After working in DC for about ten years after leaving South Bend, my family and I moved to Pennsylvania to be closer to my kids' grandparents. In PA, I am a contract lobbyist. This means that I have several different clients, some of which have included health insurance agents, Christmas Tree growers, a manufacturers' association, property casualty insurance agents ("The Big I"), State Council of Farm Organizations, PA State Grange, professional soil scientists, a chamber of commerce, and others. Back in South Bend, I was political and in Washington, ditto. Now, I've tempered politics in part because of the weirdness overtaking America's political system, some cynicism, and because I've hopefully mellowed enough to recognize that there are many solutions to the problems we all face. It is kind of like disagreeing about having a single payer system in the US but respecting those who have thought about it who have concluded that is the best option.

Here is a freshman items that has stuck with me. It was in Mr. Phelps' science class when I was having a nice conversation with classmates and suddenly I became aware that other conversations had stilled -- just before an eraser hit my desk with a spray of chalk dust. I was a model student for at least a week after that.
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10/14/2024

During my senior year, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was tragically murdered. By then, Central High School was mostly Black, so I got really nervous when a Black student and his friends came up to me and said "Did you do it?" Of course I said no. Thankfully, one of my many Black friends broke into the conversation and said, "That's OK. He's all right." Whew!

Later that day, word got around. I was in gym class and it was basketball. I was terrible at basketball. In addition to my lack of aptitude, I was short. Generally, the consensus was that I should not get the ball because I was that bad. Well, that day, other players made sure that I got the ball and made a clear route for me to take the shot. I still missed but I felt truly honored and appreciative and thankful there was no race barrier for me that eventful day.

James Madison

Richard Alan Phillips, class of 1968