Dear Editor,
I read with great sadness Jeremy Arnold’s recent “Edge of Sanity” article about the impending destruction of Frank Clement Dorm.
I lived there myself from fall of 1991 until spring of 1995. Is that a record? Does that make me a loser for living in the dorms so long? Probably, but I wouldn’t trade a day I spent there for any day in an off- campus apartment.
I made some of my best friends in life in Frank Clement and I’m still in contact with them today. In fact, every couple of years we have what we call The Frankie C. reunion where we all meet up at a location in the U.S. and hang out and talk about the memories from our college days and make some more. Recently we all went skiing and before that we took a trip to Orlando.
We were a diverse group. There’s Jeremy who is now a physics professor. Steve the physical therapist. Lee the camera man for a TV station. James the probation officer. Jim the navy pilot.
We came from different backgrounds but came together as friends in Frank Clement. We also counted among our friends Rob Thorne, the late serviceman who is now honored with a memorial golf tournament at ETSU.
When we’re together now we always take a moment to remember Rob and all the hanging out we did in his room on the first floor of Frank Clement and all the crazy bands he exposed us to.
It will be sad to see Frank Clement go for sure but I’ll always have my memories of living in Room 204.
I always wondered if there were other people who loved living there as much as I did and who had fond memories. I’m glad to read that Jeremy Arnold did as well.
Joey CrossP.S. I would just like to say that never once did I climb out of a third-story window at Frank Clement and get on the roof and then go through the trap door on the roof into the third-floor janitor’s closet and unlock the door so that a bunch of other guys could go through the janitor’s closet onto the roof and throw water balloons at passing cars.That never happened.

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