Lank’s WorldLancaster Brown Biography

1961 photo by the late Pete Bryant

Lancaster Brown (Lank) was born in the Mercy Seat Community, Prince Edward County, Virginia, on June 15, 1890. His father, William Stokes

Brown (Stokes), was born a slave June 8, 1843 and still holds the record for being the longest-serving employee in the history of Hampden-Sydney College. He worked with the College just four months short of 75 years. His mother, Bettie Ross, educated Lank, his five brothers and two sisters while his father worked two jobs to provide for the family and to become a property owner. The children grew up in a Christian community centered on the Mercy Seat Baptist Church, where his father, Stokes, was one of the founders in 1870. Stokes also opened a store in the early 1900s. His wife, Lank and a brother, Houston, helped manage the store while he continued to work at Hampden-Sydney. The 1910 Prince Edward County Census indicates Lank was a waiter in a boarding house, possibly a boarding or fraternity house on the Hampden-Sydney campus. Lank also helped his father and brothers on the family farm that was behind Brown’s Store down the road across from Mercy Seat Baptist. His family and this religious community were important parts of Lank’s world from the beginning of his life.

The early summer of 1914 was enjoyable and peaceful in Prince Edward County and elsewhere around the world. However, on June 28, 1914 an assassin took the lives of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife, Sophie, in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. At the time the Austrian province was virtually unknown outside Europe. This terrorist event, which should have been resolved locally, involved a senseless dispute among the royal families of Europe, their advisors and their allies. It was the triggering event which resulted in the catastrophe of World War I.

The War not only took the lives of 14 young Hampden-Sydney men but also more than 10 million others around the world. War broke out on July 28, 1914 and Lancaster Brown was soon to be involved.

On April 6, 1917, the United States entered the War after Germany, along with other issues, re-instituted unrestricted submarine warfare.

Lank must have been confused and bewildered when he received his Draft Notice dated July 31, 1917 with an order to report to the Local Board in Farmville on August 7 at 10 a.m. He had to help his parents and his brothers with the store and the farm and he wanted no part of a war so far away that he didn’t understand. As with any young soldier, he was no doubt uncertain about the thought of taking up arms and shooting someone or being shot himself.

He applied for an exemption but was denied and was inducted into the Army in Farmville on October 26, 1917, and then reported to Camp Lee, Virginia, located between Petersburg and Hopewell. He likely became part of a flexible work detail that assisted in the accelerated construction of that military base.

Meanwhile in France, the Advance Guard of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) had arrived, suffering from lack of supporting infrastructure, particularly in the critical area of proper care for the thousands of horses and mules needed to transport food, ammunition, cannons, and

supplies to the front lines. Initially, American forces abused and neglected their animals. French officials warned that they would stop providing horses to the “American Cowboys” if they did not take better care of them.

The American Expeditionary Force had critical need for the proper care for the thousands of horses and mules needed to transport food, ammunition, cannons, and supplies to the front lines. With his farm experience, Lancaster Brown was uniquely qualified to help.

Fortunately, Lank had farm experience with horses and on his enlistment record listed his vocation as “farmer.” The Army badly needed that experience. As a result, on February 1, 1918, he was transferred into a quickly organized Veterinary Hospital 3 unit when it was formed. The unit consisted of 300 enlisted men and six officers, who were initially prepared to care for 1,000 (later increased to 1,380) wounded or sick horses. At first, both white and black enlisted personnel belonged to the unit, but when the blacks started to outnumber the whites, the whites (except for the officers) were transferred to other units. Veterinary Hospital 3 thus became one of only three all-black Veterinary Hospitals deployed in World War I.

Due to his pre-war experience with horses, Lank was selected to be trained in the specialty grade of “farrier.” A farrier is a specialist in the care of horses’ hooves, including trimming and balancing of hooves and installation of horseshoes. Additionally, a farrier must have knowledge of the anatomy and the physiology of the horses’ hooves and lower legs. If the hooves and legs weren’t healthy, then the horse wasn’t fit for duty. By late 1917, the war was heating up. The Germans had badly beaten the Russians, who signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on March 3, 1918, and withdrew from the war. This had serious consequences for the undermanned and inexperienced AEF. The Germans would no longer be fighting a two-front war, but could now move up to 1,500,000 men in 50 divisions from the Eastern Front in Russia to focus on the Western Front in France. The Germans knew their best chance

for victory was to defeat the French and British before the American Expeditionary Force “Dough Boys”, as they were nicknamed—along with overwhelming U.S. human and material resources—could be fully deployed. The French and British were war-weary and exhausted. It became apparent that the AEF was going to have to play a major role in stopping the Germans. Lank was headed to the Advance Sector close to the front lines, and for all he knew, into the bitter battles that would take so many more lives on both sides.

