TUSCULUM PROFILES – Penguin II

By Joe Romano ’63

Jim Richmond ’66, was a straight-up, hardworking, earnest young man. Apparently those qualities served him well all through life, as he recently retired as Superintendent of Schools in a district in Maryland.

He was a freshman when my roommate Ken Hellyer ’63 and I were seniors. Ken and I named him Penguin II. There had to have been a Penguin I, but that is another story.

Eventually Penguin began calling me The Owl. That spring break a bunch of us decided to go to Fort Lauderdale. Since Penguin’s family lived in Florida, he came along with us. We dropped him off at a bus station at twelve noon in a city I do not recall.

“Penguin,” I said, “we’ll pick you up right here exactly one week from today at noon,” and we left him. Being stupid kids we didn’t bother to get his family’s telephone number or address.

We proceeded down to Fort Lauderdale. The week went by, and we had the usual good time. The last day there was some sort of riot, and the police cordoned off ingress and egress to the city. We finally got out, but we were a whole day late. All I could think of was Penguin.

We finally pulled up to the bus station at noon exactly one day after I said we’d be there. I didn’t know what to expect, but when I went inside there was Penguin sitting in the same seat he had been in when we left.

“Penguin,” I said, “you’re here.”

He looked me in eye and said, “When The Owl says he’s coming, he coming.”

I was stunned by his constancy and trust. Those virtues reflected exactly what kind of young man he was.