Back Home Again

Generosity was one of many life lessons Craig Opsahl learned from Dr. Alto Straughn, his mentor. Opsahl credits Dr. Straughn with his decision to give back to UF by creating an endowment that will benefit graphic design students.

It would take almost every finger and toe on a set of triplets to count all the addresses Craig Opsahl (BDES ’73) has lived over the years. Residences stretch from the Midwest to the Pacific Coast and down to the Deep South. In Florida alone, there were stops in Homestead, Orlando, Tallahassee and Gainesville.

One place—a trailer on a dirt road in Waldo—stands out.

Opsahl was there in 1972-73, his last year at UF. A gentleman’s handshake brought him to the little trailer on the watermelon farm. A budding friendship with the farm’s owners kept him there and, five decades later, inspired him to name UF’s College of the Arts as a beneficiary of his estate.

It was summer 1972 when Opsahl, desperate for a place to call home for his senior semesters in Gainesville, answered the ad for free rent and utilities in exchange for eight-hours-a-week labor. The farmers, as it happened, were UF agriculture professor Dr. Alto Straughn (BSA ’56, MAG ’65) and his wife, Patrecia Straughn (MED ’69). Back then, it wasn’t unusual for the couple to let UF students who helped out on the farm live in the trailer, near the main house.

Opsahl, though, was special.

“He turned out to be a good guy,” Dr. Straughn said. “He was dependable and likeable; and when he told you he’d do something, he’d do it.”

It was more than how to grow watermelons that Opsahl learned from the Straughns. There was how to be kind, decent, fair and generous.

Fifty years ago, Dr. Alto Straughn and his wife, Patrecia Straughn, agreed to have Craig Opsahl, then a UF senior, live and work on their watermelon farm. Opsahl, who became like a surrogate son, said the Straughns taught him how to be generous, kind and fair.

As weeks and months rolled along, Opsahl became like a surrogate son. And as those months became years and then decades, the former tenant and his landlords kept in touch through Christmas cards and occasional visits. Sometimes, Dr. Straughn, long retired from teaching now but still running his farm, would talk about favorite programs and projects he supports at UF/IFAS.

“I asked him once why he gave to the university, and he explained that he had received help from someone else to get his education,” Opsahl recalled. “He wanted to give back.”

That stuck. When Opsahl returned to Florida to retire after a successful career in graphic design, he decided to follow in his mentor’s steps.

To give back.

Time, distance and life’s distractions had unraveled Opsahl’s connection to his alma mater prior to retirement. Even as a student, he’d only been to one football game and, other than classes, hadn’t been on campus much, especially during that year on the farm.

That didn’t matter, Opsahl insisted. What UF gave him was unmeasurable.

“What I learned was how to think,” he said. “I became what I became because of the foundation I got at the university.”

Giving back, to him, was the right thing to do.

“I thought: ‘What the heck? I have nieces and nephews who don’t need money—they’re all very successful. I don’t have children. You know, if I didn’t have the training I had, I wouldn’t have what I have. So I think what I should do is give back to the university so other people can achieve their goals and become successful,’” Opsahl said.

Plans are for his gift to create an endowment in his name for UF’s graphic design students. How funds are targeted each year will be up to the program’s director. Opsahl likes that—the flexibility to support the greatest needs rather than being locked into a specific purpose.

“Whatever they can do with it to help other people,” he said, “would be the thing to do.”

Dr. Straughn called his own influence on Opsahl’s decision “accidental.”

“Craig being with us was one of those things that happen in life,” he said. “I’m amazed I had so much impact, but I’m happy I did.”

Like Craig Opsahl, you, too, can help pave the way for the success of future Gators with an estate gift. Contact UF's Office of Estate & Gift Planning at 352-392-5512, toll free at 866-317-4143 and giftplanning@uff.ufl.edu to learn how you can make an impact.