I headed for what was then called
Concordia Teachers College-River Forest, IL (now Concordia University Chicago.
There was never any consideration for even a minute that I would go anywhere
else. My father had graduated from there 25 years earlier-and that is where I
was headed.
Mother faithfully helped me get
ready. She found a big “steamer trunk” which she could use to send my “stuff.”
She saw to it that I go\t my first pair of gloves and even an overcoat. (I
hated it then and still don’t like wearing one.)
I contacted four other Texans who
were also headed to R.F. and coordinated rail travel The railroad people told
us not to travel over Labor Day as the end-of the-war traffic was overwhelming
everything. On the day of travel Mother gave me my most important carry-on;
namely food for the journey. There was no way on earth we would have the funds
to eat in the train diner. Mother fried chicken (having butchered the chicken
herself) made lots of homemade bread. Stuffed in a couple dozen
cookies and secured it all in a good sturdy bag.
Dad had his last minute
instructions, which included a few words that were not characteristic of him at
all. He said “Melvin, when my father put me on the train to go to River
Forest when I was 15 years old he said to me ‘If you are expelled, don’t bother
coming home’.” He left it at that. I think he wanted me to take this business
seriously-but it was just not in his oh so kind nature to threaten me with
self-expulsion from the family.
The train was full. The ride
long. We changed trains in St. Louis. As we went toward our new coach (of
course, we had no reserved seats) I walked outside the train cars and looked in
for a few seats. As we went by one car I said to my buddies “Oh. There are a
few seats in that car, but we can’t go there. That car is for colored only!”
The porter alongside me heard those words and almost roared at me, “Get in that
car young man, you are no longer in the South. From here we all ride together!”
Dad had given us detailed
instruction on how to get from Chicago’s Union Station to River Forest via
the El and then a walk of a couple miles.. But when we got to the train depot
some relatives of one of our roommates were there. They drove us to R.F. They
were great.
College orientation went
smoothly. Of course, I noticed that in contrast to the boys-only student body
of my high school there were “girls” on this campus. We did not pay much attention
to them nor they to us-, except for a couple of them who took more to my
strange Texas cowboy boots than to me and that was okay too.
Our dorm arrangement was that 8
of us shared two rooms, one for study and one for sleeping. The eight of us got
along together well. I sadly report that of those 8 I am the sole survivor.
I am absolutely positive I did not
telephone my folks that I had safely arrived on campus. That would have been
unthinkable. I do hope that as I settled in I said a special prayer of thanks
to my whole family as all of them made “Sending Mel off to College“ a family project.
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