking education was assimilating facts and regurgitating this information. The faculty and staff at UGA taught me to reason. Whatever success I have achieved, it is due to this ability to analyze a situation or problem and develop a workable solution.” —Terry Hunt
It was life changing and affirming but Hunt says one thing didn’t change: He did not grow more cautious, despite the injuries and financial losses the accident brought. “I still take a lot of risks,” he admits. At his wife’s suggestion, the Hunt family observes the July accident date, gathering together each year for a special celebration. “I celebrate my life and what I can do with it every day. We have a family meal and we have a prayer,” he says. Hunt pays this and other lessons forward in the messages he shares with young people. He has been an active Boy Scout leader for many years, attending Jamborees and national scouting events. He became an Eagle Scout as a young man, as did each of his four sons, “And there were 52 more in my troops,” he adds. “To my Eagle Scouts, I tell every one, ‘You’re going to go through tough times in your life and you’re going to look back on the trail of the eagle and your scouting experience to gain strength. You’ll draw from this the rest of your life.’” Hunt looks ahead, considering the lessons past that have delivered him to what is now an enviable place. “Most kids don’t have the experience I’ve had. And in some ways you don’t want them to. But you’ve got to let them know they’ve got a basis they can grow on.” Today, Hunt continues full-time management at Hunt Industries. He is a doting grandparent and proud father, one at the center of family life. One of Hunt’s newest passions is his work with the Graduate School Advancement Board. Since joining the board he has become deeply interested in developing and providing scholarship opportunities for students. “We’re trying to develop funding for graduate
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fellowships,” Hunt says, saying he is involved in setting up meetings in Albany and elsewhere throughout South Georgia towards that end. “The education I received helped me to become more accepting of other people and their ideas and goals,” he says, reflecting upon the Graduate School’s centennial year. “I think the greatest challenge for the Graduate School in the future is not to become elitist,” he adds. “UGA has set itself up as one of the premier research institutes. Our world is becoming more and more polarized and in education you must work with the masses. You must be able to communicate the developing technology. As the information curve steepens, the risk of new ideas being rejected by society will become greater. This will challenge the graduate program more than money or facilities. The future is very bright and I am sure UGA will make us very proud.” And with that, Terry Hunt squares his wire rim glasses, and his grey eyes look unblinkingly ahead, as if he can see that bright future already. G
Centennial Footnote: As Terry Hunt labored in a full time job in order to pay for his graduate studies in the mid 1960s, UGA was changing and so would fellowship opportunities. The new science complex and the Boyd Graduate Studies Research Center were being built, and 600 new faculty members were added by the end of the 1960s. In 1967, the National Science Foundation gave UGA $3.7 million to develop its
At Hunt Industries, the tools of the trade, such as lathes, dies and drills, cranes and bulldozers, are varied. But the object remains: "We are producers," Terry Hunt says.
biological science programs and expand funding for students. By 1970, 3,182 graduate students were enrolled at UGA.