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Friday, 2/2/2001
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Friday, 2/2/2001
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 A moment with the Mrs.
A plate of cookies and glasses of water sit on a table beside a lit fireplace. Patty Jischke sits in a white armchair and smiles as she talks about her new house and the new life she's found at Purdue. "I think we're doing very, very well," she said. Last summer as the University welcomed new Purdue president Martin Jischke, his wife, Patty, stood beside him. And now that they've been here for five months, things are finally starting to settle. The move to Purdue was only the third move Mrs. Jischke has made. For the past nine years, home has been at the Noll, the president's house at Iowa State. Mrs. Jischke says she misses the old house because it was located on campus and she could see people walking around any time of day or night. But the Purdue president's estate, Westwood, is the finest she's ever seen in terms of entertaining purposes. That works out well because she has already hosted about 100 events at Westwood since the Jischkes moved in. President Jischke says he sees his wife's role as his partner in trying to carry out the responsibilities of the president, which includes entertaining. "One element has to do with celebrating the University and encouraging people to support the University," he said.
He said one of the reasons she is good at that is because she has an appreciation of education. "I think she enjoys enormously the opportunity to work with me and others to make Purdue a better University," he said. "Patty is an extraordinary person. She is very, very bright and very engaging." The highlight of her year, Mrs. Jischke said, was the time she hosted a party and knew every person there. It was a sign she was becoming more acquainted with Purdue. But Mrs. Jischke is not a stranger to university campuses. "I was really a faculty brat," she said. She was born in Ann Arbor, Mich., and her father taught physics at the University of Oklahoma. It was during her graduate years that she met and fell in love with her husband, Martin. They met at a picnic, and Mrs. Jischke says that after spending that time with him, she knew he was an amazing man. "I suddenly realized, this guy is special," she said. Her confidence in him grew the more they dated. He even managed to keep down some gingerbread cookies Mrs. Jischke made when she was experimenting with the amount of molasses in her recipe. On Dec. 26, 1970, they got married. "We just knew that we were right for each other," she said. Mrs. Jischke earned her undergraduate degree in social work, her graduate degree in library science and then proceeded to earn a law degree. She earned all of her degrees at the University of Oklahoma. The presidential election was of special interest to her because she previously worked at the Library of Congress as an election law specialist. With her law days behind her, Mrs. Jischke has more time to devote to her true love — the environment. She is a member of Trees Forever and says she is concerned about toxins in the air. "If you drive a car, you should be planting seven trees a year," she said.
Mrs. Jischke has planted many trees and enjoys growing flowers and vegetables as well. The only problem is that the animals that live in the forest behind Westwood love her vegetables, too. Soon after moving into the house, Mrs. Jischke began growing a small vegetable garden in the backyard. She noticed the green beans looked as though they had been eaten. And then she noticed the snow peas had been nibbled as well. She solved the problem and noticed a few other things about the backyard — squirrels, deer and a tree in the shape of a goal post. "I knew we were going to win the Big Ten," she joked. Being the first lady of Purdue isn't the only role Mrs. Jischke plays. She's a wife and mother too. "These jobs are jobs where you live above the family store," she said, adding that the main floor is used primarily for entertaining guests. Through the doors of Westwood are walls decorated with art from the Purdue galleries, furniture from presidents past and, of course, the sound of heavy metal music descending from the second floor. Mrs. Jischke doesn't listen to the heavy metal CD because of a love for head-banging; it's for the love of her 23-year-old son, Charles, who is in the heavy metal group Bottom Feeder. "We really encourage him," she said. "He's dynamite." Just as Mrs. Jischke is a cheerleader of sorts for her son, she is a cheerleader for her whole family, including her 19-year-old daughter, Mary, who is a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin studying industrial engineering. "She could run the world," Mrs. Jischke said. "She's the most organized person." Although their children don't live at home, the Jischkes have Rocky, a 4-year-old Bernese Mountain Dog, to keep them company. Rocky, who looks like a cross between a small St. Bernard and a stuffed toy dog, proudly follows Mrs. Jischke's commands and snuggles against her leg in the fancy living room. It's only been about five months in their new house with their new lives, but Mrs. Jischke says it has been a smooth transition for the family.
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 Purdue Exponent 2001 | ||||||||
By
Vanessa Renderman
