My fondest memories with Ted are scratching his head late at night. Sometimes we would watch a movie but usually we’d talk about Jesus, Theo, brother Tom’s son Brandon, my son William, our family tree, the Civil War, GTOs, and/or politics. He loved to have his head scratched. We have many other great memories. Ted and I had the opportunity to play inter- mural hoops at Purdue. One night Ted must have had at least 30 points. They played a box & 1 against us. We just kept feeding Ted & he couldn’t miss. When I was a Senior at New Haven & Ted was a Freshman, Ted got into an altercation with an upperclassman in the parking lot. I went running to get involved but when I arrived everyone had dispersed. Later Ted told me I was afraid at first. Then he hit me and I thought this guy doesn’t hit near as hard as Bill. After that day, I never hit him again.
Augie (my roommate at Purdue) and I headed to New Haven one Friday evening. We arrived at my parents’ house on Abbey court. When Mom remarried we moved to a nice big house in the city. As we approached Abbey Court, we noticed cars parked on both sides of the street before our turn on Abbey Court. After our turn this continued for the entire street. Our parents were out of town and Ted was having a party. I do not recall why. We helped them resolve problems with Ted’s stereo. He had blown a channel so we placed it on mono and turned the volume back up. I was then summoned to the front yard to explain what was going on to the Police. He wanted to know whose house it was whose party it was and most of all who supplied the beer. I did my best to answer his questions. He directed me to have the place empty in 30 minutes or I was going to jail. Augie & I returned at ~3:00am. We spent the rest of the weekend repairing damage to the house and yard.
Early one Friday evening, Augie & I were heading to IU to see Journey. Clandis was supplying 2nd row seats. It was winter; it was cold and right at dusk. The temperature was dropping fast. Just as we were leaving the Purdue campus we saw a person hitch-hiking. Augie thought it was Ted so we swung back around and indeed it was. Ted had a big sign “New Haven” and that was it, no money, no bags, and no food. Ted was heading to a “gathering” in New Haven. Of course we could not convince Ted to stay at Purdue for the weekend. So we rerouted our trip through Indy. We bought Ted some food, gave him a little money, and dropped him off on I69. We headed towards IU and he on to New Haven.
Well, after his neck injury n 1996 Ted’s “gatherings” were mainly with people from Grace. I know his brothers in Christ from Grace Gathering brought him much joy. He spoke very often and fondly of working with the young kids Bible study and the singles ministry.
