To Dr. James R. Sweeney, Old Dominion University.

Dr., you have asked me to give you my memories of life at Old Dominion University. I can certainly recall that when I got there, it was like a... I would liken it to a "little ole two—horse town". Dr. Webb was at the reins of everything then, doing his great job. We thought it was a great big university even then because it was all we had. Most of the people were local folks who went to Maury, Granby, Craddock, Kempsville and all of the local high schools and Catholic high schools I guess that had been built by then. It was pretty much a very close knit community. So unlike what it is today. Heck, now the one we have in Norfolk of Old Dominion is even bigger that William and Mary. But, in those days, it was William and Mary—VPI and we were just one great big happy family. Everybody was first name to everybody and that included the professors.

I was a fellow who... (I guess you want this to be sort of personal, so I am going to make this as personal as I know how and if you want something else, just call me and ask me about it.) The only thing that I really knew how to do was to sing and play the bass fiddle. I was kind of singing my way through college playing at the Naval Air Station and CPO Club. In the meantime, we did get together and we had a thing call the Imps Quartet. Now that is something that you did not mention in your letter, but that was really a famous quartet. We used to sing back when To Be Alone was popular. You remember Down By The Riverside. It was me, Bill Crute, Phil Light and gee whiz, I can’t remember the other fellow’s name right now who used to sing with us. But, we used to sing everywhere. The thing that I was most impressed with is that we used to rehearse in the Administration Building Men’s Room, because that particular room, as I recall, had a high ceiling and it had great vibration. We used to sound good, even when we were bad. The Imps Quartet sang at all the functions that the Imps had. In particular, we sang at the thing you were talking about that I directed in 1955 called the Campus Capers. We also had one in 1956. It was a very fine show particularly in view of the fact that we had a fellow named Bobby Warshaw, who I think now is a professor of music, somewhere. Bobby Warshaw’s Orchestra played and they were professional. I used to play bass fiddle with his orchestra at that time. Never having studied bass, Bob just said he needed me to play bass because I could sing a little bit and I kind of learned like "on the job training". I’ll tell you, some of those fellows when they would hear those notes, knew that it was "on the job training".

2

I can recall that the Honor Council at our little Old Dominion University was very strong. In other words, if somebody kind of cheated or did something that was wrong, it was your duty to say "Hey! That guy did something wrong!" That's when Bill Whitehurst, by the way, who I think at one point was the chairman or the advisor of the Honor Council. Bill was in those days kind of a cocky professor, but a great storyteller. He is one of the few people I ever met who could make history really interesting. I can remember him with his crew cut. He used to always tell me to keep quiet in class. I guess I always talked too much. Judges now tell me to keep quiet, but in those days Bill Whitehurst and the other professors told me to keep quiet. One time I got a great big "C" in his class and thought I had a "B". So, I asked him about it. He said something similar to "We grade the whole man." In other words, in those days I really disliked Bill for giving me that grade. I felt like I deserved a higher grade. In later life, I realized that Bill had done me a great favor. He showed me that there is a time to be exuberant and loud and boisterous and there is a time to be more considerate of others. But, it was a rude awakening, because that "C", as I recall, was a pretty costly average grade. A "B" would have been much better. I have never really thanked Bill Whitehurst for that but I probably should have. Who knows, maybe you will print it in your book.

They had these little shack huts in 1955 and ‘56. I don’t know how else you would describe them. It was hot as the hinges of hell in those rooms when you would go in there and try to sit for a class. Particularly the art rooms where they didn’t have any air conditioning in some of those little small buildings. I just don’t exactly remember which ones they were, but I would sit in those classes and some times you’d be perspiring and working and thinking of how things have got to get better. But they were also great rooms because those were the rooms that we used to practice our music and sing our songs. Whenever you walked from your classes, which would be south of the Administration Building, you would inevitably pass these little shacks where you would hear these lovely voices coming from their singing opera and other songs.

