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r  KENTUCKY ALUMNUS 5
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  l<€l1lLlCl{y S Flfél A.lUmHUS ·
  Alumni Association Dedicates First Issue of The Kentucky Alumnus
fi to William Benjamin Munson, B. S. 1869, First
`j · Graduate of University
ii Sixty years ago this month, the first president around for a college or university at which to con-
  of the University of Kentucky presented to the- tinue his education, he looked toward the Agri-
_ first graduate of the University of Kentucky his cultural and Mechanical College which was just
`· diploma. Sixty years ago is longer than all but a being established in Kentucky at Lexington. Ken-
4 very few of us can remember, still there is today tucky was the home state of his mother and with
  one of the most interested members of our Alumni this to influence him he came to Lexington and
` Association who remembers that day quite clearly. with his brother, Thomas Volney Munson, entered
That man is William Benjamin Munson. He re- the Kentucky Agricultural and Mechanical Col-
' members that day sixty years ago because he was lege in the first year of its existence.
· that graduate who recieved me first diploma from In those days obtaining a higher education was
the first president of the University of Kentucky. a problem much different from that presented t0_
To Mr. Munson the Alumni Association of the day, He and his brother lived together in qual--
University of Kentucky dedicates this, the first ters that they obtained for almost nothing. They
issue of the newly organized Kentucky Alumnus. did all their own housekeeping and cooking, living
The me of William Benjamin Munson eenid be most frugally all the time They wetked at man- .
woven into 3 most interesting story, With little ual labor every available hour, receiving for their
embellishment his biography could be made into efforts the sum of twenty cents an hour. Still in
‘ a story the like of Which, in the youth of the most that day labor was more plentiful than it is today
of the members of the Alumni Association, played and the hours that they worked barely paid their
a big part in our rear-ling_ His has been a life of expenses. Since both of the brothers had consid-
hardships, work and achievement, both material erable more education than was usual in their home
and spiritual. Beginning his life close to the soil county, they had had some experience in teaching
he has continued close to the soil wresting from in the country Schools. The president of the Uni-
it wealth both monetary and spiritual, As he versity and some of the instructors learned of this
comes to the close of this life filled with activity and the two brothers were offered opportunities
and the will to do things his memory can carry him to teach in their spare hours. Since the pay was
back over the years, living again his early suc- rnore than they received for manual labor they ac-
cesses and failures, causing them to pass before cepted gladly With appreciation, but continued to
his memory’s eye like a motion picture. work as laborers on Saturday and during vaca-
Doubtless at this time he is living over again tions-
` that spring morning sixty years ago when he, 85 The same ambition that brought William Ben-
a young man, received from the hands of the P1‘cS· jamin Munson to Kentucky to educate himself,
· ident of his and our Alma Mater that certificate now urged him on and hastened the day when he
of work accomplished that all of us have worked vrras to leave his mother-*s home Stat€_ He chaffed
for. at the time that was necessary to complete the
William Benjamin Munson was born january 7, education that he thirsted for and soon began to
{ ‘ 1846, on a farm near Astoria, in Fulton county, Il- increase the number of his studies at the Univer-
if linois. On this farm he spent the early years of sity. As a result of this he was able to complete a
— his life, where with his father and brothers he four-year course in three years and to take addi-
ii; ‘ V wrested a living from the soil. His early educa- tional work as well. Besides his regular work
  tion consisted of all that was offered by the county toward a bachelor of science degree, he studied
  F schools at that time. Completing this rudimen- civil engineering, and when he was graduated in
  tary education his father sent him to college for the spring of 1869, in addition to a thorough un-
  one year at Abington, Illinois. derstanding of his scientific studies, aided by a
  He was ambitious and desired further knowl- natural aptitude for mathematics, he was well
edge, so he decided to work his way through col- versed in the rudiments of civil engineering. This
lege and complete his education. In looking knowledge served him throughout his life and was
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