Campus chaos

I cannot even begin to imagine the chaos Grandpa Fred experienced as he headed back to Ohio State after his brother's death.

Charley and Fred Huls

His mind was in turmoil. Not only had his adored older brother died in his arms, but things hadn't gotten any better for Grandpa Fred as he was standing by his brother's grave and he asked the minister, the Rev. G.W. Blair of the Logan Methodist Episcopal Church, "Why? Why Charley?"

The minister simply told him that Charley was a good man, God wanted him, and only the good die young. Something like that. The usual platitudes. But it put Grandpa into a lifelong tailspin. Wasn't he a good man? What kind of God would do that? Grandpa Fred struggled with God and Church for most of his life after that.

But now Grandpa, a junior engineering student, was returning to a campus that was buzzing. Two men were dead, and at least four sick and injured. I'm sure the journalism students that Charley had known were wanting to know The Five Ws:

• Who
• What
• Where
• When
• Why
• (and How)

I can just see the OSU students as they saw my haunted grandfather as he drifted about campus. I'm sure some looked away, unsure what to say and hurrying away. Others came forward with words of sympathy. And I'm sure some of them tried to pump grandpa for information. I can't imagine that anyone was ignorant of what had happened, unless they had been away, but then they just had to look at a newspaper to read all about it.

Can you imagine the first time he went back into the room he shared with Charley? Staring at Charley's bed, or trying hard not to. And the first time he drifted into the bathroom and saw that white capsule sitting on the marble windowsill. I imagine he forgot it was there. Did he immediately take it to the Columbus Dispatch for testing, or did it sit there awhile before action was taken.

Did Grandpa already suspect the truth behind Charley's death? 

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