A good friend of my father who went to school at JMU in the early 70s during the height of the Vietnam War told the following story about Dr. Carrier. During that period protests on college campuses were the norm and a group of JMU students decided to march up to the president’s house and have a Vietnam protest. In that period the president’s house use to be on campus. A number of universities actually ended the semesters early to avoid some of the problems that these large Vietnam protests created. According to my dad’s friend, Uncle Ron came out of his house, walked up to one of the leaders of the protest and said, “I am going to count to ten and if you are still here when I am done counting I am going to punch you in the face.” Apparently the entire crowd immediately dispersed. Three or four years ago my father bumped into “Uncle Ron” while walking on campus near where the JMU presidents use to live. Looking for some entertainment and wanting to see how he would react, my father asked him if this wasn’t pretty near to the location of the JMU Vietnam protest. Ron said yes it was and that at the time of the incident he was brushing his teeth in his slippers and bathrobe when Edith informed him that there was group of protesters outside of the house. Ron said he marched out the door in his bathrobe and slippers, went up to the biggest protester and said, “if you are not out of here in 10 seconds I am going to punch you in the f***ing face.” According to my dad, you could tell that Dr. Carrier enjoyed telling the entire story but he really took pleasure in describing how quickly the crowd dispersed.

Uncle Ron was quite the character and will be missed! He was by no means perfect and had some faults and pissed some people off but he had some balls. He probably would have worn the cowboy hat the correct direction as well.

(09-22-2017 04:27 PM)UofRfan Wrote:  A good friend of my father who went to school at JMU in the early 70s during the height of the Vietnam War told the following story about Dr. Carrier. During that period protests on college campuses were the norm and a group of JMU students decided to march up to the president’s house and have a Vietnam protest. In that period the president’s house use to be on campus. A number of universities actually ended the semesters early to avoid some of the problems that these large Vietnam protests created. According to my dad’s friend, Uncle Ron came out of his house, walked up to one of the leaders of the protest and said, “I am going to count to ten and if you are still here when I am done counting I am going to punch you in the face.” Apparently the entire crowd immediately dispersed. Three or four years ago my father bumped into “Uncle Ron” while walking on campus near where the JMU presidents use to live. Looking for some entertainment and wanting to see how he would react, my father asked him if this wasn’t pretty near to the location of the JMU Vietnam protest. Ron said yes it was and that at the time of the incident he was brushing his teeth in his slippers and bathrobe when Edith informed him that there was group of protesters outside of the house. Ron said he marched out the door in his bathrobe and slippers, went up to the biggest protester and said, “if you are not out of here in 10 seconds I am going to punch you in the f***ing face.” According to my dad, you could tell that Dr. Carrier enjoyed telling the entire story but he really took pleasure in describing how quickly the crowd dispersed.

Uncle Ron was quite the character and will be missed! He was by no means perfect and had some faults and pissed some people off but he had some balls. He probably would have worn the cowboy hat the correct direction as well.

Leaders are going to piss people off. I'm sure Dean Ehlers got a little miffed on more than one occasion. I had to privilege to work with a strong leader at a point in my career who I'd have liked to duke it out with a number of times, yet we remained close throughout.

I once had a boss tell me a chestnut that stuck with me--"If you're not pissing a few people off, you're not doing your job." And that's true. There's a fine line between being an a-hole and being someone who effects change and does the right things.

Anyway, the story about the Vietnam protests was funny because JMU was a very liberal campus when I was there in the '90s. Things weren't as divided then like they are now, so I mean liberal in the sense that people could protest on the quad, you could speak out, individuality was encouraged. They even set up a microphone at lunchtime outside d-hall so you could say whatever was on your mind, play guitar, whatever, and everyone in that d-hall/student union area could hear you. And Carrier allowed all that. He was cool.

Great job in Madison Magazine on Uncle Ron. Winter 2018 issue. Lots of great pictures. Look forward to reading it tonight. Go Dukes!

Just heard about this tonight, but for any of you Valley folks, the Estate Auction of Ron Carrier is tomorrow. Preview at 9, auction begins at 10. Visit the website for some photos and lists of items for auction.

https://www.greenvalleyauctions.com/auction-calendar/

(11-29-2018 07:16 PM)Deez Nuts Wrote:  Just heard about this tonight, but for any of you Valley folks, the Estate Auction of Ron Carrier is tomorrow. Preview at 9, auction begins at 10. Visit the website for some photos and lists of items for auction.

https://www.greenvalleyauctions.com/auction-calendar/

I know it's necessary, but just doesn't seem right to watch bargain hunters haggle over his belongings for $10.

JMU should by some pieces for certain spaces where they could be featured/useful.

Learned today that Edith Carrier passed this week

https://www.jmu.edu/news/2021/03/17-edit...sing.shtml