By Larry McGee
It was the first day of June, 1964 as I drove through the main gates of Northwestern State College in my 1957 Ford. My mind began to race on what might lie before me. Just a few weeks earlier I found myself, along with future roommate, preparing for each of us to sign our $25 room deposit to secure our future dormitory room. We were both products of small schools and had just recently met through a mutual friend.
As that summer semester unfolded, our daily schedules became increasingly routine. With each of us having a 7 am class, our daily vigil began by walking from Bossier Hall to the Student Union. Every morning my roommate would have the jukebox playing the same selection, “Viva Las Vegas,” while we consumed donuts and milk.
One day after classes, he demanded that I go with him to the basement area beneath the football stadium. I discovered later why he was so adamant about going there, why we found ourselves sneaking into a totally unauthorized area.
Somehow we managed to gain entrance (without breaking any locks) into the Demons locker room.
I saw the excitement in my roommate’s eyes as he walked down aisles of lockers and shelves containing football paraphernalia. I wasn’t particularly interested but I knew that I would not be the spoiler of his dream.
That summer semester passed quickly and before I knew it, we began the fall semester. Scheduling had somehow placed us in different directions and I am still not sure to this day that he actually registered for the fall semester. But the news traveled back to me that he had become very ill. He underwent exploratory surgery and the diagnosis was cancer of the abdomen. The cancer took him quickly at age 19.
The news saddened me as I thought about the dream that he shared with me that summer afternoon. And today all of the things in my life that I have gotten to experience, like finding a girl to be my partner for life, the experience of graduating and obtaining a job, the thrill of being a parent for the time and years and years of the good things that life can bring…my roommate never got to experience.
Spring semester of 1965 brought more changes. I sat in my first class with other black students as we were preparing for our futures (A decision that took too long to become a reality). Later in the summer of that same year, news services began to report that college students might be drafted to serve in the Vietnam War.
Northwestern was changing. The world was changing.
In memory of my freshman roommate.