Landis Zylman ’61


As surprise presents go, a college degree has to rank near the top. Although he attended Hope for three years as a member of the Class of ’61, Landis Zylman of Holland, Michigan, missed becoming a graduate because, as a pre-dentistry student, he was invited by the University of Michigan to enroll directly into dental school after his junior year. (U of M presented the opportunity to a number of pre-dental and pre-med Hope and Calvin students.) With Landis’s 80th birthday having been this past January, and with a one-of-a-kind gift in mind, his daughter, Lannette Zylman-TenHave ’86, connected withHope’s Registrar’s Office, which determined that enough of his U of M credits could transfer back to qualify him for a Bachelor of Arts degree from the college. Arranging the conferral was the next step. Lannette, a former member of the Hope staff who had helped plan many of the college commencements, recruited a team uniquely qualified to help.“Since my dad’s birthday is in the winter but they like to host parties when his flower gardens are in bloom, my parents threw a picnic in their garden for about 50 of their friends and family on August 3,” she said. “To surprise my dad, Jim Bultman ’63 and Jim Boelkins’66 [former president and provost of Hope] came in their regalia and we had a surprise ‘graduation’ ceremony. My dad’s older brother, Terry Zylman ’60, even played ‘Pomp and Circumstance’ on his saxophone for the ‘processional.’

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