Memory Page-Larry Embling

I am not “fully” retired!!! Presently I enjoy substitute teaching at a few consolidated school corps in and around Kokomo, IN. Why?  It keeps my mind active and me feeling pretty young in keeping up with the Middle/High School kids. I can work when I want to and I sure don’t do it for the money, and it keeps me out of my wife’s hair. We as senior citizens have much to give to the younger generation and more of us should be doing it—the schools really need people like us to counter all the liberal BS that they get from social media and parents and younger teachers.

Past jobs include Assistant coach to Schipper for 5 years and being on the staff for the 1974 National Champions; Director of Career Planning and Placement, CUI, 5 years, Sales Associate at Pella Corp 10 years; Edward Jones Broker 3 years; Bank VP 3 years; Group Insurance Sales 15 years; Adjunct Professor, Grace College Prison Program 5 years (Director of program 3 yrs.); “retired” for the past 5 years.

What I enjoy doing: Lately remodeling our home we moved into two years ago; Riding my Harley on trips to the Blue Ridge Parkway, around Lake Superior, to Arkansas, Tennessee, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa and many other points both East and West; visiting my children (6), and my grandchildren (8); playing golf, and still trying to become an “accomplished” guitar player like my mentor Tom Van Beek. I also love to travel and do so quite often. Most recently served on the committee for “A Night to Shine” (Tim Tebow’s national Prom night in February for people with special needs). That was an awesome experience. 

I am married to my beautiful wife Cheri, have been for 30 years and between us we have 5 sons and 1 daughter (3 mine and 3 hers. A second marriage for both of us. Cheri was my children’s babysitter when we both went through divorces back in 1985. With me having custody of my three and her with her three, there was no way I was interested in marrying her. We’ll see how things work out??? Great story to tell around the campfire.

I am not the recipient of any special rewards but in the area of achievements I feel I have had many:  Playing and coaching under Ron Schipper, having worked at Central for 10 years, having traveled to all 50 states, having taught Dale Carnegie for 3 years, having friends all over the country, having served on a few Boards, and worked in a few prisons, and having deepened my faith and trust in God over the years and sharing it with my family, friends, and “prison” buddies. Looking back, I “never” would have chosen this path, but it has been a great one for me. One achievement I am pretty proud of is having two of my son’s attend Central and both Pledging the Phi Delts. That REALLY made me proud.

Special memories of Phi Delta Tau:  Wow, there are many that I remember and many that I am continually reminded of when getting together with some of my “brothers in bonds”. The ones standing out most vividly in my mind are those of Pledging and have to put up with all the Crap that Smith, Rueter, Polovina, Henderson, Anchor, Fairchild, Adams, Canfield, and Cobb gave me; Thank goodness Dale Diamond was my pledge father so he was somewhat protective of me; All the fun we had as Pledges pulling pranks on both the actives and on the Beakes; traveling with my brothers to Florida (6 of us in Wally’s car, driving through Mississippi and Alabama in 1966 when guys like us were being shot and thrown in the swamps); Decorating our house over Homecoming; wiping snow of my bed in the wintertime in the 12 man room; giving tours of Red Rock Dam during Tulip Time; Phil “Mamma”  Laqua’s Spaghetti Night every year in the Student Union to raise funds for the fraternity; VanderWerff’s  post-Christmas road party having brought back a case of Wisconsin Special Export Beer; Protecting the Falstaff Paddle when the Beakes made many attempts to steal it;

All in all, coming from upstate New York to with cornfields of Iowa was a humbling experience for me, but the friendships I made while a student and an employee at Central have been everlasting and the time spent as a Phi Delt truly enriched that experience. I never would have gotten to meet such a diverse group of men that the fraternity was able to glean from the CUI student body.  Where else could you find seniors and freshmen interacting as a group, jocks and scholars both playing intramural and intercollegiate sports, and guys with a strong faith and guys with no faith hanging out together on the porch or in the TV room. It was the best of times, no doubt.