Yesterday, of course, was a big news day for me with my son in the middle of the ensuing chaos in Lynchburg, VA. The phone was ringing off the hook both here at the house and before that at work.
I was at work and heard on the radio that Jerry Falwell was found unconscious in his office. I was trying to remember where his office was at Liberty. I've walked by it and saw his name on the door but can't remember which building it was in. I immediately called my son who had not heard a thing about this. He expected an email would go out soon and he'd call me back.
About an hour later my girlfriend called me to tell me Jerry had died. So again, I called David at the very same time he was calling me. It was weird. No rings on either side. We got each other instantly. I was wondering on whose nickel since we both got each other at the same time. He had also just heard the news and was saddened by it. He was two miles from the hospital at Aly's house at this time. He figured there might be alot of action down the street by this time.
He called me back a few minutes later and told me they called Fox News asking if they could do anything. Aly was to start her summer internship at Fox on Friday so she had a connection. Fox said they would take whatever they sent to them and maybe play it on the air. They had no reporters there as of yet and it was going to take about 3 hours or so before they could get anyone there.
So off they went. They got one of the cameras from the communication's department. Aly was moaning about her looks and that she needed to change first and put on makeup. David was like in the moment with no time is like the present mentality. They went around campus and started interviewing the campus pastors and such. They seemed happy with the interviews, the photos of the campus they garnered and sent it off to Fox. I don't know if it made the cut or not because we don't get Fox here, but it was fun for them to do. It also gave Aly a real taste of what is to come for her down the road.
The graduation is on Saturday and the funeral is on Tuesday now. David was supposed to come home on Saturday driving the 14 hours or so home. As much as I'd love to see him come home I advised him to stay thru to the funeral because it's going to be something that he'll be able to tell his kids about. If he and Aly do decide to get married I'm sure they would want their own children to go to Liberty as well. He would be able to tell them he was there on this bittersweet day for Liberty.
Anyhow, I came home yesterday and got David's mail he'd sent me last week. He sent me the last issue of the full sized school newspaper called the Champion. In it was a very big article with pictures of himself. They did a whole article on David. On the front page of the paper there was a good picture of him with the words "UPHILL BATTLE" to the left of his pic and "Liberty junior David blazes the trail in both athletics and business" to his right.
Pretty cool. Inside was a full page article with at least a 5 x 7 pic of him with the title "Shoe contract makes the difference for trail running entrepreneur." In it both David's running career and new writing business were showcased. They did a good job and made David look pretty good. This would have been the last Champion that Falwell read. I guess he was an avid reader besides proofreading all before it went to print.
Anyhow there was a big article on Jerry as well with quite a few pictures including a very large picture of him asleep with his little grandson on his lap both fast asleep head to head. The title of this article was
"Meet the family man, the prankster, the real Dr. Falwell."
Also written "every semester, new fantastic (and strange) stories about our founder work their way into the folklore of Liberty, a 36 year history filled with extraordinary events and perhaps just as many extraordinary urban legends. To sort the real from the made-up, we went to the source."
How ironic is this? In the article are facts and myths about Jerry showcasing his love for God, family and Liberty. This article was probably done a week or so ago along with David's and was very timely. David had no idea when he mailed this to me days ago that I'd get it on the exact day he died.
There was also a picture of Jerry in his signature black suit and red tie on a rollar coaster. The picture looked recent. His pranks were well known around Liberty. His favorite prank accessory was a M-80 firecracker. Has the media ever shed light on this? How many know that he had in the works a snowless ski slope on Liberty Mountain? Skiing in Lynchburg? Now I want to see that.
We'll keep this Champion newspaper as a momento both as the last written before he died and also for the content of the paper itself.