An autobiography by Francis Pendleton Gaines, who served as a college president or university dean for 35 years, is presented. Dr. Gaines came from an academic family: his father was president of Washington and Lee University and his uncle was a Hampden-Sydney College president. The account covers his family background, his boyhood and personal life, and his education and professional experiences. He attended undergraduate school at Washington and Lee University and the University of Arizona and completed a master's degree at the University of Virginia. His first faculty position was teaching elementary history at Birmingham-Southern College, where he also served as Dean of Men. He also taught briefly at a preparatory school and returned to the University of Virginia to take his Ph.D., after which he became Director of Development at the University of Houston. Next, he became Dean of Students at Southern Methodist University. At age 33 he became president of Wofford College and then went on to serve as Dean of Continuing Education and Dean of Administration at the University of Arizona. At age 41 he had two brain operations because of a parasitic infection and was left partially paralyzed; however, he still worked another 25 years. (SW)