Veterinary Hospital 3, Lank’s unit, departed Newport News for France on May 14, 1918, on a congested troopship carrying over 4,000

troops with the blacks crammed into the least desirable bunk areas in the near-suffocating lower deck steerage during summer heat. The risk of submarine torpedo attack and resulting disaster was very, very real. In fact, German Submarine U-151, which survived the war, entered Hampton Roads on May 21, just seven days after Lank’s ship departed. This sub was credited for sinking 37 ships, of which 23 were sunk along the East Coast. About 12 days later, Lank’s ship arrived safely in the major debarkation port of Brest, France. His unit then transferred to the small village of Valdahon located near the Jura Mountains and the Swiss border. This was at the far Eastern end of the 500-mile trench line which extended all the way through Northern France and the Flanders area of Southern Belgium to the North Sea. The camp may have been the site of an earlier French veterinary hospital. Shortly after Lank’s unit arrived, the horrific last ditch German Summer offensive of 1918 erupted. In June, U.S. Marine and Army units halted and then pushed back the Germans at Chateau Thierry and then at Belleau Woods, and closer, at Saint Mihiel

in September. Lank could hear the thunder of the cannons, and he witnessed countless gunshot and shrapnel injuries to horses and mules, many of which had to be destroyed.

Veterinary Hospitals also had sub-units called “Mobile Squadrons” which would retrieve wounded or sick animals from the front lines and “Remount Squadrons” which bought horses from the French and delivered them to the front. These were the in- and-out “pipelines.” Lank’s farrier rating made it less likely he participated in those activities. Veterinary Hospitals, and particularly the all-black units, have become part of a “forgotten army” to most historians. Only a few photos and records have survived. Greg Krenzelok, the most notable WWI Veterinary Hospital historian, commented—upon seeing Lank’s military records—that a warehouse fire in St. Louis on July 12, 1973 had destroyed most WWI Army records. He reported that Lank’s records are the only ones he has seen from an all-black veterinary hospital.

When the war ended on November 11, 1918, the victory celebration reduced military tensions and Lank and his friends experienced leave in smaller French towns and eventually in Paris, in a world which

appreciated and accepted them more as equals than they had ever experienced at home or in the Army. He enjoyed the cafes that stayed open late at night, saw the Eiffel Tower and other monuments, and admired the fancy clothes, the culture and the people.

It took nearly seven months to wrap up operations, but finally in late May his unit boarded the troop transport, USS Orizaba, and set course for Newport News. Lank arrived on June 11. His unit was demobilized the next day and he was discharged from Camp Lee on June 19, 1919. Lank’s commanding officer, Lt. William G. Ellwitz, signed both his Honorable Discharge and Enlistment Record the day before. This officer apparently knew Lank very well, probably from the beginning to the end of his Army experience. He appears to have been an even-handed judge of his mens’ work. He rated Lank “fair” in horsemanship, but described Lank’s character as “VERY GOOD”!

This praise came from a white officer who admired Lank in a time and age when blacks often received little or no credit for anything, especially character. Lank had earned his respect and had served his country well. On December 23, 1920 he was honored when he received a small lapel “victory button” in Farmville. He was eligible for the WWI Victory Medal, which he never received. His tombstone at the Mercy Seat cemetery reads: “US ARMY” under which appears “WORLD WAR I”. His military service was a formative part of Lank’s World.

Lank’s parents, Stokes and Bettie, and all their family and friends, most certainly were overjoyed when Lank returned safely. He rejoined his

community, contributing as he had before the War, helping in his father’s store which he really enjoyed. He also continued his work on the farm. Eventually, the family added a tractor-powered saw mill. As he settled back into the routine life in the shadow of Hampden-Sydney College, a life-changing event occurred: Lank met a beautiful young school teacher who most likely had been assigned to the newly constructed Mercy Seat Elementary School. Her name was Victoria Bentley. She was 20 years old and from the Christiansburg area of Montgomery County, Virginia. They fell deeply in love. On June 20, 1925 they were married in Montgomery County.

