MyUMUC Graduates

At the age of 85, UMUC alumnus Theodore von Gerichten will do something he never thought he'd get to do—attend his own college graduation.

By: Julie S. Epstein

When Theodore von Gerichten’s military service prevented him from attending his graduation from UMUC Europe in 1960, the missed opportunity always stayed with him. Now at the age of 85, von Gerichten’s dream will finally come true when he crosses the stage at this year’s Adelphi Commencement.

Attending his graduation nearly 50 years after earning his bachelor's degree is a new experience von Gerichten can add to his already interesting life. A WWII veteran with a 27-year career in the Army, he has earned two Purple Hearts and a Bronze star. He taught psychology and leadership at West Point (1954-1957); one of his students was General Norman Schwarzkopf (class of 1956). From 1963-1964, he served as the military advisor to the 2nd Division Imperial Iranian Army, teaching battalions about firearms and how to drive in dirt and live in the field. He taught military history as an assistant professor at St. Peter’s College in New Jersey from 1964-1969. After retiring from the Army, he worked for fifteen years as an IRS Officer.

Von Gerichten’s career with the military began when he joined the Citizens’ Military Training Camp (CMTC) while in high school in Ohio. This experience led to him earning a scholarship to Ohio State where he completed three years of study and joined the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC). And then Pearl Harbor was bombed.

With the U.S. entering WWII, von Gerichten went overseas to defend his country. He traveled through Europe and later served in the Korean War. By 1957, he was stationed in Italy and decided to tackle the last few credits he needed to complete his undergraduate degree. He found UMUC’s flexible program for overseas servicemembers to be just what he needed. Like him, most of his classmates were adults who had been out of college for at least ten years. To help ease the transition, he and his peers formed study groups and tutored one another.

“I was good at algorithms because we used them in artillery all the time,” he recalls. “We’d get together in the evening and each one knew a little bit about what was going on, so we helped each other learn.”

After completing his undergraduate degree requirements, von Gerichten was looking forward to attending his graduation ceremony in Heidelberg, Germany. However, his commanding officer would not grant him leave. “I couldn’t get off from duty down in Italy to go,” he recalls. “I wanted to go, I just couldn’t.”

“You know,” he continued, “you really don’t feel like you graduated until you make that walk in the cap and gown and you can put the tassel over on the other side.”

Over the years, von Gerichten has looked back on missing his graduation ceremony with regret. But that is all about to change. On May 17, 2008, he will travel with his daughter and son-in-law from New Jersey to Maryland so he can at last experience the pride of participating in one of education’s greatest rites of passage.