Lessons Learned from Roy Gummerson and Mr. Foreman

Roy Gummerson is a name that has stayed with me.  He was my boss during the summer of 1967.  I was taking summer classes at Concordia Teachers College (Now Concordia University Chicago) and I needed a job for the summer.  Roy Gummerson was the superintendent at the River Forest Tennis Club.  I was hired by him to be head groundskeeper each weekday afternoon.  Roy was used to working with teens.  His regular job was a teacher and track coach at Oak Park – River Forest High School.   He was a great mentor, and often shared wisdom and insights.  He was also encouraging, but also quick to call me on the carpet if he caught a slip up.  I know he was often frustrated with me because I did not possess the “attention to detail” he expected. 

In contrast I had a supervisor the next summer who could not relate to me or my coworker.  During that summer I worked on a gas pipeline in Northern Michigan.  Our actual supervisor was based at the home office in Detroit, but on site we reported daily to the local foreman.  Fortunately, once we got our assignments we were on our own the rest of the day.   Unlike Roy Gummerson, I do not remember his name; probably by choice.    The foreman had no use for college students with different values, and work ethics.  While Roy Gummerson mentored, “Mr. Foreman” lectured.  Each the message was the same; “Kids are lazy, have no respect for their elders and sense of right or wrong.”  It was a very tumultuous time.  The assassination of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, both admired my most young people, were fresh in our minds and the tensions were between the generations were high.  It all came to a head at the Democratic Convention in Chicago where young people expressed their frustrations and the police responded with tear gas and nightsticks.  And each morning we were reminded of how the world was “going to hell in a hand basket” (First time I heard that expression).

The contrasting styles of Roy Gummerson and “Mr. Foreman” are worth considering as we contemplate relating to and working with Millennials.  We have a choice.  We can mentor or lecture. We can see them as colleagues or adversaries.  There is a reason I still remember Roy Gummerson’s name.  He respected me, and he also taught me a lot that summer. As for “Mr. Foreman,” I learned a lesson from him too: avoid people who do not respect you and what you have offer.   How will you be remembered by the young people in your life?