His Love Brought Us Here
One of the very special things about being a part of the Mercer University community is just that: the community itself. I did not appreciate that when I first enrolled way back in 2001, but ten years later when I would return as an adult student- when I was just so grateful to finally be finishing school- this was when I really started to get it.
It was also at this time when I really began to pay attention to the history of Mercer, the role Mercer played in the Civil Rights movement, and when I first met Sam Oni and really paid attention to the story of Papa Joe Hendricks.
Papa Joe passed away this weekend, and I’m sad I never got to meet him. But I’m proud to be a part of the Mercer community that he loved, both as a graduate and as someone who lives close to campus. On Sunday, some of us would go over and place flowers by his quote at the base of the new Tattnall Square Park Fountain: ” When love consumes us, we can find our way- all the way- to doing something meaningful, setting us free.”
I’d like to think that his vision for Mercer, for how life should be lived in general, has brought so many to this community. I have to wonder that without this philosophy, if Mercer itself would be the same. If many of the people who are carrying the torch now would be here.
Without that vision of love, I can’t see the passion being in place to have brought the Tattnall fountain to fruition.
I also noticed, and I’m not sure if this was by design, but Sam Oni’s brick is right near Papa Joe’s quote. For those of you who don’t know the story, Sam was the first black student at Mercer- thanks in large part to Joe Hendricks.
I walk through the park daily, and I see even more people passing through at all times of the day and night now that the fountain is complete.
I learned through the various posts and comments of friends and friends of friends in the Mercer community that Papa Joe officiated many a students wedding: a declaration of love in front of all. Perhaps it’s all the more appropriate that just a few days after he passed away that a young man would ask a young lady to be his forever in front of Papa Joe’s quote at the fountain. From Dr. Silver’s post in the Friends of Tattnall Facebook group:
” Meet Travis Fite and Minx Damron. Travis came to the Tattnall Square fountain with Minx today to surprise her with a marriage proposal, having hidden his mother and her mother behind two separate bushes nearby. When I came across them, she had already said yes, and they were in front of the fountain, smiling in each other’s arms, their mothers snapping photograph after photograph. All the while, Travis and Minx stood right on top of Joe Hendricks’s quote, their roses framing his words of love. Good brother and sister Mercerians, let this sight temper your sadness today. Papa Joe has just officiated his first engagement. And I’m betting he’ll be there to bless many more to come. ‘When love consumes us,’ his quote reads, ‘we can find our way–all the way–to doing something meaningful, setting us free.'”
Love to all y’all,
Molly
