Wakeland Dr Mort 4 2016


Decided I wanted to go to college but UT was simply too daunting to try it. So I opted for a smaller state school – East Tennessee State University in Johnson City. Some of the ORHS alumni followed me there. Was nice to see familiar face here and there.



The summer quickly came and went and I still recall the drive up to ETSU and getting settled into the dorm. I felt so alone once Mom and Dad left, wondering if I would sink or swim. I was not an Albert Einstein in high school, and wondered if I had what it took to endure and successfully graduate from college.



Even as small as I was, had visions of still playing football. Bones ached every day after practice and after “2nd string games.� Eventually, I realized I was not big enough nor good enough to be first string. My hardest first thing to do in life was to walk into the coaches’ office and quit. The incentive was a huge lineman that blind-sided me so hard I could feel every bone in my body crack. I knew then I must choose another path. I did survive!



Between my sophomore and junior year at ETSU I had a most glorious “Summer of 42�. While home that summer I landed a job at ORNL and met a fellow ORHS graduate who worked there also. I think Sandy graduated in 1962? The proverbial “lightning bolts across the room.� To this day, that woman remains in the back of my mind.



My euphoric state ended that September after returning to ETSU when she called to tell me she was remarrying her ex and she would not be driving up for homecoming. My world was shattered and I withdrew and poured myself into my books and studies.



Was pledged into Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, and was also elected as Vice President of the ETSU student body. My intro to politics. My senior year I met my future wife, a Delta Zeta.



Graduation from ETSU was very anticlimactic. Had no clear direction, get married or go to graduate school, so I did like some, joined the service, keeping in the back of my mind I could use the GI Bill to return to school.



That summer I signed on the dotted line to become a member of the U.S. Army.


Posted By: NS Administrator - 05-13-2016
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