By LEE DREYFUS
Special to The Gazette
All of my life I have been like the proverbial kid who received a box of manure for his birthday and kept digging through it looking for the pony. The result of growing up with that attitude is that I am almost never down or depressed. On rare occasion something so personal and so wasteful in human life breaks through that wonderful protective shield of optimism. This week was one of those rare occasions.
First let me say that I am not talking about the death of JFK Jr., his wife and sister-in-law. Clearly that was a tragic waste of human life and didn't have to occur, but I had never met him and knew his father just slightly. In fact, the last time I was with President Kennedy several months before Dallas, he chewed me out, but that is another story.
Many of you may not have paid much attention to articles in our state's papers last Sunday about the death of a 51-year-old lawyer in a Milwaukee jail cell where he had been placed for driving under the influence of alcohol. A news article was headlined: "Life of promises ends with death in jail." In one sense it was the same approach to JFK Jr.'s loss of life. The idea is that the life had a great future with the promise of great contributions.
As our national media wallowed in that approach to the Kennedy loss, I couldn't help but remind myself that the same is true for every young life cut short by gunfire, by an automobile accident or by drunken driving. Every single one of those victims who've not lived their lives into maturity and old age represent a promise not fulfilled. For most, only the immediate family understands that part of the loss, but for celebrities the loss if felt widespread.
Such was the case Sunday when we were told that Paul Schilling was dead. Most of you never heard of him; but many of you were affected by his many contributions to the betterment of our state, all accomplished by the time Paul was 45. If you, your children or grandchildren were students anywhere in the University of Wisconsin System since 1981, then you benefited from the fact that he lived his short life because he helped hold down tuition.
As governor I personally appointed Paul to the university Board of Regents when he was only 33. I haven't checked, but Paul Schilling is probably the youngest Wisconsin regent in history. So many communities have facilities built in the last 25 years where the financing was worked out by Paul as a legal financial expert. From personal experience, I know his goal was always to obtain public financing that best served the common taxpayer.
Why would a Georgetown University law graduate with top level connections on the hill in Washington, D.C., and a partnership in one of our most prestigious law firms feel the need to serve the common taxpayer and citizen? Why would a hugely successful lawyer who was elected the president of the Board of Regents have that portion of our state's citizenry as the primary focus of his professional life?
The answer is that he did not grow up like our other tragic figure, JFK Jr. Paul Schilling did not grow up with a life of privilege. He grew up in Crandon, Wis., in a family of "common taxpayers and citizens." I am so proud to say that he was a student of mine, an appointee of mine and a truly close friend. I presented him his diploma when he graduated. I was there in Crandon when he and Carol were married. I was there when he became a regent. But his was not simply a life of promise. His was a life of fulfillment. He accomplished so much in his short life and most of what he did was for the good of others.
Paul had all the mental machinery to do anything he wanted except overcome the lure of alcohol. I get some solace knowing that now he has some peace and alcohol won't control him any longer. Go with our love, Paul.
(Lee Sherman Dreyfus is a former chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and former Wisconsin governor. This article is reprinted from the Waukesha Freeman with his permission.)