Almost five years ago, the beginning of the end of an era began for me with the death of Shelia Campbell. Now, Jeff Campbell, her husband and former Southwestern professor of English throughout much of the 1960s, has died.

Shelia mentored many Southwestern students during their time in Georgetown. For a few years, she was the director of the student union, bringing her into wide contact with students in need of help and guidance. She was a strong, wise, and gentle person, as was Jeff. I remember sharing with her that awful day when we heard the news that President Kennedy had been shot in Dallas. Shelia and eight or nine students huddled around the television set in the Student Union when the news came that the President was dead.

Although Jeff and I had grown up in and around Beaumont, Texas, and both of us had been active in the Methodist church, Jeff was a half-generation older than me and we had never met. When I introduced myself to him as a freshman in 1962, he explained that he, too, was a freshman, having just arrived in Georgetown to begin teaching his first semester at Southwestern. His demeanor instantly put me at ease.

Just before leaving Southwestern for Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, where he became the chair of the English Department (and where he continued teaching until his death), Jeff, an ordained Methodist minister, presided over my marriage to June Chase '66. While not everyone who knew us both was overjoyed with our marriage (June was widely regarded as a gentler soul than I), both Jeff and Shelia knew us well enough to know that this was no frivolous undertaking on our part and gave us their wholehearted support.

Jeff and Shelia meant a great deal to both June and me. They inspired and helped us through the college years, especially in learning to find ways to stay true to our values and beliefs. I credit both of them with helping me find ways to maintain a positive relationship with my parents during those critical late adolescent years. They both possessed uncommon wisdom and intelligence. And they were, for June and me, a couple who modeled egalitarian devotion to one another and to one another’s ideals and aspirations.

Jeff and Shelia encouraged me to follow my muse and leave college after three years to join VISTA and work in a migrant labor project in Florida, a sort of individualized internship before interning became accepted as a vital part of a university experience. They were confident that I would return and complete my degree, which I did, graduating with the class of 1968. Shelia, who grew up in Tupelo, Mississippi, was an ardent civil rights supporter and personal friend of the Rev. Jim Lawson, a United Methodist pastor and national civil rights leader. Jeff, too, had a strong social conscience. I have never forgotten the image of Jeff walking through downtown Georgetown in an antiwar march in 1968 carrying a small American flag. Both of them stood up for human rights, no matter which way the winds were blowing. They were people of strong and thoughtful conviction.

After they left Georgetown, our paths crossed less often, but we stayed in touch. June sometimes visited with Jeff at meetings of English professors. I was always pleased to keep up with their three children, whom I had cared for occasionally as a student when Jeff and Shelia needed to go to community or University functions. Cary, Susan and Charles may be contacted by mail at 410 Morningside, Wichita Falls, TX 76301.

Other faculty and staff members at Southwestern made both my intellectual journey and my personal journey rewarding, but none did so with the impact of Jeff and Shelia Campbell.