Debbie Dunning '75

“I’ve been here so long I rocked on the porch with Thomas,” I’ve often quipped when asked about my tenure here at Clemson. In all honesty, I can’t lay claim to ever stepping on this hallowed ground before the summer of 1971, when my mother and I motored up from the Lowcountry to attend Orientation before the start of my freshman year. But Clemson “took,” and I stayed on to enjoy a 38-year career as an editor for publications such as Clemson World and for commemorative projects such as the University’s Centennial Celebration, the Thomas Green Clemson biography and both volumes of The High Seminary. It was while working on these special projects that I came to best know Thomas and Anna Clemson and could imagine rocking on the porch of Fort Hill, gazing out at the wondrous “high seminary of learning” that has been carefully and caringly built on their homeplace.
Now, as I prepare to pass my role in the telling of Clemson’s history to the next generation, I represent Clemson folks everywhere when I say, “Rock on, Thomas, rock on.”

— Debbie Dunning ’75
Manager of Editorial Services
Clemson Creative Services