College Years

1959

May 8 – Graduated from Wonderview High School

June – August: Spent weeks with Uncle Irving and Aunt Nila in Little Rock to work in the Sterling Stores warehouse out on the old highway toward Benton. Roy Skipper, son of Carl Toby Skipper, was a buyer there and recommended me for the job.

September – December: First semester at UofA. Lived in Sedgewell House which was one of the dormitories for freshmen.

1960

January- May: Lived in Sedgewell House during the spring semester.
Ann graduated from Morning Sun, Iowa.

June – August: I don't remember what I did that summer. I guess I lived at home.
Ann and her family moved to Fayetteville and lived in the guest house out at the Jones place at first.

September – December: Lived in the upper class dorm at the other end of the Sedgewell House building. Ann was 19 in October. Francis was 15 in November. Ann started to school in Tulsa. She lived with Margaret and Margaret's inlaws while going to school. The rest of the family rented the house on St. Charles Street that runs north of the square. Ann stayed in Francy's room when she came home on weekends.

1961

January – May: Moved into a rooming house north of campus and shared with the blind fellow. We lived upstairs. Some guys had a party either downstairs or nearby and Francis dated a guy named Parks or at least was invited to the party. She was 15 and I was 20.

June – August: I think I took at least one semester of summer school. Ann thinks that this is about the time her Dad and the boys moved to the “ranch” although she and Francis may have been in Big Spring for most of the summer and her Mom may have moved to the apartment at that time.

September – December: Melvin Jackson and I shared an apartment at the Uark Courts. It was on the second flow at the north end of the east arm (not in the front units). I got acquainted with a single mother who lived in one of the front units. Ann's Dad must have moved the boys and Frances to the house on Frisco Street by then and Ann started back to school in Tulsa.

Melvin started dating Francis and they introduced Ann and me on a blind date. Ann called me later and we went out for hot chocolate, but had to settle for coffee. Ann was spending the week in Tulsa at a business school and coming home on weekends.

I passed the “Junior English Exam” and was exempt from Junior English.

October – Ann was 20 in October. We had to go on cheap dates because neither of us had much money. Sometime about that time we drove her old Mercury to Cleveland to visit the family and had a flat on the way.

December – I went home for Christmas vacation, but was so sad I finally drove back to Fayetteville without letting the family know I was going to. I bought a nice place setting of dishes for her Christmas present and told her we'd get the rest when we got married. She thought that was odd.

1962

January – May: second semester of my Junior year. Melvin and I were still sharing the room at Uark Courts. Ann was still in school in Tulsa, because I went there around Easter to visit her. One of the guys drove me over I think. About this time Ann had to drop out of school to stay home to take care of Frances and the boys. She worked at Woolworth's for a while and then at the University.

May – We set our wedding date for June 27th. Ann's mother was still living in the apartment and the rest of the family lived on Frisco. We looked for a rooming house to live in, but they were all pretty sad places and set up for single people. So we finally went back to Uark Courts and rented the second floor apartment at the south end of the east leg. The laundry was in the basement there.

Ann's folks bought the house on Henshaw in Springdale and moved there.

June – August: We were married at the Jones' ranch by the pastor of FBC Fayetteville and went to Eureka Springs for a short honeymoon. Ann went back to work at UofA and I tried the chicken catching job up there, but couldn't even stay for one evening. It wasn't at all like chicken catching in Conway County. I probably took another summer semester.

September – December: First semester of senior year with baby on the way. I was asked to be the pledge leader for Tau Beta Pi, but basically quit, and Bill Terry, the president, had to take over.

1963

January – Jimy was born a week after Frances had Gary. Transportation was a potential problem, but things worked out OK.

Easter – We drove to Houston to visit Roy Maxwell, Grandpa Maxwell's first cousin, to check out things to prepare for going to work for NASA.

May 17th – Graduated from UofA and began the move to Houston. Grandma Maxwell was sick in the hospital when we left and she told us “Don't let the children forget us!” She died before the end of summer. The house on Weslow had been reserved for us. Roy helped us get a refrigerator which we still have although it's just sitting in the garage.

June 10th – Began work with NASA MSC Life Systems Division in the Lane Wells Building on Wayside Drive.

First Five Years Originally Posted 1/28/01
Revised 1/15/05
Newer Pages Posted 3/3/05
This page posted 10/22/09