1 September 2016
What a day! We started with Ann’s breakfast of hash browns, bacon, green pepper, and egg pie with biscuits and home made jelly of honey and Chianti. It was delish.
Reid and I left Tupelo and headed to Fulton for a visit at Itawmaba Community College (formerly IJC) to meet up with a few friends from bygone days when I taught there. We walked into the administration building and sitting there to greet us was Mike Eaton, President of the college and Billy Todd. Mike was the football coach while I was there and he and I used to jog together. Billy was a guidance counselor and later board member. Mike gave all three of us ICC baseball caps and we sat their and remenanced over old times.
The college had grown from about 1200 students in my day to 5800 on 3 campuses. Virtually all of the old buildings I taught in were gone and new buildings and dorms were all over the place. ICC has the largest online curriculum of any community college in the state and is now one of the fastest growing. It was great to see the success of the college.
I got to visit with Steve Miller, director of food services for ICC and two other community colleges in north Mississippi. I knew his dad when he had Steve’s position over 30 years ago with only ICC as his charge. Steve was more my age then and we hit it off immediately and we have been life long friends since. His dad, when in charge, never charged me for a meal in the cafeteria when I taught there because he knew how little I made in salary as a beginning faculty member.
Steve and I used to hike and camp and we hung out together when I managed the men’s dorm. We also did some decided illegal things during those times which, in retrospect, seem tame but were not at that time. We had a great visit. Steve and I even went to Europe later when I first hired in at Broward College. He’s been a loyal, true friend.
Later, Reid and I dropped in on his daughter Carol who was baby sitting her grandchild and we relived old times. Carol was closer to me in age of this three daughters and one son. She now lives south of Fulton in Smithville which was pretty much wiped out by a tornado a few years ago.
From there, we returned to Tupelo and visited the ICC campus which will probably overtake the Fulton campus in years to come. I didn’t recognize that campus either – it had grown so much.
We returned to Reid and Ann’s place to get ready for the party. Reid’s second daughter Terry came by and we got to relive old times.
We had no idea how many people would show up for the party but Ann had everything planned to a fault. I know you are not interested in the people who came but administrators and faculty from my era showed up. At the time, we were like family and even though all but one had retired, it was like we were at the old faculty lounge again rehashing the same topics. It was gratifying for them, me, and Reid and Ann. We had all aged a little, gained a little weight, and all of us had our medical issues, but in reality, we had not changed much. This was one of the greatest group of people I’ve ever worked with.
Mississipi State and Ole Miss sent students who they wanted to succeed but were challenged academically to ICC to be taught by our physics professor and our chemistry professor because they knew if the students could learn under Jim and Herb, they would succeed at their institutions. They were that good.
All total, 11 administrators and faulty showed up along with Reid’s son Mark. It was nostalgic, touching, and very much fun. These were the people that molded me as a community college professor and to whom I will always be indebted. I can’t thank Reid and Ann enough for all their work and effort to make this a success.
Tomorrow I leave for a visit with my brother in Brandon, MS.
