Forty-six years ago, James Wolcott was a high achiever in Georgetown,
Texas, a quiet suburb of
Austin -- an excellent and dedicated student and churchgoing camp counselor to underprivileged African American children. But behind this facade, James was psychologically deeply disturbed, with dark thoughts of suicide and an addiction to
sniffing glue. Forty-six years ago today, this teenage boy spent an evening at home indulging that
addiction for some time, after which he armed himself with a .22-caliber rifle, and shot and killed his mother Elizabeth, his father Gordon -- who was a professor of
biology -- and his older sister Libby.
James was arrested and tried, and though he never denied the killings, he was found not guilty by reason of insanity. He was institutionalized, for six years -- but then, remarkably, was released from treatment, changed his surname to
St. James, and -- perhaps inspired by the experiences of his own psychiatric treatment -- went on to obtain a master's degree and a doctorate in
psychology.
Decades later, reporters for a local paper, The Georgetown Advocate, became interested in the case, and tracked the now-well-aged James St. James to
Decatur,
Illinois, where he had spent twenty-seven productive years at
Millikin University teaching various classes and winning the affection of his colleagues and students. Somewhat surprisingly in this age of hair-trigger responses, the revelation of this violent episode from his past did not bring the institution to fire this professor or inspire his fellow professors and former pupils to call for action to be taken against him. The entire episode stands as a stark testament to the ability of a determined individual, given a second chance after a tragic lapse, to shine in rising and leaving behind the ashes of that error.
----
Node auditing proceeds thusly:
passport is done!!
Pseudo_Intellectual is
on page 10 of 31
Segnbora-t is
on page 11 of 34
And
pukesick is
on page 16 of 29.
In the queueueu:
avalyn is
on page 2 of 5, and
Blessings, all!!