An odd day tomorrow UPDATE

[Shannon]

I'm taking a day off tomorrow to make a bit of a sentimental journey.

Kathy and I graduated from a small liberal arts college in Birmingham, AL called Birmingham-Southern College. Although it has long been associated with the Methodist church, it is not a Christian school in the same way that Liberty University or Asbury College are intended to be. It has been known in the region for high academic standards (why did they let me in?) and excellent training in the arts and music. The percentage of Birmingham-Southern grads who go on to earn PhDs and other terminal degrees exceeds that of most or all of the Ivy League schools, so it has been a tiny school with a pretty impressive academic punch.

After 168 years of existence, Birmingham-Southern College will close its doors and cease operations at the end of this semester due to a long series of poor financial decisions and some outright financial shenanigans.

In the time since we graduated, the college (much like the Methodist church itself) has adopted political stances and policies that are not agreeable to Kathy and me, so we have not been involved in alumni events and opportunities very much. Still, we both owe much to our time there. We met in the college chapel, and I proposed to her in that same chapel. Practically all of our pre-marriage life happened on that campus.

There are a handful of special places on the campus that we want to see one last time, so tomorrow we are driving up to walk the campus one final time. I will take a bunch of photos, and we will say our goodbyes to a big part of our history. I'm quite a sentimental guy, so I expect it to be a bittersweet and emotionally tiring day.

This will be the second alma mater of mine that will have ceased to exist. My high school was closed and replaced many years ago, and soon my undergraduate institution will be gone as well. I guess my medical school better be careful.

[theevan]

The military school I attended/lived at closed two years ago, having been founded in 1887. Too expensive, dwindling admissions.

Very mixed feelings..

[howard lee]

You're a good man, Shannon.

[t-bob]

Shannon - I guess you can't go to a reunion - bummer.

When I come to see Connecticut - Wilton - my church was Episcopal - It is a Baptist NOW

A few have closed colleges or universities - Antioch, Yellow Springs. There's a few bumps - Antioch opens now

[billhammond]

A lovely post, Shannon, and thank you for sharing that key part of your past with us. I hope you have a splendid day on campus. If you're willing to share some photos, that would be great.

I never thought to think of it this way, but I guess I am fortunate that both my high school (Eau Claire Memorial) and college (UW-Eau Claire) continue to grow and thrive.

It took UWEC about 15 years to start sending me fund-raising pitches. I can only assume they were verifying the doubtful proposition that I actually graduated.

[Cornflake]

That has to be hard, Shannon, with so much of your personal history tied up in that place. But you're right to go for a farewell visit, even if it's not entirely a pleasure.

[Village Idiot]

That is sad news to hear, Shannon, and I can certainly understand the yen for a visit. It might sound odd, but I hope you and Kathy enjoy your time. A place that is important to your past might be closing, but walking through it will bring back some wonderful memories and evoke a lot of smiles between you two. And, I'm guessing, wake up some things that you haven't thought about in years.

[RickW]

I felt bad enough when my elementary school closed down, just for a lack of kids after the boomer rush died off. It must be heart breaking to see what was evidently a once great school kill itself off through bad decisions. Sorry to hear that.

[TKennedy]

Good post Shannon. We went back to my wife’s Alma Mater, Loretto Heights University in Denver for her 50th class reunion in 2017. It was a Catholic women’s college founded in the early 1860’s by the sisters of Loretto, some amazing pioneering educators in the largely untamed western U.S. it was closing as well. Quite sad as it was a quality institution.

It was weird to see that a great number of the spots on campus that held fond memories for us were essentially unchanged. I am guessing you may have the same experience.

[aquaduct]

Reminds me of when my surviving brother and I along with my kids and their significant others returned to Mom's house in Dearborn, MI to visit Mom for a couple days 2 weekends ago. Nice visit all the way around but travel schedules left me, my daughter, and her husband alone with nothing much to do on Saturday. So I asked them if they'd like to drive around with me in my truck (I drove up, they flew) and see landmarks from their Mom and my lives.

They thought it was a great idea so for 4 or 5 hours we just drove around while I played tour guide. Emily was 8 when we left and Ryan had been up in that area a couple times when he was driving a semi for work, but most of this was pre-26 years ago.

