A Huge Loss for Harding

Dr. Jimmy Carr left us last week, and we will feel his loss from us for many many years. Men like him don't come along very often.

In the summer of 1974, Harding had begun a new program for incoming freshman......it was called "Early Orientation" back then. Dr. Carr had initiated this wonderful tool to help incoming Freshman get a step ahead in getting ready to come to college in a few months. If I am not mistaken, the one I attended in the early summer of 74was one of the first orientations that Harding had organized. There were close to 50 of us who had decided to take advantage of this visionary process of getting acclimated to Harding and college life. Guess who was our host for those 3 days or so together......yep, Dr. Jimmy Carr. Within MINUTES of being with us, we felt like we had known him our whole lives! I found out later that it wasn't just this arena that he made people feel that way, because he did it ALL the time. It's just who he was. Before we left campus, he had us all gather in the Administration Auditorium and answered any questions we had. He also encouraged us to be intentional about coming back in a few months and being ready to be a college student. The last thing we did was sing "Bless Be the Tie". When we left campus, we already felt like a family! If I am not mistaken, every single one of us ended up here a few months later for the beginning of school. I know there were a lot of factors in all us coming back to begin our freshman year, but Jimmy Carr was a HUGE factor. I knew I didn't want to let him down. I had sent my registration in to the Admissions Office at Harding earlier that Spring because my parents wanted me to, both of them being Alums. I had also sent my registration in to Lipscomb. A LOT of my friends from Florence were going to Lipscomb. After that orientation, there was no doubt where I was going to school.......Harding College, because Jimmy Carr was there. I found out later that there were a LOT of other wonderful people at Harding, too many to name here. But Dr. Carr was my introduction into the Harding Family, and I will forever be in his debt.

I've known a lot of giant men that really ended up to be small when I got to know them. Jimmy Carr was a small man that was a GIANT when you got to know him, and that didn't take long! :)

I loved him, and I will miss him.