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Tuesday, April 1, 1997

Cult leader a dim memory to former college classmates

SHERMAN, Texas (AP) - Jimmy Jackson remembers hearing the news about Marshall Herff Applewhite on his car radio.

It was 1975.

"Herff Applewhite was leading a group of 50 to 60 people to the mountains in Oregon to watch the world come to an end," said Jackson, Applewhite's former classmate at Austin College.

"I remembered him from college. You don't forget a name like that. But I never did hear anything more about it," he told the Herald Democrat newspaper in Sherman-Denison.

It was the last time Jackson heard of his former classmate until Thursday, the day after the bodies of Applewhite and 38 followers of his Heaven's Gate cult were found in a San Diego-area mansion.

Investigators said all had committed suicide, seeking redemption in a spaceship trailing the Hale-Bopp comet.

The moment he heard Applewhite's name on the news reports, Jackson knew it was his former classmate.

"Just like that," Jackson said, snapping his fingers. "I knew it was him immediately."

Applewhite was a philosophy major at Austin College in 1948-1952, with minors in English and music. He graduated with a bachelor's of art degree in 1952.

Reaction to Applewhite's involvement in the cult was mixed among former classmates and professors at the 1,100-student Presbyterian college in Sherman, about 60 miles north of Dallas.

"The Herff I knew was a very intelligent young man, very friendly," said former student Ralph "Slats" McCord. "People seemed to really like him because he was so friendly. He was just a nice young man who had a beautiful voice.

"I'm just really surprised that he got involved in this kind of stuff," said McCord, who later served as a coach at the Sherman liberal arts school.

According to yearbooks, Applewhite was president of the Ministerial Students Association. He was also a member of the Men's Judiciary Council, Community Council, International Relations Club and Junior Bowling Intramurals.

He made the 1951 Dean's List and was a member of the school's a cappella choir at a time when it was gaining national fame. The choir went on its first European tour five years after Applewhite graduated, according to a collection of essays about the history of the college.

Former classmate Jackson remembered Applewhite as an affable student who seemed to be regarded highly by his peers.

"I was in some classes with him," Jackson said. "He was a nice fellow really. He was always cooperative and friendly. He was in the choir, and the members hung out together. He was a leader within his group."Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
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