My sister finished college by the grace of her history professor, Bill Savage at the University of Oklahoma. Most students were scared of him. He had a reputation as a really tough professor, but you’d learn a lot from him. Without money to finish her last semester of school she went to the financial aid office to get a loan (not a scholarship or a grant mind you, a loan she would have to pay back). She was told, rather rudely, that if she was a single mother, or had some real hardship they could help her, but since she was married and had no children there were no programs available to students her age. Furious, she left the office, passing Doctor Savage in the hallway. He growled at her, “What’s up?” She kept walking but snarled over her shoulder that she would probably have to drop out because the financial aid office wouldn’t help her finance her last semester.

That afternoon, after his class, he asked her to his office. He picked up the phone, said, “She’s here now,” and handed my sister the receiver. A very apologetic voice said that they had found a donor who was willing to pay her tuition and books for the final semester. She would only have to come back to their office and sign for it. She hung up the phone and told Doctor Savage that she would not allow him to pay her way. His response was, “I promise you I am not. We have donors who can be called in when we have exceptional students who need help. I told them to find one, as you were one of the best students I have ever taught and it would be a travesty to have you quit school one semester shy of graduating.” My sister was stunned. She never forgot his intervention. Every time the university called asking her to make a scholarship donation, she did it, and always in Bill Savage’s name.