The Last Day at Wesleyan

Well, here it is, Saturday evening, and things are drawing to a close. The day started out with breakfast at the Hardee's Patio on campus. Saw some more old friends, most notably Charlie Saunders and Art "Fergie" Ferguson. I took a tour of campus with two of the student ambassadors and it was amazing to see a lot of the changes which have taken place over the past 40+ years. Probably the best thing is the library with its state of the art computer lab and the programs of tutoring and student assistance. It's sure a far cry from the large room on the second floor of the Administration Building that served as a library. The two young men who conducted about 15 of us on the tour seemed intrigued at the tales we were telling them of the early days. In fact, at one point one of them mentioned something he had heard but didn't know if it was truth or a myth. We verified it for him as having actually happened. It involved moving one of the guy's (whose name escapes me) room furnishings and clothes out to the fountain at the entrance of the campus.

We had a lot of fun talking about pranks that were pulled, such as detouring traffic off U.S. 301 through the campus when there was some road construction going on. A few moved and strategically placed detour signs did the trick. I don't think I ever laughed harder in my life. One thing that occurred before I came, thanks to its retelling by Royall Brown was that someone had let loose a pig in one of the classroom buildings one night. I guess it caused a lot of excitement when the first person showed up in the morning to open up.

After the tour, I drove over to the Northern Nash High School stadium for a tailgating party and Homecoming Game. Wesleyan soundly trounced Greensboro College 48-12. The first half was all Wesleyan with them leading 38-0 until four seconds were left in the half. Then then gave up a touchdown to end the half. In the second half, it was pretty much Wesleyan's second and third stringers playing and continued the shellacking started in the first half, albeit not as bad.

This evening was the Alumni Awards and Hall of Fame dinner at the Dunn Center. Dinner was turkey, dressing, veggies and cheesecake. At the end of the evening, we Pioneers were recognized and acknowledged. I am now back at the hotel, where we just had one last get together down in the lounge. Surprisingly, while I was schmoozing with my old classmates, some of the members of Nu Gamma Phi fraternity were there. When I returned to Wesleyan in the Fall of 1970 I roomed amongst the fraternity on the third floor of South Hall. One of the brothers recognized me from my photo name tag. As it turned out there were four of the guys there, including Ed Taylor, who roomed across the hall from Jeff Shee and me. I had forgotten, but one time that Fall, Jeff and got into Ed's room, swiped all his clothes and put price tags on them and were having a (mock) liquidation sale of his clothes. So, besides renewing acquaintances with the "Pioneers", it was great to see others from my second go-round at Wesleyan.

I'm headed back home tomorrow. I have really missed Pam and the animals and it will be great to be back with them. I so wish that Pam could have been here, but such is not her bag and I am so very grateful to her for her understanding and allowing me to have a great weekend among my oldest friends. Can't wait to see them all again in another 50 years.