[Vision2020] Roanoke College Professor Decides, At 100, He Will Retire

[Tom Hansen]

>From the November 25, 2006 edition of the Richmond Times-Dispatch (Richmond,
Virginia) at:

http://www.richmondtimesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=Common%2FMGA
rticle%2FPrintVersion&c=MGArticle&cid=1149191867323&image=timesdispatch80x60
.gif&oasDN=timesdispatch.com&oasPN=%21news

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Roanoke College professor decides, at 100, he will retire
BY NEIL HARVEY
THE ROANOKE TIMES
Saturday, November 25, 2006

"Time is valuable," Charles "Hap" Fisher says, and he's proud to have
witnessed 100 years of technical revolutions.

ROANOKE -- In the Roanoke College yearbook for 1928, beneath a photograph of
a clear-eyed, neatly attired senior in his early 20s, there is a passage by
the editor:

"He is characteristically even tempered, he thinks soundly and deeply and
has never been known to rush impetuously into anything."

That phrase was used 78 years ago to describe Professor Charles "Hap"
Fisher, and although it's an analysis that was made even before the Great
Depression, it still seems to hold true today.

Fisher, an adjunct research professor at Roanoke College, turned 100 on
Monday and celebrated his birthday with a gathering of friends and
colleagues Tuesday at the school's Colket Center. He has announced he will
retire at the end of the month.

His longevity, he said, just kind of happened.

"For the past 15 years, I'd think, 'Maybe I'll live one more year,'" Fisher
said. "Now I think, 'Maybe I'll live to be 101.'"

"He still comes to the office once a week," said Gail Steehler, chairwoman
of Roanoke College's chemistry department. "He always has something on his
mind, something to talk about.

"He's decided alternate fuels are a problem for the country to solve,"
Steehler added. "It's a good example of how he continues to think about
important things."

Roanoke College has figured heavily in Fisher's long life: When he was
growing up, his parents moved to Salem specifically so he could become a
student there. He would eventually serve as president of the school's alumni
association, and the school's prestigious lecture series would bear his
name.

"He's one of the alums that you love because he gives so much back -- in
time and also financially," said Linda Miller, the school's archivist. "He's
just sort of been ever-present."

That presence and his work have extended well beyond the Roanoke Valley. In
a retrospective presentation during the ceremony, professor of chemistry Ben
Huddle detailed Fisher's many honors and awards. Huddle cited Fisher's 200
scientific publications and more than 70 patents, calling the work
"groundbreaking research that led to our lives being happier." Among the
developments stemming from Fisher's work, he said, are flame-resistant
cotton and frozen orange juice.

Fisher also served as head of the Southern Regional Research Laboratory in
New Orleans for 22 years and, during World War II, was instrumental in the
creation of a polymer called Hycar 21, which he called one of his proudest
achievements.

"My small group developed a synthetic rubber that's been manufactured since
1947," Fisher said. "It's a specialty rubber, not a tire rubber. It was used
because it has resistance to high temperatures."

During his remarks Tuesday, Fisher told the audience that "you might think
retirement is wonderful, but when you retire you still have to have
something to do. You still have 24 hours in a day."

It is time he plans to fill.

"I'm going to continue doing what I'm doing," he explained, citing the
correlation of chemical properties as his main task. "My work is not done in
a laboratory, hasn't been for years."

For relaxation, he said, he reads. He has recently enjoyed best-sellers such
as "The DaVinci Code" and John Grisham thrillers, but there's a twist: He
reads the Spanish translations, not the English versions.

"Time is valuable," Fisher reminded the audience, and said he was proud to
have witnessed 100 years of technical revolutions, and proud to have been
born "at the beginning of the great and wonderful 20th century."

"It's my century," he added with a smile.

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"Madness does not always howl.  Sometimes, it is the quiet voice at the end
of the day saying, 'Hey, is there room in your head for one more?'"

- Author Unknown