Coral Gables, FL

General Sheldon William W. 12/11/95 Coral Gables, FL 10/27/42 male yes 1960-1966 65 no

Hometown Richmond (Henrico) 500,000 plus I had no hometown. My family moved 17 times and I attended 12 public schools. My hometowns included places with 3-room schools, houses with privies, hunting lodges, farmhouses on islands, etc.

You and Your Family fed. personnel office immigration regional off. grade school teacher, secretary Westhampton yes public (3 of them) no yes U. of Washington, U. of Chicago, U. of Idaho no School of Education, Flu-Miami. also briefly UVA English yes yes no in grad 20 C French lit class taught by Fred Proulx.

Academics Harvard rejected [sic]. State U. Cleap. Respected. Echols Scholar. See Harvard right English (after a yr. in history honors.) I had strong aptitude and interest. 99 GRE Varied widely from dropout paralysis to 24 hour sprints. too much at times. As an Echols scholar and honors student who also took the advanced French classes I always felt very well cared for in seminars. I recall reading Moliere and Corveille with five older students (all women) and Mr. Garlick. Classes were pretty damned wonderful. I got a B+, however, from Mr. Woody, when my 92.4 in French 7 was the highest grade in 2 sections. Woody was a practiced eccentric who taught grammar from a text 30 years old.

Residential Life --

Non-Academic Time I spent a lot of time alone. I also hung out with English faculty and students including writers Henry Taylor, R HW Dillard, David Barney and Kelly Cherry. Mr. Gaston, Robert Scholes (Eng), Bryant Freeman (French) several asst profs ... drama prof David Weis Plume and Sword lit mag. Wrote a few piece, one on Gus Hall when he spoke at U. Va. Had lead roles in U. Va. theatre yes no (Religious: Unitarian.) Civil rights was big. Cold war was getting looney. Dr. Strangelove is still No. 1 on my film list. civil rights ('60s!). Sat in at Buddy's Restaurant. Drinking, girls, jobs, cars.

Charlottesville It was old fashioned, quiet, pleasant. yes civil rights, summer job working on roofs.

Most Vivid Memory The sit-in at Buddy's Restaurant across from Memorial Gymnasium was traumatic. Passion ran high. We were led by two local black ministers. At one point two very large and beefy men came storming across the street from the Virginian tavern and slapped around a black minister. He also punched Prof. Paul Gaston in the mouth,. The man weighed at least 300 pounds and had a very red face. Storm troopers with lighting bolts on their shirtsleeves arrived from Northern Virginia and looked menacing. Sam Garrison, who had attended our civil rights planning meeting also arrived and turned out to be a right-wing plant. He later held a minor post under Nixon. The attack on the minister went to court and was thrown out. I testified, but not well. Buddy Glover closed his restaurant and never re-opened it. Many years later Buddy would treat black women with a kind of exaggerated respect that I assumed was mockery, though I never knew. Is he still in Charlottesville? I never could decide if our sit-in was a good idea or a bad one, but it surely brought out hot feelings. When I look at the U.Va. student body today that sit-in seems like a million years ago. I hope our little demonstration gone awry did more good than harm.

I guess the year was 1963, but I frankly don't recall. I am sure Mr. Gaston does, vividly. Paul Gaston, by the way, was one hell of fine professor back them, and I have thought about him fondly over 30 years. I also recall when a philosophy prof screwed my friend Bob Williams out of Phi Beta Kappa. This prof (an Englishman), also knocked up Kelly Cherry. She had an abortion. Bob Williams did 17 months at McNeil Island Penitentiary as a "draft dodger." He is a man of intense principal who was "defended" in a Richmond court by a man who apparently was getting ready to run for political office. Bob lives in Hood River Oregon. He's a story. PhD in Philosophy.

[Note under “Hometown”]: I had no hometown. My family moved 17 times and I attended 12 public schools. My hometowns included places with 3-room schools, houses with privies, hunting lodges, farmhouses on islands, etc.