A Match Made in Heaven ---NOT
By: Lanelle Brent

On a gorgeous fall afternoon, a young George Spencer Roberts, nicknamed "Spanky," saw the kick pleat of a beautiful, young girl's skirt disappear around the corner of the library of West Virginia State College and fell in love. The year was 1938 and young "Spanky" was 19 years old…and had already graduated the previous year, having started college at fifteen. Because of his tender years, and being African-American, having a college degree in engineering definitely did not guarantee him a job. So his mother, a teacher, asked the college president if her son could stay another year. That was the year he met my mother, Edith Norle McMillan, a 19-year-old sophomore, who was spending her first year living on campus. She was a music major with a beautiful singing voice and a love of dance; he had a tin ear and two left feet. That was also the year that the Civilian Pilot Training program (the precursor to the now famous Tuskegee Airmen) was initiated in six historical black colleges, West Virginia State being one of them.

Ah, but "Spanky" was a clever individual; after all he had graduated from college at 18! He knew he really had nothing in common with the lovely Edith, but was determined to do everything he could to win her over. So he decided to treat her differently from all the other boys on campus by being arrogant, overbearing and, generally, obnoxious. He took a job as the maintenance man for the campus because that way he would be allowed in the women's dormitory and she would constantly see him. He roomed with other music majors who could talk to Edith about how wonderful he was. Edith's roommate was a psychology major, so "Spanky" took some psychology courses, so her roommate could tell her how wonderful he was. She sang, so he built the campus radio station for her to give her someplace to perform. The college president, or "Prexy" as the students called him, treated his students, and especially the young George, like his own children. J.C. Evans, the head of the Engineering Department, was young George's mentor, so he decided to help him with his campaign. Edith needed a job (it WAS the depression years), so J.C. gave her the job of switchboard operator and assigned "Spanky" to teach her how to use the board because of his engineering background. His instructions lasted approximately five minutes and by the time he left, she was so mad, she was ready to spit nails. Oh, he was irritating; but cute.

Slowly, he began to wear her down. Probably showing up with a perfect rose every morning before going to breakfast didn't hurt his case. Of course, after a few weeks, the campus gardener informed "Spanky" that breaking off a blossom from the presidential rose garden really wasn't too good of an idea, even though he realized he was using the blossoms to woo his lady faire, so that had to stop. Yet, when "Spanky" got his private pilot's license after only 30 hours of lessons, the first person to go up in the air with him was…Edith. As "Spanky" proudly flew Edith over her grandmother's house in Charleston, little did he know that, after Edith excitedly told her grandmother of the accomplishment, her grandmother's response was, "You are going to break your fool neck following around behind that boy!"

And, as they say, the rest is history. Edith waited for "Spanky" to complete his Tuskegee training and married him on the graduation day of the first class. They were happily married for 42 years before his death and produced 4 children…and "Spanky" never did learn how to carry a tune or dance!