Latest news with #ErskineCollege
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Lessons from a life and 50 years of marriage in the Lowcountry
After 50 years of marriage, I'd like to say my beautiful wife and I have come a long way, but we haven't. Certainly there could be better things to tell her as we mark our golden anniversary this weekend. Sybil and I roared into the region and so-called adulthood in 1975 in a musty 1964 Chevrolet Chevelle I'd paid $400 for that summer. We headed for the South Carolina Lowcountry, where we remain glued to the pluff mud of life. Headmaster Dan Dempsey had offered us both a job at Thomas Heyward Academy in Ridgeland, and that's where we wound up right out of Erskine College where we met in Due West. On our honeymoon in North Carolina, I looked in the phone book at the Days Inn, searching for a fine restaurant. I decided the way to tell if it was a nice restaurant was to ask if they had mushrooms on the salad bar. They did. Today, we live all of 35 miles from the little house in Grahamville we rented back then from Charlie and Rebecca Malphrus for $90 a month. I misgauged the timing for our first paycheck, so we actually started this gig in the hole after banker Jimmy Rhodes overlooked my knocking knees with a smile to lend us a couple hundred bucks. In the Lowcountry, we found wonderful people who called each other Bo and talked funny, eh? We learned there are people in this world who ride sandy roads shrouded by gracious trees — to hunt snakes. We didn't know it at the time, but those roads — and the john boats of Bolan Hall Landing — were binding themselves to our DNA. That's why it hurts today to see that rare jewel of earth get swallowed by so-called progress. Sybil taught language arts for 31 years, mostly middle school on Hilton Head Island, our home town. And I worked for the local newspaper. Delmar Rivers gave me a start at The Jasper County News. My mother-in-law parted with her old portable typewriter. A man in Beaufort cleaned it as good as new, and I clumsily banged my way through the 'Typing in 10 Easy Lessons' booklet, my jerky stops and starts sounding like the freight trains I hopped during my misspent youth. Sybil and I had two beautiful children, Burke and Ann Talley, now grown. We look back on it all in our so-called retirement and wonder how in the world we did it. It was survival, one day at a time. Life was a blur. For decades. It hit me hard on an afternoon I left the office to attend the memorial service for a snake-collecting friend that was held deep in the woods at the ruins of the Thomas Heyward home in Jasper County. On the dash back to the office, I wondered where the time went. Now, we see the care our son and his divine wife are giving to our perfect grandson and think we were horrible parents. But then, both children prove that wrong. Now, I look in the mirror and ask, 'Who's that?' These days, I want to make only right turns. A 35-mile trip to Beaufort feels like an overnight flight to Shanghai. I still write a regular column each week, and I wonder if I've turned into the old grouch who complains in the newspaper and tells people to get off my lawn. Nothing makes sense any more. College football players are paid millions of dollars. Baseball starters only pitch four innings. The United States Capitol has been besieged by insurrectionists. The 'social media' that consumes us is largely unsociable. Life has come full circle as my dear mother, now 96, who has doted over me and prayed for me every day of my life is in a nursing-home bed, needing the loving ballast she always provided in good times and in bad. Fifty years of marriage has proven that this world is held together by good people. We've been blessed with magnificent siblings, in-laws, aunts and uncles, cousins, bosses, work colleagues, neighbors and friends. We've been blessed with an unmatched place to call home. I've learned that 'this too shall pass' and that you don't have to resolve everything 'this red hot minute.' I've learned that when things are bad, you list everything you're thankful for. I've learned that faith is the strongest foundation. Maybe the best symbol of it all is the cast iron skillet Sybil and I bought 50 years ago at the hardware store in Ridgeland. It's nothing fancy. It's steady and sturdy. And if you let it, the relic will serve up life's finest delicacies, like shrimp in brown gravy, or a pan of crispy, crusty cornbread. Much better than mushrooms on the salad bar. David Lauderdale may be reached at lauderdalecolumn@ Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Future of private Carolina colleges uncertain amid nationwide closures
DAVIDSON, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) – In the last week, two Carolina private colleges closed their doors citing financial instability: Limestone University in Gaffney, S.C. and St. Andrews University in Laurinburg, N.C. On Wednesday, students at Limestone University started moving out – less than 24 hours after finding out the school was closing for good. Chris Marsicano is an associate professor and chair of the Educational Studies Department at Davidson College. He said the idea of colleges closing is something they've been watching for a decade. 'The COVID pandemic and changes in student tastes over the past couple of years have really, though, put pressure on small private schools, especially outside of urban areas to continue their operations,' Marsciano said. 'Colleges are pushed to demonstrate their value, and with colleges that can show they can get students great jobs, and they can expand their horizons, and they can give them the next opportunities, those are the places that are going to have no trouble surviving. Those that can't, it's going to be really hard.' Erskine College, located near Greenwood, S.C., is offering a $25,000 scholarship to anyone from Limestone University looking for a new home. Brianne Holmes is the Director of Marketing and Communications at Erskine College. She said last year was one of the best financially for the school. 'We want them to know that we're here for them and that we would like to be able to welcome them on campus if they think this would be a great school for them,' Holmes said. 'We can't replace their Limestone home, but we hope we can give them a second home that they can enjoy.' Holmes said the age of Erskine and class sizes should feel familiar for Limestone students. The scholarship would be for all the years that they attend Erskine. Marsicano said Limestone students should take advantage of opportunities like this. He said colleges have shown to be resilient – even in rural areas. 'This is probably not the end of small colleges across the country, especially those places that have strong alumni ties or some large endowments,' Marsicano said. 'There are a lot of opportunities out there, you just have to go find them.' Marsicano said he is keeping his eye on St. Augustine's University in Raleigh. He said the school lost its accreditation and has been struggling. 'I think it could be any day now, but they've shown themselves to be resilient before – they've come back from the brink multiple times,' Marsicano said. 'I wouldn't count them out just yet.' According to Marsicano, Limestone and St. Andrews had turnaround strategies. St. Andrews sold itself to Webber International University, and Limestone invested heavily in its athletics programs. Both the men's and women's lacrosse teams could potentially continue after the college is closed because they are some of the best in the country. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
