Each Spring we actually put on fancy clothes and went to the Aggie Ball. For a number of years it happened at the Biltmore Hotel. In the Spring of 1966 I went off to said Ball with my date (also a faculty student). There on the steps leading into the hotel, stood Dean Gage. He was greeting attendees and apparently having quite a good time. I duly marched up to him with my date and we introduced ourselves. I knew who the Dean was, but had never had reason to meet him. We exchanged pleasantries and off the two of us went to the party. I was only a little surprised later in the evening when I bumped into him and he spoke to me by name. His ability to do this was legendary!
A good time was had by all, and that was that.
Flash ahead one year to Spring 1967 and the Aggie Ball, also at the Biltmore.
Upon arriving with my date, there was Dean Gage in pretty much the same spot, almost as if he had actually just stayed there. Up we marched to greet him, but before we were close enough for polite introductions, he called out to me, saying “Dan, so good to see you! I haven’t seen you since this time last year, but who is this lady? She is not the person you were with last year.”
He was absolutely right. We hadn’t seen each other and it wasn’t the same date I had been with the year before! He had also remembered me by name even though he must have meet hundreds or even thousands of students in that intervening year!
As may be obvious, I have been in awe these 50 years since.
Both of the women were Aggies, but since I don’t have permission to name them, I suppose I won’t, other than to say the first was Diane and the second Linda.
Dan Cumming
BSA 1967, PhD 1975 (Both in Food Science)
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