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I enjoyed nothing more than teaching, which I worked at for only about 20 years of my working life. I came to it late in life, at the age of 43, but I came to it with a passion. There were several reasons why I finally chose the path that I had been thinking about for years and years.
The first reason is probably the fact that I, myself, loved going to college and graduate school. I was lucky, too, in that I had almost 100% excellent professors and instructors, no matter the subject. I was an excellent student when I wanted to be, which was most of the time, and I had always been intellectually curious. Another reason is that as I worked in other fields, I missed the give and take which had always been a part of my classroom activity as a student. Finally, I wanted to continue learning in an active way. And I did learn from my students, at least as much as they learned from me.
After a tour in the U. S. Marine Corps, I returned to Birmingham, Alabama, and went to work for the U. S. Postal Service. I was 21 years old, and it was the best job I'd ever had. But early on I knew that a career in the post office wasn't for me. So I took the requisite tests to enter the University of Alabama Extension Center on the southside of the city. This was several years before it all became The University of Alabama at Birmingham (U. A. B.), which was to become my alma mater. I entered the Extension in September 1962. I graduated in the second graduating class at U. A. B. in 1971 with a B. A. in English.
When I entered that first English class in the Fall Quarter 1962, I met a woman who would change my life, Elizabeth Brock, PhD. Dr. Brock was a formidable intellect, a great teacher, and the first truly liberated woman I had ever seen. Any student could see that she believed without qualification in what she was doing, so it was easy for me to believe in it. She encouraged me in my writing, pushed me to keep polishing it. Things she said to the class I still remember clearly, and I decided that if majoring in English could develop such a person as she, then it was for me. Someone once asked me what I was going to do with a major in English. My reply was simple, "Enjoy it." I was able to contact Dr. Brock a few years ago at her retirement home and tell her what she had meant to me. We both enjoyed the conversation very much.
In the summer of 1964, I transferred to a well-respected, private, liberal-arts college, Birmingham-Southern C0llege. Once I adjusted to the pace of the place, I even made the Dean's List while working full-time and trying to support a family. However, I also partied too much, lost my job, and left school. In the Fall of 1969, I returned to U. A. B. with a resolve to finish, which I did. In June 1971, with my wife, 3 children, and grandmother present, I walked across the stage and took my degree. I was worth every late night study session and every sleepy day.
After getting a job in the federal service, I began graduate school at U. A. B. on a part-time basis in the Fall of 1972. Again, I loved the study, and I loved the academic atmosphere. I studied on a graduate level until I transferred in my work to Florida in December 1975. Of course, my graduate study was interrupted -- until September 1976, when I began a course of study at Stetson University in DeLand, Florida, another well-respected, private, liberal-arts university. I finished my course work in 1979, but due to family problems, didn't submit my thesis until November 1983. It was quite well received, and I was quite relieved. My grandmother attended that graduation, too. And the M. A. led to my first teaching job in September 1984 at Valencia Community College, Orlando, Florida. I walked into that first class scared out of my mind, but a few sentences later, I was right at home, happily at home, feeling that I should've been there all my working life.
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