A cane in one hand and yearbooks in front of him, Richard Weiser (full disclosure — he’s my neighbor) sat at his dining room table a couple weeks before his 90th birthday. Surrounded by large wooden carvings of exotic animals he crafted himself, Weiser flipped through the pages of his past — reflecting on campus life at Ohio University nearly 65 years after graduation.
Weiser arrived on OU’s campus in 1946, following his tour of duty in the U.S. Air Force during World War II. During fall of 1946, 5,777 students were enrolled in Athens, shattering the previous record of 3,501, and illuminating the influx of servicemen arriving home from the war, according to the October 1946 edition of the Ohio Alumnus.
Weiser — who calls coming to OU and meeting his wife a “wonderful experience” — has remained a loyal Bobcat all his life. After starting a successful construction company, Weiser has also donated thousands of dollars to OU. He and his wife Jo regularly make the trip from Canal Winchester, OH, to Athens, a distance of only 60 miles.
They normally come down U.S. 33 for Homecoming, but cannot make the trip this year.
While at OU, Weiser joined the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, lived in a private home, held a job washing dishes in a local hotel and met his wife. Since then, the fraternity has left campus, and the private home and hotel no longer exist. But his marriage remains strong.
“Yeah, that’s the problem in an interview like this,” Weiser says of trying to describe buildings that have been gone many years. “We’re talking 60 years ago and so much has changed.”
But apart from physical changes, campus life in the 1940s bears some resemblance to the college experience today.
Weiser shares that his road to a Bachelors degree in architectural engineering wasn’t always smooth — a degree OU no longer offers.
“One of our classes was surveying and slide rule. I had no trouble with either one of them, except I wouldn’t go to class, and you know, that sucker failed me!” He laughed, referencing his professor. “I said ‘my gosh, every time you had a test I got 100.’ (My professor) said ‘and every time you didn’t show up you got a 0.’”
With a tough schedule and a social life to maintain, graduation sometimes seemed far off.
“I got through school, not with flying colors, but I got through school,” Weiser admits.
Later, he began a successful construction company, TC Weiser Construction, and became a renowned artist, with paintings and wooden carvings of animals among the works of art still being sold in central Ohio galleries.
Outside the classroom, Weiser engaged in fraternity activities and attended dances “where the big bands were brought in for a one night stand.” As for his dance partner, Mr. Weiser met and fell in love with his Jo at OU; they’ve been married since the year he graduated. Together, they recounted some of their favorite extracurriculars.
“We used to go out to Lake Hope for picnics, big bunches of us, a whole bunch of fraternity guys and their girls, and that used to be fun,” Jo recalls. “Lake Hope was a lake, but I don’t ever remember swimming there, do you?” she asked her husband.
“No, but what I do remember is we bought beer by the keg and we’d unload them at the top of the hill and roll ‘em down toward the lake,” he laughs.
Today, the Weisers work to maintain relationships with Ohio University and Bobcat alums.
“We’ve tried to maintain associations with people that have been there, maybe not even at the same time we were,” Mr. Weiser explains.
As Bobcats celebrate homecoming week, it is this sense of family that unites us all.
The Weisers financially support The Richard C & Betty Jo Weiser Endowed Scholarship offered at OU’s Lancaster Campus. The scholarship is awarded alternately every other year to business and education majors demonstrating financial need.
In addition, the Weisers have been awarded the title of “Bobcat Champions” for giving more than $25,000 to support the Walter Fieldhouse. The couple are members of the 1804 Alumni Group and the Bobcat Club.
“It was worth every bit,” Weiser said. ““I think my parents got gray hair over some of the things, but it turned out, I met Jo and that has been a wonderful experience.”
The Weisers currently reside in Canal Winchester, Ohio. Their most recent trip to Ohio University took place during homecoming week last year.
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