Dr. Wally Sennott ’32 did play some golf while he attended Colgate. (Photo courtesy of the Baltimore Sun)
Dr. Wally Sennott ’32 has not given up golf, just temporarily put aside his clubs because of the summer heat. He is, after all, 104 years old.
The retired radiologist, Colgate’s second-oldest living alumnus, was the subject of a feature story in the Baltimore Sun newspaper.
Sennott talks about his time at Colgate, the success of the football team, and how difficult it was for many college students to cope with the effects of the Great Depression.
“A lot of the private school guys from wealthy families had to drop out of school,” he said. “I had grants and scholarships, and I worked in (the cafeteria) kitchen. It didn’t affect me that much.”
After Colgate, Sennott attended Harvard. After finishing a residency in radiology, he and his wife lived in New York, Cleveland, and New Orleans before finally settling in Baltimore in 1958 with their two sons.
Sennott was on the staff of the Johns Hopkins and Baltimore City General hospitals and spent most of his career with the U.S. Public Health Service.
He and his 102-year-old wife, Adelaide, now live in a retirement community in Towson, Md. Sennott said he hopes to get back on the golf course when the cooler weather arrives, though he was recently at a local driving range practicing his swing with his son.
(Note: Colgate records show that Frederick C. Hildner ’28, 107 years old, is the university’s oldest living alumnus. )