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Retirement bored Jim Hutcheson '68. So he earned a nursing degree at
Northern Michigan University and has worked in the renal care unit at OSF
St. Francis Medical Center in Peoria since 2009.
Once he accumulates two years of clinical experience, Jim will qualify to
serve as a nurse with the international humanitarian organization Doctors
Without Borders. "That could be responding with a medical team to an acute
crisis or being stationed in one of the 60 countries Doctors Without
Borders serves," he said.
Nursing is just the latest twist for Jim. He taught at Wabash and high
schools in the United States and Africa, built a log cabin in Michigan's
remote Upper Peninsula, and retired from the U.S. Army National Guard in
2001 with 26 years of military service. Coming from a 96-student high
school, Jim appreciated the small, intimate feel of Wabash (about 650
students then). "All my professors were inspiring and top notch," he said.
"I honestly don't know where I'd be today without Wabash."
After teaching biology for two years at Wabash, Jim earned a master's in
botany from the University of Wyoming and a teaching certificate from
Illinois State University.
His favorite classroom experience was teaching chemistry in Ghana for the
Peace Corps from 2001 to 2003. "That gave me a greater appreciation for
simple things we take for granted, like having clean drinking water and
lights when you flip the switch," he said. Jim doesn't take for granted how
his Wabash education shaped his life. He has named the College the sole
beneficiary of a veteran's life insurance policy and a partial beneficiary
of his IRA. "I can draw from the IRA as I need to and still have a
substantial amount go to Wabash on my death," he explained.
Jim encouraged other alumni to consider what their Wabash experience has
meant to them. "The gifts of previous grads made Wabash what it was when
you attended," he said. "Make a gift, 'pay it forward,' so future grads can
learn and enjoy in the same atmosphere."
