Symbolic Interaction, Vol. 30, Issue 4, pp. 483–494, ISSN 0195-6086, electronic ISSN 1533-8665. © 2007 by the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction. All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permis- sion to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press’s Rights and Permissions website, at http://www.ucpressjournals.com/reprintinfo.asp. DOI: 10.1525/si.2007.30.4.483. A “Mensch” from Missouri Peter M. Hall University of Missouri William Ryan Force University of Missouri We, the authors, represent two sides of Spencer Cahill’s sociological lineage, his designated “father” and a “son.” In what follows we will present our examination of his sociological journey as a student/scholar/teacher and his contributions to our lives and to our discipline. Peter, in particular, incorporates comments from others who knew and worked with him. We have included as an appendix Spencer’s own statement about his approach to social life and social science from the University of South Florida Web site (www.cas.usf.edu/sociology/cahill.htm). It is also fitting that we offer this article, since we are of the institution where Spencer first encountered sociology and in the state where he grew up. With the generational rights of parent- hood, the “elder” begins and concludes; in the middle section the “heir” offers his transformative experience. In an accompanying article, Lyn Lofland analyzes the elements that Spencer brought to fruition in his scholarly articles. We provide some background and biography here to offer context for and illustration of his develop- ment, practice, and style. We are indebted to Doni Loseke for suggesting and encour- aging this endeavor. She has our admiration and love. While we write of Spencer, it was always Doni and Spencer or Spencer and Doni. That is most clear when the “son” writes. THE JOURNEY Spencer Ernest Cahill was born October 30, 1949, to Dorothy and Ernest Cahill in Galesburg, Illinois, a blue-collar, railroad town that contains the home of the great American poet and writer Carl Sandburg and a fine liberal arts school, Knox College. The family moved to the Vandalia, Missouri, area in 1952. Spencer attended a one- room elementary school in Vandalia and then went to and graduated from St. Paul’s Direct all correspondence to Peter M. Hall, Department of Sociology, 312 Middlebrush Hall, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211; e-mail: HallPM@missouri.edu.