Christian College First - Remembering DLC

Remembering the late David Lipscomb College--------------------------------------- I remember what it was like the very first time I walked onto the David Lipscomb College campus as a student. It was September and Freshman Week began on Tuesday but we were able to check in to the Dorm on Sunday. The only thing was, I was not checking in to the dorm, I was going to be “rooming” with my sister and her husband. They had been married only a couple of years and were going through the usual struggles of a newly married couple; and my dad had made an arrangement with them to allow me to room with them which would permit them to move out of the tiny apartment they had just off 12th avenue, south of Shelby Park, and into a duplex on Warfield Drive, near Green Hills Mall. The Mall was then what would later be called a “strip mall” since Cain Sloan, the anchor store was not connected with the other stores which shared a common parking spot, except by a covered sidewalk.
So I didn’t go to the campus directly, I went to the house where not only was I moving in, my sister and her husband were moving in also.
It was the beautiful fall of 1962, and John F. Kennedy was president. He had just affirmed to the world that America would put a man on the moon by the end of that decade and Fidel Castro had begun to make deals with the Soviet Union that the world was finding increasingly uncomfortable. Not to be outdone by Fats Domino, an artist by the name of Chubby Checker had introduced a song called “The Twist” and everybody was doing the dance it suggested. Tony Bennett was riding the top of the charts with “I left my heart in San Francisco” and Bobby Vinton was telling the world that “Roses are Red my love.” The Contours were asking,”Do You Love Me?” and Ray Charles was answering with, “I can’t stop loving you.” My personal favorites were “The Duke of Earl” by Gene Chandler and “The Wanderer” by Dion. As I left Carthage, striking out into the world on the new adventure of college, I could indeed picture myself as “The Wanderer.” I suppose it escaped me that I was going to a Christian College with copious rules, to be living with my big sister, her husband and new baby, Jeff. Somewhat limited freedom by today’s standards.
It was not until the next day after move in that I took the first tentative walk over to the campus and discovered that my walk to school was to be some mile and one half each day. But, I was used to walking, had no car nor any hopes of getting one, besides, freshmen were not allowed cars in those days anyway. The first trip was just a recon to see who might be moving in and discover if there were any friendly faces in the crowd. There were plenty of friendly faces, but all of them were strangers looking for some other friendly face, just as was I.
It was not until the next day I began to make some acquaintances in earnest, having discovered that the walk home from campus after dark was very long, especially it rain was falling. Things were beginning to build to the school year in earnest by Tuesday evening and it was then that I discovered that my cousin Morris Mabry had come to school early to “check out the freshman talent,” in his words. He greeted me with the news that Jan Lafever, a mutual friend from Detroit, eventually to be know as the brown eyed girl, had decided to come to Lipscomb as a freshman and was indeed in that very Student Center.
By Thursday of freshman week various upperclassmen were beginning to show up providing familiar faces, and the “Faculty Fireside” that night followed the “Freshman Mixer” earlier in the evening in which we played various renamed versions of hide and seek and red rover. And yes, Red Rover by any other name is just as juvenile. On Friday the freshmen were taken to Percy Warner Park and various games were the order of the day. I passed the girls softball and noted with some surprise that the brown eyed girl was pitching for the home team, or was it the other team, I forget. She didn't seem like the pitcher type, but I was to learn that she was much more rugged than she appeared.
By the weekend, the real college students had all arrived and the campus was jumping and I loved it, I loved every bit of it, because I had never been away from home before, and never been with so many young people who did not already have you pegged into that old high school pigeon hole. All things were new and you were able to get a fresh start. I didn’t join the band, much to everyone’s surprise, but became friends with folks who were in class and with the guys with whom my cousin was running around. I soon didn’t even mind the walk since it gave me time to think and smoke, a nasty habit I had acquired in high school, could not pursue on campus, and would not give up for another ten years or so.. As for the brown eyed girl, she and I were “just friends” and might end up hanging out together on campus, or going with a group somewhere, but she was clearly uninterested in any romantic involvement, with anyone - probably most especially me.
Faculty Fireside was quite an experience since a number of us ended up “left over” and were caught going to the Home Economics, Home Management House to spend fireside with Miss Margret Carter. It was raining a slow drizzle outside and since none of us had a car, we ended up walking in the steady rain. The brown eyed girl was also in that group of leftovers and had on a pair of red flat shoes, which were ruined by the time we got to our destination. That was the first time I noticed her affinity for red shoes. In don’t think since that time she has been without a pair of red shoes, which she claims brightens you day if you are feeling blue.
The following week we all settled into classes and I learned that the competitive field at David Lipscomb College was somewhat more challenging than Smith County High School. Everything was graded on a strict curve, particularly in the freshman year which meant that 20 – 25 percent of the students in a given class were likely to receive a D or an F in that class. Lipscomb had an open enrollment policy which meant anyone could apply and enter, but in your first sessions students were invited to look to their right and their left and note that one of the three of you would not survive beyond the first quarter, and that two of the three of you would not return the following year. I didn’t know if my goose was cooked, but I knew it was pretty warm.
Now that I look back I find myself glad that God does not grade on a curve. With Him we are judged not by the performance or spirituality of others, but by his own standard, highly tempered with Grace and Mercy. And He allows us a fresh start, to escape the pigeonhole into which we have placed ourselves. All things are new.
I survived the first quarter with only a D in Biology and survived the first year with only an additional D in Physics. No more Ds were in my future, thankfully. In spite of the hard work in front of me, it might have been one of the most exciting years of my life. It is a place that holds a special fondness in my heart. "Christian College First" was the phrase our two sons would hear over and over and they both graduated from DLU. One went on to get an MBA from Vanderbilt, but "Christian College First".

God Bless, Bob