Drove past my high school, junior high school (now an office building), and elementary schools. Drove over to the house Christal grew up in and the hospital we met in and her high school along with the little joint across the street where Christal would go for pizza rolls at lunch. Talked about walking all the way to that hospital for my co-op job as a Respiratory Therapist as a senior in high school. Drove past the house that we rented the first 2 years in Michigan as well as Eric Rickel's house down the street where I first got to watch Spiderman cartoons in color on Saturday mornings. Went past the Chatham Street house where Emily was born- neighborhood is pretty much a ghetto now that Detroit's population has fallen under a million- and the house that we left to come to Virginia. Drove past Levagood park where we went to swim and Devine Child High School where Aiden Hutchison graduated (did I mention it was NFL draft weekend in downtown Detroit?). Drove past the Ford Engineering building where I was working when Christal called me to come out to Ypsilanti because the 26-week baby was preeclamptic and had to stay in the hospital.

And finally we drove out to the Ford Rouge plant where my F150 was built and told them of all the history of a very historic plant.

We then ended the evening with dinner at an exquisite Lebanese restaurant almost in the exact spot of the famous La Shish restaurant that Christal and I loved.

Felt very important to pass that on. I have a sneaking suspicion that, just like my Dad moved us from Salt Lake City to Dearborn, the family is now centered with us in Virginia and the Dearborn history is now at least somewhat documented.

[Marshall]

Thanks for sharing that Shanon, & Peter

[Tamarack]

Shannon - I hope your time on campus is memorable and meaningful. As a graduate of a small church-affiliated college I can relate.

[drlj]

I decided I didn’t like my stupid joke. Your post was heartfelt, emotional, and moving and it’s so hard to joke about that.
Enjoy your trip and your memories.

The school where I started teaching closed and was razed. The school where I finished teaching closed. The school in which Barb taught closed and was razed. The school where she was principal for 14 year closed and was razed.
It is like a part of our history has been erased and that is a strange feeling. We can point to empty fields and say we used to work there.

[howard lee]

The first high school I attended was in an old mansion in a swanky part of Queens, NY (if you can imagine anything in Queens being swanky). That building was razed and an awfully ugly apartment condo replaced it. My HS alma mater, Andrew Jackson HS, founded in 1936, was converted from one high school into four specialized HS-level schools: Finance and Information Technology; Humanities and the Arts; Law, Health Professions; Mathematics, Science Research, and Technology. At its peak in the late 1970s (long after I had graduated), it garnered fame when police broke up a heroin-processing factory in the school's basement. That's the front lawn on which many of us long-haired recalcitrants spent many happy hours playing Frisbee.

It is no longer called Andrew Jackson, which is fine with me. He was something of a horror show.


Shannon, I hope this day is going well for you and that you and Kathy are reveling in your memories.

[billhammond]

Howard, is that a rat on the sidewalk?

[howard lee]

May 10, 2024 12:33:55 GMT -5 billhammond said:

Howard, is that a rat on the sidewalk?

No, Bill, it's a clump of maple leaves from the tree. A rat. Indeed!

[billhammond]

May 10, 2024 12:36:12 GMT -5 howard lee said:

A rat. Indeed!

Yeah, too small to be a NYC rat.

[howard lee]

May 10, 2024 12:41:37 GMT -5 billhammond said:

May 10, 2024 12:36:12 GMT -5 howard lee said:

A rat. Indeed!

[/div][/quote]

Yeah, too small to be a NYC rat.

[/quote][/div]

You are correct, sir!

[Marshall]

May 10, 2024 10:26:35 GMT -5 drlj said:

I decided I didn’t like my stupid joke. Your post was heartfelt, emotional, and moving and it’s so hard to joke about that.
Enjoy your trip and your memories.

The school where I started teaching closed and was razed. The school where I finished teaching closed. The school in which Barb taught closed and was razed. The school where she was principal for 14 year closed and was razed.
It is like a part of our history has been erased and that is a strange feeling. We can point to empty fields and say we used to work there.

You two have quite a track record. You should go in the demolition business.

[Shannon]

Thanks to all of you for the kind words and thoughts. You are good friends!

Friday was a good day, and we enjoyed strolling the campus one last time.

Here I am at what used to be the science building. I practically lived here. They eventually built a new science building, and this building houses the humanities now.


Here's another one of me standing in the very spot where I first saw Kathy. I had a guitar around my shoulders at the time, leading music for Baptist Campus Ministries (although I wasn't a Baptist).


Here we both are sitting in the spot where I proposed.


It was not as sad a day as I expected. As we walked the entire campus, we noted all the things that had changed since we were students. The trees were bigger. Some of our old class buildings were gone and replaced by new ones; some were still there but re-purposed. Kathy's old dormitory was just a grassy spot on the quad. There was a new science building, and a big bell tower in the middle of the academic quad that wasn't there in our day. We recognized that the college we had known was already long gone. For that matter, the Shannon and Kathy we had been were long gone, too. Some old things had been let go, and a bunch of things were changed, mostly for the better. This is as it should be.

We left campus, realizing we could let it go with gratitude.

It was a good day.