TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Rod and Nancy Derby met 53 years ago as teenagers on a bus from Texas to Indiana for the annual National Junior Achievers Conference, or NAJAC.
“I had my silly Instamatic camera, shooting pictures out the window, and Rod comes by," said Nancy, as they flipped through the scrapbooks they've made over their decades together. "Turns out he’s a real photographer. He was probably sad about what I was doing to all that film, but he sat down and talked to me about the camera.”
Rod was returning for a fourth time, now as a chaperone, and Nancy was 'Miss JA' of Southeast Texas.
Both joined the program in high school, back when Junior Achievement (JA) gave students a chance to create, run and sell their own company over the tenure of the school year.
JA students elected officers, sold stocks and paid taxes in the program, learning skills that serve both their professional and personal lives. Both Derbys built and sold their own businesses for a profit while building a 50-year marriage.
“You have a one-year plan, 5-year plan and 10-year plan," Rod said. "Most people don't know where they're going…Only two things you have to know in life: Where am I going and who will go with me? Don't ever get those in the wrong order.”
Junior Achievement still exists today, though not in the same form as the 1960s, and Rod is still part of it. He teaches a personal finance class for JA at Catalina Foothills High School, passing on the knowledge that helped him and Nancy.
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Alex Dowd is a multimedia journalist at KGUN 9, where her work combines her two favorite hobbies: talking to new people and learning about the community around her. Her goal is to eventually meet every single person in Tucson. Share your story ideas with Alex via email, alex.dowd@kgun9.com, or connecting on Instagram or X.
