T R I N I T Y T O D AY
MISSING RUSS
will be
Health Care Alumni tackle ACA in Texas Student Report: It was amazing!
Editor’s note: We welcome your comments, memories, and suggestions. Letters may be edited for style and space considerations. Please send them to mdenny@trinity.edu or Mary Denny, Trinity University, One Trinity Place, San Antonio, TX 78212
GOOD BOOKS! I received (and read!) my Trinity magazine today. I loved having Dr. Grissom’s book recommendations. I took her contemporary literature course pass/fail my senior year. It is still one of the courses upon which I thoughtfully reflect because it was so much fun! I am so excited to have more fun novels to explore. Marney Babbitt ’08 Sewanee, Tennessee
Thank you for the Russ Gossage “In Memoriam.” Russ touched the lives of thousands of students, faculty, staff and friends of Trinity. Russ was a dear friend and a mentor to me. The friendship developed late in my junior year at Trinity in 1968. Russ offered me the opportunity to join Fred Shefte and another student in hosting an information booth built next to the old bookstore at the main entrance. Our job was to greet visitors (prospective students and family members) and provide campus tours. The volume of visitors was projected to increase due to HemisFair. At the end of summer, Russ offered to keep me on as a student host giving campus tours. After graduation and my two-year commitment to the military, I called Russ to ask if he would write a recommendation for me to law school. He immediately agreed but asked if I would be interested in joining his admissions team. I said absolutely and he arranged for me to visit Trinity for an interview. I’m pleased to say that I was selected and joined Russ and his team: Doodie Meyer, Nan Massengale, John Burleson, and Bill Duffy. The next two-andone-half years were wonderful. Russ and the team taught me about college admissions work. We traveled all over the U.S. calling on prospective students and their families, making presentations at high schools, getting to know key high school guidance directors, visiting with alumni, etc. We were quite successful. It helped that we all loved Trinity and our enthusiasm was contagious. Russ and I remained friends but our personal contacts waned due to distance and obligations. Like Russ, I eventually became a Fund Development Officer. Four years ago I retired from a Hospital Foundation in Arizona (my home state). One morning shortly after I retired, I answered a phone call and Russ’ unmistakable voice asked: “Glenn are you mad at me?” I immediately said, “Of course not. Why do you ask?” He replied
that it had been a while since I had called. He was correct, and for the next four years we chatted every month or two including our last conversation about two or three weeks prior to his passing. I also had the opportunity of visiting with Russ in person at two recent alumni weekends. Although he was enormously important in my career development, I will miss him more as a dear friend. Glenn A. Tappan ’69 Casa Grande, Arizona
I was very sad when I read that Russ Gossage had passed away. He was a very fine person who was extremely friendly. Mr. Gossage introduced Trinity to me as a freshman in 1979. [He] was a fine gentleman to remember. Jan Ohlsson ’83 Morges, Switzerland
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