NC Wesleyan College 40 Years Later

I am back at my alma mater almost 40 years after I finished my degree and geez how things have changed. But a little background first. North Carolina Wesleyan College (NCWC) was founded in Rocky Mount, NC in 1956 and opened in 1960. This year marks the 50th anniversary of its opening and so a special "Pioneer Weekend" was planned for those of us who were in the first four classes at Wesleyan. I started at NCWC as a freshman in 1963--the first year there were four classes attending Wesleyan. I was here for three years before Uncle Sam came calling after my junior year. Rather than getting drafted, I went into the Air Force for four years, picking up a semester's worth of credits before returning to NCWC in Fall, 1970 to finish up my degree.

Leaving home this morning, I drove to Tampa where I caught a flight to Raleigh, NC and rented a car for the trip to Rocky Mount. Naturally, I made a wrong turn coming out of the airport and realized I was headed the wrong way. I got off at some exit, don't know the hell where, but it was somewhere between Raleigh and Durham. I found some workmen who told me to just continue on the road I was on for a couple of miles and I'd find I-40. I finally got back to where I was supposed to be in the first place and headed east toward Rocky Mount. That was not without adventure though. I was passing a semi which was to my right. All of a sudden, a Lexus SUV comes up alongside me to pass on my left. The woman was yakking on the phone and starts to drift over into my lane--me in a PT Cruiser and a semi to my right. All I could do was hit the brakes and lean on the horn. She finally woke up and got back to where she was supposed to be. Anyway, I made it safely to Rocky Mount.

This evening there was a reception for us "Pioneers" and it was great to see some of my old friends. In fact the first one I saw was my old baseball teammate, Ron Brockenbrough. We talked for a while as others arrived--Gil Wylie, Dave Brady, Ray O'Kelly, Ray Robinson, Royall Brown, and others as well as basketball coach, Don Scalf. We had a great time reminiscing about the early years. One thing that cannot go unmentioned is that, for the first time, I was able to legally consume alcohol on campus. Not only was I able to have a drink, NCWC supplied the drinks (wine in my case). You see, founded as a teetotaling Methodist college, there was absolutely NO drinking on campus, which is not to say I didn't have my own stash. It was so ironic, because the first president of NCWC was named Tom Collins. After that get together there was a show at the Dunn Center, an addition to NCWC since I was last here. It was a great show with a Beatles band, "1964 The Tribute". They put on one heck of a show, singing many of the pre-Sgt Pepper songs. The got the audience involved and everyone seemed to enjoy the show. While I was a bit disappointed that they did not do the greatest rock and roll song of all time, "Hey Jude", I really enjoyed the show.

Now, its back at the hotel, decompressing from a long day's activities and looking forward to tomorrow and other friends who haven't arrived yet.