A 25-Year Trek to Graduation

Eugene Huffman was a few steps behind the others Friday in getting to the stage for his degree at Cal State Fullerton. But considering that the 76-year-old took a full 25 years to reach this point, it was more than understandable.

Huffman received a bachelor’s degree in physics at the commencement ceremony and will be awarded a degree in English today, culminating an inspiring journey of determination, persistence and patience.

During much of that time, he continued at his job. He finished raising his children. His wife died. And yet, one or two courses at a time, he persevered.

Huffman, who grew up in Fresno during the Depression, interrupted his high school education to serve in the Navy during World War II. After the war he joined the Army, receiving training in radio and microwave electronics. When he was discharged in 1952, he went to work at Hewlett-Packard as an engineer and conducted laser experiments for North American Aviation (later Rockwell International) and Northrop.

But the Rancho Cucamonga resident was an engineer without a degree, and it gnawed at him.

“There’s a very special hierarchy in the profession, and those without degrees were looked down upon,” Huffman said. “That’s the way it was. There’s nothing you can do.

“I was one of those people who came into the profession through the back door,” he said.

Huffman felt the sting of seeing others with degrees advancing past him. So he decided that the only way to erase the stigma and catch up would be to go back to school.

Physics as a field of study was a natural choice for Huffman, who retired in 1990 after 38 years on the job.

He earned an associate’s degree from Los Angeles Harbor College in four years and then enrolled at Cal State Fullerton as a physics major with a pronounced interest in laser spectroscopy and electron optics.

The required classes in general chemistry, mathematics, thermodynamics and electromagnetic theory were hard, even with his engineering background, Huffman said.

“Every physics major has that feeling” that the courses are too hard, he said. “If they don’t, they’re a fool.”

But Huffman said he never considered quitting.

“I took the attitude, it’s going to take whatever it takes,” he said. “Like in the Army; just keep your head down and keep moving forward.”

He finished the requirements for a bachelor’s in physics in 1993, but decided then to complete work on a second major in English.

Huffman hopes to fuse the two diverse fields as a writer of science fiction.

He has logged about 50,000 miles commuting to college in 25 years, going through three or four cars, he said, taking only one or two courses each semester. He had to interrupt his studies several times before getting to this point.

One of those times was when Florence Huffman, his wife of 52 years, became ill in 1990. She died in 1998 of complications of hyperthyroidism.

Although his wife isn’t able to share the proud moment with him, son Mark, daughter Patricia Menzel and granddaughter Christine will watch him walk across the stage at today’s ceremony.

Thursday night he was presented with the annual award for Continuing Learning Experience, which recognizes the student who most embodies an appreciation of lifelong education.

He was a star again Friday at his graduation, warmly congratulated by faculty members and fellow students. Several young women tried to get him to smile a little before commencement began. It worked briefly, but then he was back to his matter-of-fact self.

So what is there to look forward to, now that he’s achieved a 25-year dream? His master’s degree, of course. Classes start in the fall.

If he lives long enough, Huffman said, he’d like to get a doctorate in space physics at the University of Alaska.