Tom Jackson, Class of 1961
Memories shared by Tom Jackson. Share your memories with us too.
I attended East Carolina College from 1957 until 1961. The first year I attended, the dorms were filled to overflowing, and I had to live off campus in a rooming house: Mrs. Clark's on 8th street. In winter, the little oil heater in my room would run out of fuel in the middle of the night and I would wake to find condensed moisture frozen on the inside of the window by my face. Later I moved to Umstead dorm and wished myself back at Mrs. Clark's to escape the noise. My very first class at ECC, freshman English taught by the infamous Dr. H.D.Rowe, met at 8:00 a.m. We started with about 15 students; Perhaps 6 of us made it through to the end. However, by working us hard, Dr. Rowe taught us all to write, and I attribute the following years of academic success mostly to him for teaching me to write clearly early in my college life. I could always ace any test with discussion questions after studying with him.
I joined the East Carolinian staff and held almost every position, serving as editor my senior year. Working for the college newspaper provided a variety of rich experience and opened a lot of doors for me later in life. The newspaper staff had it's own little fraternity.
I also joined a social fraternity and was a charter member of Pi Kappa Alpha. When not in class, I spent a lot of time drinking and dancing and pursuing women. I don't regret a moment of it. We all had a wonderful time. Work hard, play hard: that's the way to get the most out of college. Having a private place to study in the newspaper office made it easier for me to get my academic work done and free myself for play.
Some of the more absurd episodes on campus while I was there: The president, Dr. Messick, issued a directive against kissing. The newspapers had a lot of fun with that. He might as well have issued a directive against the changing of the tides. Later, Dean [James] Tucker wore himself out in an unsuccessful campaign against the Doug Clark Combo (known to all college students in NC as "the Hot Nuts" because of their trademark song. They always made up the song as they sang it, and Tucker is an easy word to rhyme).
Memorable professors: H.D. Rowe,Ovid Pierce, Bob Haubrich (who brought science to life in class), [James] Poindexter [Marguerite] Perry (who tried very hard to teach my rural NC tongue to pronounce French words), [James?] Cummings (a good lecturer, despite his blatant prejudice). I enjoyed my classes at ECC as much as I did the after-class activities, sometimes more. So many of my friends from then have vanished, and I wish I could find them again. Thankfully, some remain in my life to this day.
