01(IBA) telling us about Elon College

CHAPTER 1  

TELLING US ABOUT ELON COLLEGE

 

            Bill and I have responded so many times to: “I like the story about how you have returned to North Carolina in the 1990’s but how in the world did you get to North Carolina in the 1960’s in the first place”? That story might as well be told now.

 

            Bill grew up in New Jersey, his sister went to Fairleigh-Dickinson and he applied to Rutgers University.  Bill was accepted at Rutgers but was informed he would have to commute as dorm space was limited.  One of his high school buddies told him about Elon and Bill was surprised that his guidance counselor had information on that college.  Bill applied, was accepted, and made plans to attend.  He received a letter from Elon’s new band director, Jack White, about joining the marching band, as Bill had played drums for several years.  At the end of August 1962, Bill’s parents drove him to Elon (500 miles); he had never seen the school before. He moved into the dormitory, bid his parents farewell and proceeded to discover college life away from home.

 

            I was born and raised in Connecticut and my high school guidance office did not yet have a computer to help select colleges.  My dad attended a church layman’s conference in Pawling, NY, one weekend during my senior year.  The guest speaker for the retreat was Dr. Earl Danieley, President of Elon College.  My father returned home with an Elon brochure.  I remember Dad placing the pamphlet on our kitchen table and saying to me: “maybe this is where you want to go to college.” This seemed like a fine idea to me as my sister was a student at the University of Connecticut and I wanted to go AWAY to college.  It was also less expensive to attend a southern school.  I applied, was soon accepted, and at Easter break in 1962, my parents and sister and I drove to Elon to see the campus.  It was our first trip south of New York City; staying at motels and eating in restaurants was all new to me.  The college arranged an overnight housing for us; we attended a few classes, met with admissions’ people and toured around. Of course the southern hospitality wooed us completely.  I, too, had received a letter from Jack White to join the new Elon Marching Band because I played alto saxophone in high school—but I had never attended a football game and I had never heard of marching maneuvers! Since our birthdays are late in the year, both Bill and I were 17 when we met in the Elon Marching Band. We took no particular notice of each other for over two years; our first date, October 31, 1964, was, unsurprisingly, a band trip……

 

            I think the ANGELS had a grand time getting these “Yankees” together in a southern atmosphere.

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