Wednesday, Oct. 30, 1963 University Daily Kansan
Page 7
Age 70 Means Travel, Writing
Bv Leta Cathcart
He had the highest bowling game score (298) in Lawrence in 1943.
He taught in a country school the year after he was graduated from high school.
He has heard Teddy Roosevelt and William Jennings Bryan speak.
Prof. Buehler said the last year before retirement is rather embarrassing. He said he doesn't know quite how to act when a question of next year's policy arises. "You can't say it doesn't make any difference. I won't be here."
He is the author or co-author of 22 books.
After his retirement, Prof. Buehler hopes to write an article on how to act during the last year before retirement. He also hopes to catch up on his reading, collaborate on a high school speech textbook, and travel.
The man? Ezra Christian "Bill" Buehler, professor of speech and drama at KU.
PROF. BUEHLER will retire this spring after 39 years of teaching here. He thinks "retirement is just normal."
"GREECE AND IRELAND are musts." He said the only connection he had with either country was that he knew of an Irishman that is President of the United States. He and his wife may also take a trip around the world. "Mrs. B. likes to travel," he said.
Prof. Buchler was born in Sterling, Nebraska, on Friday, May 13, 1894. He said Friday the 13th has always been a lucky day for him. He attended grade school in a country schoolhouse that had eight grades in one room.
Prof. Euehler worked on a wheat farm in Washington for two summers to earn money to go to college. He said one of the reasons he went to college in the days when few had such ambitions was that he didn't like the farm.
Prof. Buehler was interested in the ministry for a short time, but World War I interrupted. He was a corporal in the 350th infantry, 88th division, in Europe.
AFTER THE WAR, he decided not to go into the ministry. Prof. Buehler said, "I lost my naive ideals."
Prof. Buehler is a man "without a college." He was graduated from Central Wesleyan College in Missouri in 1920. It was a German, Methodist-supported school. It closed shortly after World War I, due to what Prof. Buehler termed "the prejudice against Germans."
Prof. Buehler said he "more or less drifted into the field of speech." He did graduate study in this field
WASHINGTON — (UPI) — The House pushed long-pending college aid legislation over the additional hurdle yesterday, agreeing to a House-Senate conference on conflicting versions passed by the two chambers.
College Aid Bill To be Debated
Sent to conference by voice vote also were differing versions of a separate bill to continue and expand federal aid to vocational schools, continue student college loans and aid to high school science programs, and continue federal aid to so-called "impacted" school areas.
Both versions of the college aid bill call for grants and loans to public and private colleges and universities, including those with church connections. None of the money could be used to build facilities used in religious instruction.
The action further bolstered hopes of school and backers for favorable action at last on the thorny issue of college aid, as well as on the less controversial questions of vocational and impacted areas aid.
The House Armed Services committee yesterday approved a "freedom of expression" bill for the joint chiefs of staff, lengthening their term in office to four years. The committee ignored arguments that the president should be allowed to determine the length of such terms himself. But Rep. F. Edward Hebert, D-La., the chairman of the subcommittee which recommended the measure, said he expected it to be vetoed if passed by congress.
at Northwestern University in Chicago. He received a Bachelor of Oratory degree from Northwestern in 1921. It was the last degree of its kind to be given. He received his Master of Arts degree in speech in 1923. This was the first degree of its kind given at Northwestern. He did further graduate study at London University and the University of Colorado.
And 39 years ago, when Ernest Lindley was chancellor, Prof. Buehler came to KU.
HE SAID he had three "professional loves." The first of these is forensics, argumentative oratory. Prof. Buehler established the Campus Problems Speaking contest that is held annually on the campus.
Prof. Buehler's second major interest is speech communication in business and industry. He has conducted 112 seminars for professional people in 15 states during his career at KU. He worked for Spencer Chemical Company for five summers in this capacity.
One of his students was the lead pilot in the convoy that took Winston
Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt to the Casablanca conference. Another student became a state governor.
PROF. BUEHLER's third love is the Speech 1 program at KU. He said this is "the most significant area in our field." He said this is the only contact most students have in speaking before an audience. Eleven hundred students are involved in the Speech 1 program this semester.
"I am extremely happy in my work," Prof. Buchler said. "I can't understand why so many people have been so nice to me."
As an example, Prof. Buehler told of a student that sent him a Christmas card from South America a few years ago thanking him for the knowledge he had gained in Prof. Buehler's speech class. The student took the course in 1929.
Prof. Buehler said he had heard over 3,000 speeches in his teaching career at KU and he is still never bored. He said, "It is exciting to watch the human mind in action. You see that in a speech."
selves." He said his role as a teacher was as a "servant to the student."
Prof. Buehler has noticed some changes in the typical college student in the last 30 or 40 years. He said most students are much more confident than they were. "Stagefright is no problem any more."
"I TRY to teach people to find themselves. Then they teach them-
He also said college students have a wider range of knowledge on more subjects than did former college students.
Prof. Buehler said today's college student has more demands on his time. This preoccupation grows out of the amount of work involved in his classes and the number of extra-curricular attractions, such as Big 8 football and basketball.
PROF. BUEHLER said the college student "is more of a conformist, less of an individualist." He attributed this to the many patterns that today's student has to follow.
One disappointing factor in the speech field that Prof. Buehler pointed out was that of the quality of oratory has declined. "Churchill was the last of the orators of some significance."
He Wasn't Worth It
LONDON—(UPI)—Gregory Baverstock, 15, was sentenced to only 12 months in jail for killing his father with a cricket bat.
His mother had testified that the father was "a miserable, violent and jealous drunk" who beat her constantly.
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