Rick Chestnut is graduating from BYU this week at age 70. (Tyler Richardson/BYU)
Every college student has moments of overwhelming stress, whether they are 23 years old or 70 years old. But in these moments, Rick Chestnut relies on the BYU Bell Tower.
"There have been times where I've felt like I couldn't do all that is expected of me. In those times, I would step out of the HFAC and hear the bell tower play 'Come, Come, Ye Saints'and I knew it would all be okay. That bell tower was my friend, and that small tune kept me going."
Graduating this month at age 70, Chestnut's story is unlike any other.
Chestnut's educational journey began at the University of Iowa but was interrupted by a call to serve in the Vietnam war on a salvage and rescue ship. His experience left him with questions about what was right and wrong. After returning from the war, he took a hiatus from society to camp and trap with a friend in Canada and the Dakotas.
At one point, there was a group of BYU students studying field grasses in South Dakota at the same camp as Chestnut. One of the students talked to him and his friend about Provo and The Book of Mormon. That interaction changed the course of Chestnut's life.
"I decided to just try to be a good person. I decided to be good to everyone," Chestnut said. "Next thing I knew, I was on the Amtrak with a one-way ticket to Provo, Utah."
Read the full story at news.byu.edu.