Gary and Tim lived in the room next to Don and me in Eldridge Hall. We shared a wall. Don and my suitemates were Paul from Jackson and another guy from Gross Pointe.
Gary, Tim, Don and I were freshmen. Paul was a transfer from Jackson Community College, and the guy from Gross Pointe (I’ll call him GPG) transferred from somewhere too. Eldridge Hall opened that fall in 1965. Many of the guys on our floor were freshmen or transfer students from other schools.
Don and I struck a friendship right from the start. When you live with someone you get to know them right away, decide to get along, or one of you “gets gone”. Gary and Tim were from Dearborn and chose to live as roommates. Even though Don and I shared a bathroom with Paul and GPG we never really became friends.
One thing I learned about GPG was he never did laundry. Don and I were in his room 
sometime around Halloween. We had all moved in to Western in August. GPG was going home for the week-end for a Halloween Party. He was packing up a big box when we walked in. He had – cross my heart – thirty pair of underwear and sox in the box. Our conversation went something like this.
Me: “Why do you have thirty pair of underwear!?!?”
GPG: “Because I wear a clean pair everyday.”
Me: “I do to, but I don’t have thirty pair.”
GPG: “I don’t do laundry.”
As the conversation continued we learned that GPG took all his shirts and slacks to a local laundry for cleaning. For some reason, his mom bought him thirty pair of underwear and sox so he’d have a clean pair everyday. I suspect that she thought that he might be willing to wear a soiled shirt and slacks from time to time, but she wanted to rest easy knowing that “at least he had clean underwear.” He went home once a month and mom did the laundry.
Don and I decided to introduce ourselves to our wall mates shortly after school started that fall . We knocked on the door and heard a welcoming, “Come on in.” Our first glimpse of Gary and Tim told me that they were serious students. They were sitting side by side with furrowed brows in matching study areas, books open, and reading lamps lit.
The pair shared that they were both from Dearborn and had gone to high school together. Don and I provided an equally brief introduction. I don’t recall Tim’s intended path, but Gary was going to become a dentist, Don was in paper technology, and I was going to be an attorney. Four years later we had all changed our minds, and none of us hit our intended target.
During that first visit I learned that Gary was a former standout football player at Divine Child High School. He had brought his scrapbook to college and he shared it during that first meeting. The sharing wasn’t boastful but matter of fact.
In subsequent visits I learned that he had been offered a football scholarship from a Michigan school that began with an A. I believe it was Albion. Gary took a pass, tried out for Western’s team as a “walk-on” but decided to focus on his studies when the first depth chart listed him as “third string. That designation moved him to surrender his gridiron career.
To be honest, after fifty-four years I’m not clear on the college that offered Gary the scholarship, or his standing as a walk-on, but I clearly remember the scrapbook. He had reason to be proud.
At the end of the semester GPG was gone. Paul from Jackson had two more roommates during the second semester. The first guy majored in drinking beer and blasting out beer farts. He lasted about six weeks. Chuck took his place and became a life long friend.
Don and Tim became roommates during our Sophomore year. Gary moved up the hall towards the elevator. John, a transfer from Norwood, joined Gary. As for me, I moved off campus with Aunt Emma, Uncle Jack, and cousin, Ruth Ellen. Much of my time on campus was spent with Gary and that’s when the adventure truly began.