My favorite Ouachita Faculty Member.

My Alma Mater is Ouachita Baptist University, and if you know me very well, you know that OBU holds a very special place in my heart. This year marks OBU's 125th anniversary.  In honor of this milestone, they asked students and alumni to blog about OBU each Tuesday during the month of September.  I missed last Tuesday, but this Tuesday's topic is to share your "favorite Ouachita faculty/staff member" with the OBU blogging community.

Gary and I both agree that Dr. Bill Downs was our favorite OBU professor.  We both had Dr. Downs for multiple Mass Communications classes.  Not only is Dr. Downs an exceptional teacher, full of wisdom, he also has a wonderfully sarcastic sense of humor.  We always looked forward to any Dr. Downs class, because you would never be bored in his class.  I often recorded the funny things he would say to students in class, and I wish I could find them and share them with you all on here.  He treated each student as his equal, and talked to them honestly, like he would a friend.

When Gary and I got married in January of 2007, the weather was icy, so many people traveling from Arkadelphia to Little Rock weren't able to attend the celebration.  Dr. Downs made a point to track down my Dad's cell number the day of our wedding, and call to apologize that he and his wife wouldn't be able to make it to the wedding.  The next week when we returned from our honeymoon, we had a gift waiting from the Downs'.  His wife had made us a set of monogramed towels.  How many people can say that one of their college professors sent monogramed towels hand made by his wife to them as a wedding gift?

When I think back on my time at OBU, I think of all the days I spent in Dr. Downs' classroom, and smile.  He has since retired, and I hate that my younger brother, who is a student at OBU, won't get the pleasure of having Dr. Downs as a professor.

So, thank you Dr. downs for being a wonderful teacher, and friend.  OBU isn't the same without you.

I'm so thankful for my time at Ouachita, the friends I made, and the education I received.  Here's to another 125 years!