I had a suitemate at Anderson College named Lenny Farmer. His real first name was "Walter", which may be why we became friends originally. He was a year older than me, but we were in the same Freshman class. He was into music, as I was, so we would compare songs that we liked. I played "The Pusher" by Steppenwolf for him. He liked the message of the song but not the profanity. He told me he wouldn't listen to it in the car. He gave me an album by The Mothers of Invention called "Absolutely Free", and I fell in love with it. I had never heard Frank Zappa before, but I really got into it.
As I wrote about earlier, Lenny was in the school choir. He asked me one afternoon if I would help him move a piano onto the stage of the auditorium for chapel the next morning. When we got there, a play rehearsal was going on. We sat in the back of the auditorium to wait until they got finished. A student came up to us and asked if we wanted to be in the play. Lenny said no, but I said yes. Even though I had done some acting before I got to college, I was planning to major in English and become the next great writer. My life changed that day, and I changed my major to Speech and Drama.
Lenny and I were nominated for Who's Who in American Junior Colleges our sophomore year. They took our pictures to be in the college's yearbook. Everyone knew he and I were best friends, so they positioned the single pictures so that we were next to one another. By now, Lenny was the president of the choir, and I was "Joe College" in Theatre. He had an apartment off campus, and I spent a lot of time there. When we graduated from Anderson, we were both named to the prestigious "Denmark Society", and we stood next to one another for that group picture.
After graduation, we sort of split up due to our change in venues, but we kept in touch. As I was planning to be a famous actor, he went into the ministry. Lenny graduated from Southern Seminary and later Southwestern Seminary, where I went. As time went on, he was pastoring a church in Saluda, SC. I was working at Belk in Columbia Mall, and he came by to take me to lunch. He told me that he wanted to start a television ministry in Saluda, and he wanted me to help him. I told him that I really wasn't qualified, as I had taken only one course in Radio and Televison at Southwestern. I did give him some suggestions on people he could contact. I don't think that ministry ever happened in Saluda.
He served several churches ending up in Tennessee with his wife and family. He became a die-hard sports fan of the University of Tennessee, and he would rib me about liking the University of South Carolina. If one team won over the other, we would send each other emails laughing about the game. He had a great sense of humor. Lenny was like a brother to me. He died on June 1st, 2025 of heart problems. I couldn't believe it, when I heard the news. He had tried to retire from the ministry, but you can really never retire. I will miss our laughs. He loved the Lord and served Him to his last breath.
God puts people in our paths all the time. Some change the course of your life. Lenny was that person for me.
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