It wasn’t all bad

Thanks to the late Harold Alfond, children born in Maine are now eligible for a $500 college tuition grant. Before he died last month at age 93, Alfond, founder of the Dexter Shoe Co., created an unusual education endowment. For every child born in Maine, $500 will be made available to parents who open a special account, to which they can also contribute. If the money is not eventually used for higher education, the $500, plus the interest it has accrued, must be returned. “I always like helping others,” Alfond, who never attended college, once said, “making sure everybody, especially children, have a chance in this world.”

Most elderly drivers refuse to give up the wheel, despite the dangers of impaired vision and diminished reflexes. Not Muriel Gladwin, 94, of Hereford, England. Gladwin, who taught herself to drive when she was just 12, has decided to relinquish her keys and let others do the driving for her. What’s most remarkable is that over the course of an estimated 600,000 miles, Gladwin hasn’t gotten a single ticket or had even a minor accident. “I always keep my eyes wide open and stick to the rules of the road like glue,” she said. “I still have a completely clean record, so I’m going to quit while I’m ahead.”

In November 1963, firefighters rescued 6-year-old Rick Vega and his family from a blaze that consumed their apartment on the North Side of Chicago. Vega decided that day he wanted to become a fireman, and today, he serves as a lieutenant in the Chicago Fire Department. Recently, he was assigned to Battalion 5—the very outfit that saved him and his family 44 years ago. “Here I am, back in my neighborhood, protecting the neighborhood I grew up in,” he said. “It’s like you’re giving back.”

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