This is where Uncle Kermit lived (University Arms Apartments) when he was teaching at Texas Tech from 1976 until he retired in the early 1990s. If you took a class in Philosophy Of Science, you might remember him (Evan K. Jobe).
It was a nice, solid place back then where a lot of students stayed, and there was a swimming pool as well. I loved to swim there.
My folks and I would usually stay at a little Mom & Pop motel next door called The Stadium Motel.
Because my uncle was such a great tenant, the then-manager worked out an arrangement with him in 1980 where my folks and I could sublet two studio apartments (one for my folks and one for me) for a couple of weeks for a very good price (Uncle Kermit's treat).
It turned out that the apartment where I stayed was the very same one rented by John Hinckley for a time. Of course, we didn't know anything about John Hinckley, as he hadn't tried to shoot President Reagan yet. Uncle Kermit had said that he was surprised when he found out who had shot The President because he had always seemed like such a polite and friendly man when he lived there.
I believe that I had met John during the summer of 1979 while walking on campus one morning, but that's another story. I was also very favorably impressed by him (or whomever it was that I'd met--again, another story).
It's sad to think of this once nice neighborhood going so far downhill that most of it had to be razed--including the apartments, though not the motel--but I'm glad that it's being replaced by something better.
I still like to think of Lubbock in the way that I remember it where we drove towards it from the east and were out in the darkness. Then, all at once, we would begin to see the welcoming, sparkling lights of the city off to the west becoming more and more visible as we would arrive in Lubbock just in time to check into our motel and enjoy a late meal with Uncle Kermit and visit until time to go to sleep for the night and wake up the next day to the start of a wonderful vacation with an even more wonderful uncle!
Ainsley Jo Phillips
It was a nice, solid place back then where a lot of students stayed, and there was a swimming pool as well. I loved to swim there.
My folks and I would usually stay at a little Mom & Pop motel next door called The Stadium Motel.
Because my uncle was such a great tenant, the then-manager worked out an arrangement with him in 1980 where my folks and I could sublet two studio apartments (one for my folks and one for me) for a couple of weeks for a very good price (Uncle Kermit's treat).
It turned out that the apartment where I stayed was the very same one rented by John Hinckley for a time. Of course, we didn't know anything about John Hinckley, as he hadn't tried to shoot President Reagan yet. Uncle Kermit had said that he was surprised when he found out who had shot The President because he had always seemed like such a polite and friendly man when he lived there.
I believe that I had met John during the summer of 1979 while walking on campus one morning, but that's another story. I was also very favorably impressed by him (or whomever it was that I'd met--again, another story).
It's sad to think of this once nice neighborhood going so far downhill that most of it had to be razed--including the apartments, though not the motel--but I'm glad that it's being replaced by something better.
I still like to think of Lubbock in the way that I remember it where we drove towards it from the east and were out in the darkness. Then, all at once, we would begin to see the welcoming, sparkling lights of the city off to the west becoming more and more visible as we would arrive in Lubbock just in time to check into our motel and enjoy a late meal with Uncle Kermit and visit until time to go to sleep for the night and wake up the next day to the start of a wonderful vacation with an even more wonderful uncle!
Ainsley Jo Phillips
February 9, 2013
