Source: Ezra Magazine
At some point in the earlier months of my Ithaca residency, I made a trip to the big apple. Driving down Route 366 near Varna, approximately ten minutes into my four hour journey, I came across an unusual sight: graffiti in a rural setting. An ancient railroad bridge had the message, "FH Fox is 81." Other than the remarkable fact that this was in fact country graffiti, and poorly done at that, I didn't think to much on it. I assumed that FH Fox was a class of 81 graduate who may have overindulged at a recent class reunion and left his lasting mark on the countryside.
The next year I noticed that the bridge graffiti had been updated to "FH Fox is 82." Hmm.
I eventually got to the bottom of the story. Cornell has a rich history of pranks, and while I would like to say that we are elite in this manner, I believe that most schools have a sense of humor with the exception of Princeton and Columbia. I used to think that douchebaggery only afflicted men until I men a few Princeton women, but that's another story.
Anyway, FH Fox was a veterinary professor, Dr. Francis H. Fox, who passed away this year at the age of 92. Dr. Fox's age was updated every year by each third year class from the College of Veterinary Medicine as an ongoing prank or act of revenge. Apparently Dr. Fox enjoyed playing tricks on his students, his standby being to drive a student to a far away location for a veterinary appointment and then drive off. the students had plenty of time to dream up revenge on the long walk back to campus, and I am fairly certain that the bridge graffiti proclaiming Dr. Fox's age was hatched on such a walk.
I wonder what will happen now that FH fox will age no more.
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