Viking_Yearbook_78

"I don't let people bother me. I just move. I let them stay where they are and I get out of the way. You can't move people. You may as well let them alone." Katie still lives in the home she bought in 1969. Her major source of transportation is Tri-Met and– occasionally-her "dilly of a 1955 Pontiac." More than just years separate Katie Hampton from her fellow classmates. Although Katie is perhaps the oldest student at PSU– when asked her age she said, "Well, I' m not over 100,"-she radiates more energy toward her work than the average. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday Katie gets up at 8 a.m. , allowing herself just enough time to " throw on a pair of pants and a shirt" and get to the bus stop. Her first class, ceramics, starts at 9:30 and she is rarely late. During the seven years Katie has attended ·art classes at PSU , this is her first year of ceramics-and she is finding it a little more difficult than anticipated . " I like ·Ceramics, if I could get anyplace with it. But I' m gonna keep trying! " Try she does. Watching Katie work is a study in patience. Consta .1tly going from waterbucket to clay and back again she slowly forms the clay into a tube until , at almost the same height, it collapses and the process begins again. Periodically her work is interrupted by someone from the class stopping to talk . "The students are nice to me. They' re wonderful. I just joke and go on with them and keep going. They don't bother me and I sure don 't ask if I bother them." After ceramics Katie takes an hour off to eat, then goes right back to work. This time it is metalworking. Since going back to college (first in Tulsa for two years, then PSU) , metalworking has long been her favorite activity. Entering the lab she immediately goes to her designated work area and begins setting out all the tools needed . Katie appears oblivious to others while she files , scrapes, and melts away. Occasionally she'll stop and look at what someone else is doing. "What's that?" " A strand of silver, Katie." " Ohh . That would look good on my ring. Can I borrow just a little?" " Sure, Katie," they say as they always do, for Katie is renowned as a scrounger. · 47