A lady in a faded gingham dress, with her husband in a homespun threadbare suit, stepped off the train in Boston, and walked timidly without an appointment into the outer office of the president of Harvard University. The secretary could tell in a moment that such backwoods, country hicks had no business at Harvard and probably didn't even deserve to be in Cambridge. She frowned.
"We want to see the president," the woman said softly. "He'll be busy all day," the secretary snapped. "We'll wait," the lady replied. For hours, the secretary ignored them, hoping that the couple would finally become discouraged and go away. They didn't. The secretary grew frustrated and finally decided to disturb the president, even the it was a chore she always regretted doing.
"Maybe if they just see you for a few minutes, they'll leave," she advised him. He sighed with exasperation and nodded. Someone of his importance obviously didn't have the time to spend with them, but he detested gingham dresses and homespun suits cluttering up his outer office. The president, stern-faced and with dignity, strutted toward the couple.
The lady told him, "We had a son that attended Harvard for one year. He loved Harvard. He was happy here. But about a year ago, he was accidentally killed. And my husband and I would like to erect a memorial to him, somewhere on campus." The president wasn't touched; he was shocked. "Madam," he said gruffly, "we can't put up a statue for every person who attended Harvard and died. If we did, this place would look like a cemetery!" "Oh no," the lady explained quickly. "We don't want to erect a statue. We thought we would like to give a building to Harvard." The president rolled his eyes. He glanced at the gingham dress and homespun suit, then exclaimed, "A building! Do you have an earthly idea how much a building costs? We have over seven and a half million dollars in the physical plant at Harvard!" For a moment, the lady was silent. The president was pleased. Maybe now he could get rid of them.
Then the lady turned to her husband and said quietly, "Is that all it costs to start a university? Why don't we just start our own?" Her husband nodded. The president's face wilted in confusion and bewilderment. Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford walked away and traveled to Palo Alto, California, where they established the University that bears their name, a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer cared about.
"Where there is no vision, the people perish. Where there is vision there is provision."
