Saturday night dates in State College for Jill Anderson and her then-boyfriend Kermit Anderson were usually low key.
"We used to go to the Diner and sit in a booth in the back and order shakes and share french fries," Jill Anderson said. "That was about all our finances allowed."
The two were married after graduation in August 1965.
|
The Andersons moved to New Jersey, and Kermit Anderson began working at Marsh, Inc. on the 93rd floor of the World Trade Center. He worked there for the next 36 years of his life, which ended as a result of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
After their two daughters grew up, the Andersons bought season tickets to the Penn State football games. To avoid the hassle of finding hotel rooms, they bought a house in State College. Jill Anderson said they probably would have retired there.
Aside from following the Nittany Lions, Anderson also enjoyed playing golf, bridge and bowling with friends.
Jill Anderson called him an incredible husband, father and grandfather to the one grandchild he got to know. His second grandchild was born on Sept. 14, 2001.
"He was one of the really good people that you would like to have around you," she said. "That seemed to be a general feeling of everyone who knew him."
She also remembers her husband for his smile and his humor.
"With a name like Kermit, he had to have a good sense of humor," she said. "When our daughters were in middle school and high school, their friends would call the house and say that they were Miss Piggy and that they were looking for 'Kermie.' "
Jill Anderson has established the Kermit C. Anderson Memorial Scholarship Fund to benefit students majoring or minoring in math, Anderson's field of study. Donations to the fund can be sent to the Penn State Office of University Development, 17 Old Main.
