TC Alumni Recollections
(From Tusculumnus, Fall 1998)

Stories collected by students of English 208: Basic Journalism—Susan Allison ’01, Mispah McKenzie ’00, Heather Rich ’00—and their instructor, Tom Sanders.

There I was, riding the Greyhound bus into Greeneville—to a place I had never been and a college I had never seen—one of twelve African-Americans on the whole campus. It was late in the evening, and as the bus came closer, the sky became darker and darker, and I wondered, “what have I gotten myself into?” But then, when we arrived, and I stepped off the bus, a car met me with my new friends from Tusculum. I learned over the next four years that it was possible to pronounce a ten-letter name with only one vowel. And I learned that we are better people when we work through our differences to common understanding
William T. Edmonds ’71

I was part of the first pilot training class in 1941. We took our ground training right here at Tusculum and drove off to a nearby airport for flight school. They disassembled airplane engines and lined them up right on the first floor of McCormick Hall. I was also the first one in my class to solo. I was up with the instructor one day, and he jerked the stick away from me and said, “you’ll never learn to fly,” and he headed the plane back to the airport. When we landed, I said,”you know, I really think I can do it. I want you to give me another chance.” And he said, “All right; do it now. All by yourself.” So I did.
Valdo Moncada ’41

I was in one of the ecology classes, and we came out here to Horse Creek to do a field study. We had to do species counts and that sort of thing. Well, I was paired up with this guy who had a great idea. He said, “I’ll climb out on one of those branches hanging over the creek, and make a record of whatever I see in the part of the creek right below the branch.” So he started inching out on the branch, arms and legs wrapped around it. Well, when he had shinnied out as far as the middle of the creek, the branch broke, and he fell right in the water. I guess he had a good close look at whatever was there.
Roy F. Bell ’58

Back then we were required to take two semesters of religion class. It was taught in the Science Hall on the first floor. Old Dr. Crozier was our professor. Now, Dr. Crozier couldn’t see very well, so when he would take class roll, the guys in the back would jump out the window and ditch class.Well, on the last day of the first semester Crozier held us back for a minute and made this announcement: “Gentlemen, I want you to know that next semester this course will be held on the second floor.” And it was.
Karl Juelch ’53

Graduations, or commencements as they were called, were tremendous occasions. People from all over the county would come in their Model T Fords and with their pack lunches. Picnic blankets were laid down under the oaks in that area by the Science Building. There would be great speakers who would come and address the graduates and all the proud citizens in attendance. Sometime in the early afternoon, as I remember, there would be a baseball game that no one would fail to attend. The entire day was just filled with all sorts of carnival attractions and games for amusement. It had the air of a country fair, really.
Samuel E. Miller ’35 H ’98

I’ve lived here in Tusculum my whole life. Why, I can remember when the college was building Haynes Hall. The sand they needed for making the mortar came from my Daddy’s farm. It would be loaded up in double-teamed wagons and carted in that way.
I was just a little thing when they were building Haynes, but I can remember riding those wagons with my father. He would lift me up into the seat beside him and we would ride down the dirt road to the college. I was the proudest child riding there beside my father.
Margaret Simpson Gaut ’40

Working in the cafeteria, I washed dishes for four years. One time, we made cherry pies and we had a lot of cherry juice left over, so the cook made wine. It was a while that anybody knew about the wine because it was in the back of the cooler. Just the cooks and the people that worked in the cafeteria knew about it. But, somehow the word leaked out, so there was quite a group that tried to get into the wine. Well, one kid, Bob Martella [class of 1950], had a crush on a girl. Nobody knew about it at the time, and he’d had a little too much wine. So he went to Virginia Hall, where she lived, and called her to the window and serenaded her. After he had confessed his affection in public like that, the Dean of Men had our wine poured out. He destroyed our spirits.
Rod Walsh ’48

I remember my last p.j. jam. The D.J. was hype, everything was set up, there was plenty of food, and the party was on. Hardly anyone showed up, but we didn’t let that stop us from having fun. Someone grabbed a microphone and it was time to wail. ...We sang and danced until the wee hours of the morning. It was glorious. I remember one girl had been dancing and she spun around and her skirt got caught and everyone saw her underwear. The funny thing was, no one cared. We were having the best time and nothing, not even overexposure, could change that!
Michelle Butts ’98