As a current undergrad, I take to pen and paper each time that I talk to IU alumni who were once in my shoes. After multiple phone calls and e-mail exchanges, I could write a book about Jerry Bobilya (ME’70, Ph.D.’73).

As a high-school student at University School in Bloomington, Jerry’s love for IU was discovered in his teenage years. From walking up and down the bleachers at IU football games in the old Memorial Stadium (now Arboretum), to being a popcorn popper at Hoosier basketball games in the original Field House and attending dances in the Indiana Memorial Union, Jerry is grateful for being immersed in IU’s traditions and cultures during his adolescence, kindling the flame for his everlasting love of all things IU.

After graduating from University School, Jerry left his home (and his heart) in Bloomington to attend Blackburn College in Carlinville, Illinois, where he received his bachelor’s degree in 1964. In the fall of 1964 Jerry was back at IU studying French Language and Literature while working as a student assistant at IU’s International Development Research Center. To put those times into perspective, a gallon of gas was just 30 cents, movie tickets were $1.25 and the Tulip Tree House, Briscoe, McNutt, and Willkie Residence Halls had just been built.

In 1965, Jerry asked a young IU coed studying Elementary Education for an ice-cream date at The Gables on Indiana Avenue across from the law school. Margaret Cannon and Jerry were married on Dec. 17, 1966 at St. Charles Catholic Church in Bloomington with many of Margaret’s Delta Gamma sisters present. “Margaret was God’s gift to me and has since made me a better person, husband, father, and grandfather,” said Jerry.

They began their life together at The Oakwood School in Poughkeepsie, New York, where Jerry was Dean of Boys, a teacher, and the basketball coach. Excited about Jerry’s growing love of education, he and Margaret returned to Bloomington in June 1969 for Jerry to study for his master’s degree in education and for Margaret to begin teaching first grade.

Jerry interned at IU’s Student Health Service and served as a graduate assistant to the Executive and Associate Directors (John M. Miller, M.D. and Robert W. Webb, respectively). As IU’s Athletic Physician and President of the American College Health Association (ACHA), Dr. Miller asked Jerry to establish a Student Advisory Board to the Student Health Service and a student-accident-injury reporting and intervention program to better serve students. Both programs became national models referenced in ACHA presentations and the Journal of the ACHA. Jerry’s work continued for four years, at which point he was awarded the Ph.D. degree in Higher Education with a teaching minor in American Constitutional History. (Fun fact: Jerry was the first student permitted to study in the law school without being admitted to that school.)

“What I’m most grateful for is the personal interest taken in me by the four professors on my Ph.D. committee representing IU’s Schools of Education and Law and the Graduate School,” he notes. “They spent time with me, they disciplined me, they were tough on me. They would call me in and say, ‘Look, this is sloppy, this is not well done. You take this back and you work on this.’ They made me work on things. They were like fathers to me. As such, I grew to love them.”

The Bobilyas have enjoyed living and working in several places around the country over the years. But no matter how far he was from Bloomington, Jerry always found a way to stay connected to his beloved alma mater. While assistant headmaster at Columbus School of Girls in Ohio, Jerry was a member of the IU Alumni Chapter of Columbus and also served as its President for a short stint. The Bobilyas later moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where Jerry was Headmaster at University Lake School and President of the Milwaukee IU Alumni Chapter.

After once again returning home to Bloomington, Jerry worked for the Organization of American Historians (OAH) headquartered at IU. As Assistant for Professional and Educational Programs, Jerry wrote and administered grants for Executive Director Joan Hoff-Wilson in order to improve the teaching of American History in secondary schools and colleges. They secured educational funding from The Rockefeller Foundation, the Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE), and the Humanities Councils of New York, Minnesota, and California. Professor Wilson also asked Jerry to serve in her stead on the Board of National History Day and assist with Indiana’s participation. Jerry is grateful that they were able to establish, with foundation funding, the Magazine of History. With the goal of assisting secondary-school teachers, it is now in its 17th year of publication.

Jerry and Margaret’s passion for education then took them to South Carolina, where he served as Director of Development at Southern Wesleyan University and as a board member of the alumni chapter in Greenville. Next, the Bobilyas moved to North Carolina for Jerry to accept a position as Vice President for Institutional Advancement at Montreat College.

Jerry credits God and Indiana University for building the foundation that makes him the man he is today, but he praises IU for more than just expanding his educational career and being the place where he met his wife. Jerry credits Indiana University for saving his life after he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2008.

While researching treatment options, he was thrilled to learn that IU was one of five institutions practicing the non-traditional treatment option he wanted to pursue. So, with a smile on his face, Jerry told his family and friends that he and Margaret were headed back to IU for more post-graduate work, but this time it was for cancer treatment. Jerry gives many thanks to the IU clinical staff, especially Dr. Peter A.S. Johnstone and Dr. Teresa Oldham, who stood with him as he fought cancer.

One day, after one of his treatments, Jerry paid a visit to the DeVault Alumni Center. There he met Tricia Riveire, Senior Executive Director at the Indiana University Alumni Association. Jerry shared his gratitude for IU and all that his alma mater has done for him. He felt the need to give back to the university that gave so much to him. So, after successfully completing his cancer treatment, Jerry and Margaret moved back to North Carolina where, with Tricia’s help, he founded the Asheville/Western North Carolina IU Alumni Chapter.

Jerry currently serves as a Member-at-Large on the IU Alumni Association’s Executive Council and he remains actively involved with the Asheville/Western North Carolina IU Alumni Chapter that he founded. He and Margaret celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on Dec. 17, 2016, along with their sons, Dana and Andrew, and their families.

He spreads his steadfast love of Indiana University with everyone he comes in contact with, everywhere he goes. Anyone who comes in contact with Jerry will often remark on his kind-hearted nature, his yearning to serve his fellow alumni, and his love of Indiana University. While we could leave you with a quote from someone with whom he’s interacted, his own words resonate further:

“Every time, this is not an exaggeration, I am at an IU function and the fight song or alma mater are sung, I always stand, always have tears, always have tears out of gratitude…”