October 5th, 1997 - Dee's birthday (also the day after our wedding)
...a late breakfast at the swanky Hotel Nikko in Atlanta.
Bill and Diana had driven down from Greensboro to be at our wedding. It was so great that they were able to make that weekend all the more special. Many of my best memories are associated with spending time with "Ma and Pa Knox."
One of the most formative experiences of my life was the year I spent with Bill and Paul Lindsay researching and co-writing our book, Does College Make a Difference. It was 1987, and we three had met at a "singing restaurant" outside of Chapel Hill where my then-husband was playing the piano. How improbable that the boisterous conversation that Bill initiated with the piano player would result in co-authoring a book!
Bill and Paul and I secured an austere office in the basement of the social science research lab in Chapel Hill, where we worked together many hours each week. In a room that barely fit three metal desks, Bill's personality and enthusiasm swept us all along... The highlight of those workdays was our spirited conversations.
An irreplaceable gift of that period was discoveirng how to take advantage of the unique strengths each of us brought to the project. Bill's comprehensive education and commitment to excellence, along with his fluid and expressive writing, were essential to our project. Less tangible, though, was the humanizing effect of his authentic presence. He taught this raw 25-year-old graduate student that professionalism can be profoundly human and relational.
I remain indebted to Bill these decades later, for showing me that working collaboratively makes life more fun, for his many stories that broadened me, and for valuing and encouraging my contributions. In some way, his respectful mentoring and the life he inserted into that bare office have created the standard that every job I've had since is measured against.
Memorial service for Bill Knox
Sat. Dec 14, 11am-1pm
Alumni House at UNC-G
404 College Avenue
Greensboro, NC
The family gratefully requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be sent to the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina
Bill Knox was a large part of the reason I loved my time at UNCG so much. It was Bill who, as graduate director, raided UNC-Chapel Hill’s "rejects" file for promising grad students who might thrive at UNCG. When he invited me to apply I was so flattered (and so bereft of other good opportunities) that I leapt at the chance.
I did thrive, and still look back at my two years there as the most interesting and fulfilling of my life. The faculty as a whole were great, but Bill was more like an intellectual “parent” than any of the others. As an educator now myself, I tend to pooh-pooh stories about teachers who take a personal interest in their students and thus have a positive affect their lives. Such cliché, so hackneyed. But that’s only because I too easily forget what Bill gave to me.
He was the model of the gentleman scholar, erudite, jocular, and interested in everything. His friendship has been active and enthusiastic to this day, and I am grateful for having been invited into his family circle so warmly over the years.
1977... on a December evening a few years ago, I walked up the steps to the front porch at Knox Acres in Greensboro. I had been prepped, and was ready to meet a "big" personality.
Through the glass in the front door I saw the folks at the dinner table... about two nanosends passed between my knock at the door and Bill leaping out of his chair, bounding across the front room, opening the door and bellowing "Hi DWAYNE," which was funny because he knew that my name is Wayne.
thus began a long apprenticeship. I've been told that I'm pretty funny... I have also been told that the best way to learn is to hang around people smarter than you. If the same is true for humor, I have been fortunate to have spent so many afternoons and evenings with one of the funniest folks around.
