I had just finished my first year in the business department and decided to cram in English and history during my second year. I took "American History I" the first semester under Dr. Pliska and made a solid "B." Then I decided to take "American History II" under Dr. Bill Whitehurst. A real showman.

One day we were talking about exploration in the new world and such famous explorers as Henry Hudson, Ponce de León and the most famous one, Christopher Columbus. The lecture ended with Columbus dying and being buried in Spain. Up went my hand. I said, "Professor, Columbus was buried in Santo Domingo, not Spain." The reason I knew this was when I was in the Navy, one of our liberty ports was Santo Domingo, and I took a tour that included Columbus' burial plot. So we went at it several times that day: Spain/Santo Domingo, Santo Domingo/Spain.

That night, I went home and was browsing through Life magazine when I came across a story of Columbus and a picture of his burial plot in Santo Domingo. I smiled to myself and brought the magazine to class the next day. So as not to show Bill up, I took the magazine to his office. Upon showing him the picture, he looked up and said to me, "This is the 'alleged' burial place."

From then on, when he took the roll call of the class, and my name came up, he would ask, "Is Mr. Columbus present?"

- Allan Colton '62
Virginia Beach, Va.