Saturday, June 21, 2008
Reverand, Doctor, Brother
Dr. Howard P. Giddens died on Monday Brother Howard P. Giddens died on Monday I remember the first time I came to know about Dr. Giddens. When I first started at Mercer University I learned quickly that a few professors had houses on campus and literally across the street from my dorm. These professors were everyone's favorites, like "Papa Joe" Hendricks, Tom Trimble, as well as Mercer President, Kirby Godsey. But there was another house, a big house, with perhaps the best location. I once asked an upper classman who lived in that house. I was told "Dr. Giddens lives there." I was also told that Mercer had given Dr. Giddens that house to live in as long as he wanted. I made a mental note: "Dr. Giddens must be important." A couple of years later, when I finally had my own car (truck) I became keenly aware of Mercer Police (aka MerPo) and their eagerness to write you a ticket if you parked anywhere near the student center where you weren't supposed to. Yet one day I saw a man in a large car pull right up the the yellow curb, park his car, and get out to slowly walk to the post office. I asked another student how he could get away with it. I was then informed that THAT was Dr. Giddens. I was then told: "If Dr. Giddens wanted to do donuts on the Quad, President Godsey would strap on a helmet and ride shotgun, and MerPo would block off traffic for him." Dr. Giddens must be VERY important. That was more or less all I knew of Dr. Giddens until after I graduated from Mercer. That summer I got a job working in the Post Office. Almost immediately I began to learn just how important Dr. Giddens was. Mailboxes at Mercer are always a premium. When I first started, students had to share mailboxes with another student. Yet there were a very select few non-students who also had boxes. Dr. Giddens had one and it was very close to the front counter. Daily, Dr. Giddens or his wife Gladys, would pull up front, and come in for their mail. Because Dr. Giddens often had trouble working the stupid combination lock, it was fairly standard practice for whoever was working the counter to retrieve his mail and hand it to him. USPS regulations (the fabled DMM) say you should NEVER hand someone's mail across the counter. But Dr. Giddens was important. (Watch Brian flinch when I say "DMM!") That summer, I had also transitioned from being an undergraduate member of ATO to an ATO Alumnus. As an undergraduate I'd been mildly interested in my chapter's alumni, and in particular why we never saw any. Now that I WAS an alumni, I was determined to do something about that. I requested from our national headquarters a full list of Alpha Zeta (Mercer Chapter) alumni. As I went through the list a familiar name and address popped out at me: Dr. Howard P. Giddens. He was also the oldest living Mercer ATO as far as records and research could find. Brother Giddens was very important. As you read through messages left on his memorial guestbook you will see that he touched many many lives. He touched mine, too. I never got to take one of his classes. I never got to hear one of his sermons. But I got to enjoy his brotherhood. Some days I would be sitting out on the porch in front of the post office while on break. If I saw Dr. Giddens pull up, I would hop up to run and get his mail. He didn't move especially fast so I would beat him every time. He'd always greet me with a "Hey there, young feller!" On a few occasions he'd pull up a chair on the porch for few minutes and we'd talk about Mercer in the old days and sometimes ATO in the old days. He was absolutely fascinating, and a complete and true southern gentleman. I valued the time I got to spend with him. He was one of the few professors at Mercer I never got to take a class with, but will always wish I had. Any time I had the opportunity to be talking with a younger ATO when Dr. Giddens came around, I always pointed him out and explained just how important he was. In hindsight, I had assumed the roll of that senior who advised me my freshman year. I finally started to grasp just how important Dr. Giddens was a few years later as Mercer began their out of control building spree. All of the faculty houses that were across the street from my dorm were now "in the way" of Mercer's master plan to build a unified Greek Village for the fraternities and Sororities. Nothing stands in the way of that kind of "progress" so some people simply had to move. Papa Joe and Trimble moved to new houses. Not Dr. Giddens. As I got off work one day and started walking back towards my apartment (from the PO in Building 15 to my apartment in Building 87 in the map below.) I saw something strange. There was a lot of construction equipment and work going on at the Gidden's house. I wandered over to see what was going on. It was then that I found out that Dr. and Mrs Giddens weren't moving, their house was. Mercer was going to move their house! That might not seem such a big deal until you see just how big the undertaking was.  The Giddens' house had been sitting where the red circle to the left side of the map is, on the edge of what is now the Greek (Fraternity/Sorority) Village. They had to jack up this 3 story house, load it onto a truck, roll it down the hill on Edgewood Ave. This required cutting down a few trees that had been planted in the middle of the street a few years back, and lifting powerlines up and over the roof of the house. They then had to turn 90° counter clockwise and travel up College Street before depositing it in on the corner of College and Elm St., where the other red circle is. At one point I thought the whole thing was going to topple over as they made the turn onto College in front of the Library. Brother Giddens was always a very quiet, gentle, unassuming man. Quick with a smile, a quiet laugh, and a hand shake. ON occasion, he came to visit the ATO house, oddly enough built almost in his old back yard. I was always amazed that simply by entering the room, the room seemed to get bigger. Everyone lowered their voice, and a sense of calm just seemed to flow out of him. Brother Giddens was very very important. Maybe Brother Giddens didn't want to do donuts on the Quad after all. Maybe he just wanted to drive his house through the middle of campus and in the "pedestrian walkways" that everyone hated. As that Senior had once predicted, MerPo did in fact block off the streets for him. |
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Jason,
Thank you so much for your words about Dr. Giddens. He was indeed an important man although he didn't think so, which was part of his greatness.
I took five of his classes. It was a wonderful experience.
Again, thanks, and blessings to you.
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Thank you so much for your words about Dr. Giddens. He was indeed an important man although he didn't think so, which was part of his greatness.
I took five of his classes. It was a wonderful experience.
Again, thanks, and blessings to you.
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