When A Man's 90 Memories Of Boys Grown Old Crowd 'Round', 1956

A newspaper article describing a 90 year old Enoch Donaldson
Title
When A Man's 90 Memories Of Boys Grown Old Crowd 'Round', 1956
Description
A newspaper article describing a 90 year old Enoch Donaldson
Creator
Charles Kuralt
Date
June 4, 1956
Text
Enoch Donaldson has been standing there to greet the graduating class of Davidson College every May since 1883, which is a lot of Mays.
And when Davidson's graduates stepped out into the sunlight from Chambers Auditorium last week with the tassels on their caps swinging in their faces, Enoch Donaldson was there.
Some gave him unknowing looks, and he was sorry about that. He didn't know them.
But he knew their fathers and their fathers' fathers, and some of these men, old men themselves now, were there to greet him and to inquire about his health after the fashion of old men.
Remarkably little of the education that Enoch Donaldson worked around for so many years ever rubbed off on him. He isn't even sure how old he is, exactly, but he thinks he was born three years after "the freedom," which would make him 90.
He can't read and he can't count, but a man doesn't have to know how to count to understand the value of things.
What Enoch Donaldson values is the friendship of the campus and the town, and he likes to say the names of the old men of Davidson: "Dr. J. B. Shearer," he'll say, "and Dr. Douglas and Dr. Jackson and Dr. Lingle, all friends of mine."
The boys didn't know who it was they were walking by in their moment of pride and accomplishment, but their fathers did, and they walked up to Enoch Donaldson and slapped him on the back.
"Enoch," they'd say, "do you remember the time you were sweeping out my room and the mouse came out..."
Or, "Enoch," they say, "do you remember the night the train wrecked and spilled liquor all over the tracks..."
Or, "Remember when President Wilson came to the campus and how the Secret Service men tried to keep everybody away..."
And of course, Enoch was able to summon up all those memories.
The old grads really didn't have to ask.
They should have known that when a man is 90 years old and doesn't have a broom to push or classrooms to clean up or horses to tether on the south campus any more, the memories are what he lives on.
Publisher
Charlotte News
Language
English
Source
Folder: Janitors at Davidson College

Part of Enoch Donaldson