Written by Michael Claxton<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Way back in the spring of 2004, I had only been at Harding nine months. One morning I was glancing at the chapel schedule before heading to Benson Auditorium. I poked my head into my department chair\u2019s office and asked, \u201cWho is Nerdly Greenback?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou\u2019ll see,\u201d he said, with a cryptic grin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Dr. David Burks introduced him, a tall man came through the curtain wearing a buttoned-up, green plaid coat and a matching hat with ear flaps. He introduced himself as \u201cNerdly Greenback, Patriot,\u201d and then unleashed a 15-minute barrage of one-liners. He spoke of his fortunes in life: \u201cI started out with nothing and still have most of it left.\u201d Or this: \u201cOpportunity was right under my nose, and I blew it.\u201d He said he liked to start each day with a smile and get it over with early. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nerdly gave helpful life advice: \u201cCall your friends during their Super Bowl and tell them about your problems,\u201d \u201cStare at people through the tines of a fork and pretend they\u2019re in prison,\u201d \u201cNever go to bed angry \u2014 one night we stayed up for three days.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Long before we called them dad jokes, Nerdly had thousands. Some landed and others bombed, but he plowed on unphased. The crowd loved his definition of politics: \u201c\u2018Poly\u2019 means many, and \u2018ticks\u2019 are blood-suckers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I later learned that Dr. Don Diffine (pronounced DIF uh NAY) was no different in the classroom. In his economics classes, if you glanced out the window, you missed three jokes. He loved turning cliches on their heads: \u201cI have the heart of a little boy,\u201d he would say, \u201cwhich I keep in a jar on my desk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not that he wasn\u2019t a serious man. After all, he was a former Air Force captain and squadron commander who had served in Vietnam. He had a Ph.D in economics and taught for 45 years in Harding\u2019s College of Business Administration (COBA). He founded the Belden Center for Private Enterprise Education, a one-man think tank from which he produced 11 books, 30 monographs and a quarterly journal. He sponsored Harding\u2019s economics team for 35 years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He testified on money matters before Congress, served on the Council of Economic Advisors for three different governors and spoke frequently at professional meetings, where he was in demand as a \u201cstand-up economist.\u201d His office wall was covered with awards, which he viewed with modesty: \u201cI was never good at sports,\u201d he joked, \u201cbut then I learned I could buy trophies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his five decades at Harding, he estimated that he had taught 16,000 students. In 2016, he taught a third-generation student. He joked constantly with his classes \u2014 when they yawned, he called it \u201ca silent BOO\u201d \u2014 and they returned the favor. He even had one favorite student evaluation engraved on a plaque on his desk: \u201cIf I knew I only had one hour to live, I\u2019d want to spend it in Dr. Diffine\u2019s economics class . . . because it feels like an eternity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One by one, he would take his COBA colleagues to lunch. On any given day, he might ask two or three people before he found someone who was free, and then he would happily say, \u201cYou were my third choice.\u201d One colleague recalled that at these lunches \u201cDon would always ask how you were doing, but barely after you had started talking, he would interrupt to say, \u201cEnough about you; let\u2019s talk about me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But behind all the humor was a kind and sensitive man. He adored his wife Dion and treasured their 58 years together. He was a loving father and grandfather. For years, he taught the tenth-grade bible class at church. He mentored his students, hosted them in his home and kept up with them after they graduated. He sometimes left $50 tips when dining out. He constantly sent notes of encouragement to people, often signing off with \u201cOnward, Christian soldier.\u201d After he retired, he volunteered all over town. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet Don could never resist a chance for a line. When he helped supervise the Senior Ministry for older adults at church, his motto was \u201cKeep moving \u2014 don\u2019t give the buzzards a place to land.\u201d He called his preacher \u201cThe Sermonator\u201d and gave him a matching T-shirt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Diffine even found humor in death. He wrote his own eulogy and titled it, \u201cGrandpa Gets a Casket.\u201d He wanted his headstone to read, \u201cDon\u2019t just stand there, water the flowers.\u201d He told one friend that he wanted to be cremated. \u201cJust once in my life,\u201d he quipped, \u201cI\u2019d like to have a smokin\u2019 hot body.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His Latin motto was \u201cVeni, Vidi, Velcro\u201d: \u201cI came, I saw, I stuck around.\u201d Ever the showman, he\u2019d be happy that his memorial was well advertised with flyers around campus. As his colleague David Kee said at the funeral, \u201cLet\u2019s honor a legacy of faithful living, generosity, good humor and free enterprise.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you are like me \u2014 \u201cand I know I am,\u201d he always added \u2014 that\u2019s what you\u2019ll do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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