It’s a family affair
Generations of Rockets continue long tradition of education at UToledo
By Laurie B. Davis
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“Our love affair with The University of Toledo was the Rockets,” says Ligibel, whose uncle, Clarence, and father both lettered in football as UToledo students. “We also were fans of the old Field House. That was a real hangout for us when we were kids because there was a championship basketball team,” says Ligibel, whose family held season tickets. “John Rudley, from the ’60s. Steve Mix played. That’s also when Chuck Ealey was playing [football], and the Rockets had one of the best teams in the country. It was just really magical at that time,” he says.
Ligibel’s siblings, as well as cousins, other extended-family relatives and in-laws, also graduated from UToledo. The parents of two other local families, the Hunters and the Loos, also celebrated the graduations of many sons and daughters. So, what motivates nearly 50 people from just three families to earn 36 degrees in 10 different colleges at The University of Toledo? It has a lot to do with the home of the Rockets being the city of Toledo’s university. What Doug Ligibel calls “the hometown effect.”
Location, location, location
Doug Ligibel’s first cousin, Ted Ligibel, says part of the University’s appeal was its locality. “You didn’t really think about leaving to go somewhere else, at least not for your undergraduate degree,” says Ted. “You could live at home.” For the Ligibels, he adds, “it’s a long relationship for the family, and now with Brad and Bria, they’re continuing that long tradition,” referring to his nephew and great niece, also graduates.
Ted’s siblings Michael, Rebecca and Angel earned degrees from UToledo, and Ted and Michael were in school at the same time.
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Ted, who once worked at UToledo’s Urban Affairs Center, became a historic preservationist and a professor at Eastern Michigan University. He was drawn to UToledo’s anthropology program. “The anthropology department was really well-known and second to none. I had an excellent, memorable and life-changing few years,” says Ted, recalling some of his professors, including anthropology professor Seamus Metress.
But Doug and his sister, Deborah, did move away from Toledo. Deborah runs her own business in Florida, and Doug worked in Florida as a rehabilitation and addictions counselor; 15 years of his career were with the San Mateo County and the Hayward, Calif. police department. Even though he and his wife, Dee Dee, have retired in Florida, they continue their tradition of attending Rocket football games. Doug notes a memorable game from decades ago.
“My wife and I were at the Miami game in the ’80s, when Miami was No. 1 in the country. There were 400 of us in the original Orange Bowl, and I was sitting, without knowing it, next to Kenny McGill, who was my dad’s best man at his wedding, and he was president of the alumni association. I was surrounded by all of these people who went to school and graduated with my dad. They were saying, ‘this is Ligibel’s kid.’ It was really cool.”
Daughter completes a mother’s dream
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Denning’s college story was similar to her mother’s, except that she did return to school and earned a UToledo degree in interdisciplinary studies in 2005, allowing her to focus on finance. Her mother had encouraged her to finish school. “At that time, both of my parents were in Elizabeth Scott Community, a nursing home. I graduated on Mother’s Day in 2005, and I was able to go in my cap and gown to the nursing home to show them that I had graduated.”
Nine of John and Mary Hunter’s 13 children received degrees from The University of Toledo.
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What made her college years so memorable is that her Pi Beta Phi sorority sisters remain her best friends to this day, including Rebecca Ligibel. “We were bridesmaids in each other’s weddings, and she’s one of my lifelong best friends,” says Denning. “I was the only one who was active in Greek life,” in her family, she adds. “Those are my best memories because none of my other siblings were in school when I was there.”
In thinking about her degree and those her siblings earned, Denning says “the most important thing to me is the pride that my mother had in our history at The University of Toledo.”
When the American dream comes true
John Loo describes the University as the school he and his sisters and brothers thought they should attend because of their economic circumstances. Their parents, Harry and Gan Park Loo, immigrated to Toledo from Canton, China, in 1926. They arrived with few resources and spoke little English. Loo says his parents worked hard and sacrificed throughout the Depression era to eventually open the Nanking Restaurant in Toledo.
“None of us had a lot of resources at that time,” says Loo about his college days, and he and his brothers spent many long hours working in the College of Engineering labs. He and his nine siblings all graduated from the University, with 18 years between the earliest graduate and the last child to graduate in the Loo family. “We knew education was the means to get ahead economically. And we are thankful to the University for providing us the opportunities,” says Loo.Fortunately, four of the Loo siblings, Edward, William, Peggy and John, received scholarships.
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The graduation of Linda Loo in 1968 also drew attention because she was the last of 10 Loo children to graduate from UToledo. Stories in the Toledo Blade and the Cleveland Plain Dealer highlighted the family’s academic success. Nearly all of the Loo siblings moved to California, where they found jobs in the aerospace industry and raised their families.
Upon his UToledo graduation, John attended the University of Pittsburgh to get his MBA, before also heading to California to attend law school.
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He and his two sisters, Peggy and Virginia, recently returned to UToledo for Homecoming. After riding in the Homecoming parade, the three siblings went to see a commemorative plaque that honors their mother and father and adorns a bench in the William and Carol Koester Alumni Pavilion. The sentiment notes that their parents had lived the American Dream through their children’s and their succeeding generations’ academic achievements.