In my stay at Old Dominion University, I was in the Opera Workshop with Dr. Harold Hawn. I was in Cosi Fantutti and The Chocolate Soldier. But, I enjoyed my even having the smallest part there because it was just so fabulous this Music Department under Dr. Charles Vogan. Even to this day, I would say that he is the greatest choral director that I have ever known. I think that he was appreciated for his humanness as well as for his abilities in music. Dr. Vogan was a great effect in my life. He helped me to get a scholarship when I was in school. I remember some many years thereafter, his son was in law school and I was so happy to be able to have him as a clerk while he was in law school working during the summer. Chip is now with the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office for the City of Norfolk. Chip Vogan is a very nice young man.

3

There was a place called John’s right up the street. They only had one place where you could eat lunch. Either there or the Wig—Wam. You would go to John’s and there was this Greek Fellow and his wife (I think her name was Anna) and they would be so nice. They would serve you lunch. I had a television show on WTOV—TV. That was when Channel 27 was sort of a local show, before it became what it is today. John was one of my sponsors. All of my sponsors paid me $10.00 apiece on this two-hour show. I have got to tell you that it was one of the worst shows that God ever planted on this earth. I wish that they had videotapes. You see, in those days, you could video the shows and I could look at them now because I know how bad they must have been. One time, the piano player, the accompanist didn’t show up and I played the piano for the whole show and it was awful. I think I hit more wrong notes that I did right ones. But, anyway we still got fan mail from people who knew that I was trying.

If you are wondering why I brought all of that up, well that was just one of the things that I did to work my way through school. I think that it is important sort of to know that an awful lot of the people in those days who went to school worked several jobs. Some were working on the railroads, some were selling clothes on Granby Street, some were working for the mosquito control during that time. Some were cutting grass, selling sweaters and doing whatever you could to just try to get through school.

You mentioned Betty Kutz to me in your letter. Betty was a singer. She sang with Pat Austin, as I recall. Pat is married to a boy named Jimmy Lawson. We all went to Old Dominion at the same time. One of your professors over there, I think he is at Old Dominion, Tony Cacaliano, was also one of our singers. I mention all of these people who were in our Campus Capers. That is something that kind of drew the whole school together.

Life pretty much revolved around fraternity life. The thing that I liked so much about it is that the Delta boys and the Pi-Fi guys and the Imps were not so separated as fraternities are now. It was all one big fraternity and one big sorority. Everybody spoke to everybody and everybody loved everybody. Of course, nobody loved me in the morning because I would go in the Wig—Wam and was big and loud. But, I guess that my days with my friends and my Imps were just fabulous. It was so nice.

After about a year that I was in the Imps they formed the Pi—Fi Fraternity. A fellow named Brown was the president and they had Merret Salinger also in that fraternity. They kind of made me a member of their fraternity. They were so nice to me. They were all older guys, most of them were veterans. They associated with me and I associated with them. I just felt so nice. I am wondering if they still have that fraternity over there because that was such a nice group of people. But, our Imps, we were great jocks so to speak. We won all of the games, all the baseball and softball games. Of course, Delta, (their sponsor was Bill Whitehurst), gave us one heck of a time. They used to fight us tooth and nail. We were the two fraternities who used to fight it out for the championship. But it was a friendly rivalry. I never had a chance to personally go to all the beer blasts and so forth because I was usually working. But all in all, you could tell that college was a young bustling youth that was ready to just burst out of it’s shell and become a great university. And, that is what it has become.

4

1956 (you can check me on this, if you will, Doc), was the first year that they gave out full four-year degrees. Some of them, in other words, had gotten their education. I had just got my two-year degree and I went from there on to William and Mary. William and Mary, contrary to what I had experienced at Old Dominion (I’m sorry, William and Mary—VPI in Norfolk) was a great big college with thousands of people, it seemed like. I finished there and got my Bachelor of Arts and Jurisprudence. In other words, when I finished college at William and Mary, in Williamsburg, I had already finished one year of law school, and I only had a couple of more years to go before I would then be a lawyer, as history now proclaims.

But, looking back at my years at Old Dominion, I can say it was then a great college of friends and now it has grown into a pretty big university. I am very proud of it and thank you very much for giving me this opportunity to tell you all about me and my days in college. Thank you.

This is Pete Decker turning this back over to Dr. Sweeney.