I enrolled at Jesuit High School in September of 1959. My divorced mom had no money to pay the tuition for me and my brother, Van, to a school as expensive as Jesuit. But where there's a will, there's a way. Father James Patrick O'Flynn volunteered to personally fund my older brother on the grounds that Van appeared to be destined for the priesthood, which turned out to be the case.
But I was no candidate for the collar. That was no problem for Jesuit, however, as they still gave me a scholarship. Back then the tuition was a princely $250 a year (in 1959, my mother made about $250 a month working as the secretary for an executive at Fred Meyer). Of course, the good fathers gave me the opportunity to work for a portion of my tuition. I washed the lunchroom tables after school every day. Because that made me miss the afternoon bus back downtown, I had to hitchhike home to North Portland every evening. Back in the early 60s, somebody always picked me up-just like the Jesuits had...for four years.
I went on to get a scholarship to Gonzaga University and thereafter to graduate school at St. Louis University. Van went into the Jesuit novitiate at Sheridan, then joined me at Gonzaga before going on to get doctorates at both St. Regis and Stanford.
Jesuit gave me a fine education. I'd like to do my part to help the Jesuits help other young men like myself. Also, I'm in the process of revising my will, into which I will gratefully put bequests to Jesuit and Gonzaga. I've been showered with many gifts in my life, but no gift has proven more precious than the education I received at Jesuit.
God bless,
Kurt Hutton '63