Making Connections, Renewing Memories

I had the most amazing experience today. I was in Nashville for a meeting at the Youth Opportunity Center. Erin Daunic, who works for STARS Nashville, was giving us a tour of the building. She showed us her office and I stepped in to admire the view of downtown Nashville from her window. As I turned back towards the door, I saw her framed diplomas on the wall. One was from Vanderbilt, the other from Washington and Lee.

I said, "I see you went to Washington and Lee." She said yes, and I said, "I used to live in Buena Vista." She said, "When? Why?" I said, "In the 60's, because my dad worked at Southern Seminary." She said, "I worked there my first job out of college! I worked in the Admissions office!" She said, "Where did you live?" I replied, "Across the street from the campus." She exclaimed, "In that big beautiful white house?" I said, "No, the Robeys lived in that house. We lived next door." She said, "In the white house? That's where my office was!"

I asked Erin if she happened to work in the room upstairs on the left, and she replied that she worked in the room upstairs on the right. I told her that was my brother's bedroom, and mine was on the left. I said that I actually had the room on the right until we remodeled the house when my dad became president of the college.

Erin said, "That house had an unusual walk-down bathroom." I said yes, that bathroom opened into my parents' bedroom. I told her that before we moved there, the house had been used as faculty housing. Each bedroom had its own sink, and the bathroom had a shower and 2 toilet stalls. When we remodeled, we put in the tub and opened it up to the bedroom next door. I said that was when I moved across the hall, because I had a tiny powder room and lots of built-in shelves and closets. She said, "Yes! That was the financial aid office!" I told her we added on the family room at the back, and the big kitchen.

Erin asked if I went to Buena Vista (pronounced "byoona vista") High School, and I said, "Yes, Parry McCluer." She said, "Yes! Parry McCluer! That was at the bottom of the hill!" I agreed that it was, indeed, at the bottom of the hill. I told her I lived there when the big flood came through with Hurricane Camille. Erin told me that she also grew up on college campuses, and so did her husband. We agreed that it was a unique lifestyle, and nobody could understand unless they did.

We talked a little bit about the campus, various buildings on it, and memories. I mentioned that the college had a good equestrian program while we were there. She said it did when she was there too, and asked if I were an equestrian. I said, "No, but my dad always loved horses." Then I said, "My brother spent a lot of time on the tennis courts," to which she replied, "Which were right across the street from your hous!" Yes, they were.

We moved away from Buena Vista in 1970, and Erin went there in 1994. In the 43 years since I moved from there, I've never come across anyone who lived there. Erin's lived in Nashville 17 years, and said she's never met anyone from there in those years. Now we have, and not onlly someone who lived there, but someone who shared the same house, many years apart. Amazing.