Will Miles Clark loves Creighton University so much that he held his 107th birthday party there Wednesday afternoon.

He burst into the Creighton fight song before the cake was cut.

"Fearless for you,

Our might to the fight we will lend.

So wave, colors, wave ..."

His hips are shot and each ear sports a hearing aid. His memory, though, is strong and his passion for the dental school where he received his degree 82 years ago remains intense.

Of all the places he's seen, Creighton is where he wanted to spend No. 107. His time at the dental school enabled him to enjoy the livelihood he had, have his family and become a commissioned officer in the Army, he said.

"I never, never, never could repay Creighton for what they did for me," he said to a group of 25 in a dental school meeting room.

In his discussion with the group, he compared dentistry of decades ago to the profession today.

"Can you imagine practicing dentistry without air conditioning?" he asked. "The patient would stick to the chair."

He practiced dentistry privately and throughout an Army career that included service in World War II. He retired from the military in the 1960s.

Clark came from the Tucson, Ariz., area this week and toured the campus on a golf cart. His three children — daughter Kae DeGood, 73, of Loveland, Colo.; and sons Denny, 69, of Tucson, and Terry, 76, of San Luis Obispo, Calif. — toured with him. So did a grandson who's in his early 40s, Bill Callahan of Des Moines. In all, Clark has seven grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.

Before the golf-cart tour, Clark pulled up in the Toyota minivan he acquired at the age of 100. "He says driving is the easiest thing that he does," son Terry said.

Clark walks slowly, with the aid of a walker. Questions directed at him are sometimes met with a "Huh?" On the tour, he asked plenty of his own questions with his gravelly voice. Where's the arena? Where's the dining hall?

He's been back to the campus a few times, but never to this kind of acclaim. "I've got to meet you," Jennifer Kennedy-Croft of the campus ministry said to him during the tour. "I thought you were a new student."

The sky was cloudless, the day warm and pleasant. The old dentist appeared to soak it up.

Creighton's dean of dentistry, Dr. Mark Latta, led Clark to a Class of 1929 photo on a wall in the dentistry building. In it, Clark has a high forehead and curly hair. He was in his mid-20s then.

Latta and a group of Creighton staffers and dentists then gave Clark an award, a copy of the class picture, a history of the school, a stuffed Billy Bluejay toy, chocolates and other gifts.

"My gosh," Clark said.

Then they sang "Happy Birthday" to him and cut the cake.

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