Early in their marriage, they were not blessed with children; however, Victoria was a teacher whose whole career revolved around children. Lank, on the other hand, sometime in the 1920s and no later than

1927, found part-time employment at Hampden-Sydney’s Chi Phi Fraternity, a position he held for over 50 years. The 1936 Kaleidoscope yearbook contains the first known photo of Lancaster Brown, dressed sharply in a white coat, standing in the front yard of the fraternity house. In 1939, Lank’s father and mother both died within a few months of each other. They were buried at the Mercy Seat Cemetery along with three of his brothers, two in unmarked graves. After

a time, Lank’s brother, Houston, who had inherited Brown’s Store, lost interest in running it, so he sold it to Lank. At the onset of World War II, Lank was required to complete another Draft Card Form. On that form he stated his date of birth to be June 18, 1890 and signed with a very clear signature. He was 52 years young then.

Through the following years, he continued to serve the Chi Phi Fraternity. His humble kindness and warm spirit bound him closer and closer to all who knew him. He always shared his Christian values and set a wonderful standard for others to follow. He never used profanity, he never gossiped or said negative

things about anyone, he never appeared to be mad, never held a grudge nor expected anything in return for the personal kindness and favors he extended to everyone. Many Chi Phi’s will remember his advice and warning about excessive drinking and the road to alcoholism: “It will make you sick when you are well…and well when you are sick.” He would often

remark, upon passing an opened can of beer at the Chi Phi bar, “One calls for another.” Was that a statement of fact or a warning? God surely put Lank in our path to share his wisdom and brighten our days!

Lank attended all major fraternity events, wearing his signature crisp white jacket at parties where he tended bar, or in full coat and tie at reunions and homecomings. At other times, including initiations, he would always wear an old floppy hat and his work clothes. Look carefully at the Chi Phi group

picture in the Hampden-Sydney 1971 Kaleidoscope. Lank is at the far left, easily recognizable wearing his hat. This is the only large group picture found that includes Lank. Other Kaleidoscope pictures of

Lank can be found in the of yearbooks 1936, 1961 and 1969. The Chi Phi fraternity was a significant part of Lank’s world, just as he was a constant part of our world.

William Paige, son of Lank’s friend “Mule” Paige and a Mercy Seat Trustee now in his 80s, lived behind Lank’s house. He loved to harness the horses or Lank’s mule (named Dick), plow Lank’s fields and do other farm work. Similarly, David Miller, a Deacon at Mercy Seat, helped Lank with his store and farm. He milked cows, worked the saw mill and even cut the

grass at the Chi Phi house. Victoria was a wonderful cook. Their pay and reward—enjoyed with 8 to 12 other farm and store helpers and family— was a wonderful daily supper cooked on her wood stove. It always included dessert. Dessert was special because no one else regularly served it. Over the years, Chi Phi’s were the beneficiaries of her cooking and hospitality too. Some of us hunted when we should have been studying. The results of many successful hunts found their way into Lank and Victoria’s freezer. Annually, Victoria would prepare a fabulous game dinner composed of rabbits, squirrels, ducks, and on one occasion, a farm goose and a turkey won at a local “turkey shoot.” It was always a complete meal, including mashed potatoes with gravy, homemade biscuits, vegetables, and of course, dessert. Those who took part in those feasts always thanked Lank and Victoria, but most of us now believe we did not (and possibly could not) thank them enough.

For Lancaster, another life-changing event occurred on December 23, 1951, when Danny Morton was born. His mother, who lived nearby,

had six other children and raising them was financially difficult for her. Lank and Victoria helped her. When young Danny was able to walk, Lank would take total care of him for the month each summer when Victoria was away at refresher teaching courses. In 1956, when Danny was four years old, Victoria and Lank asked Danny’s mother if they could adopt Danny.

Lank with the Chi Phi brothers in 1967.

Knowing that she could not provide for her child, she agreed. She knew Lank and Victoria loved her son, that they would take care of him and could give him opportunities that she could not. From that time on, Danny, Victoria, and Lank were inseparable. Danny would follow Lank like a little puppy wherever he went, whenever he could. Recently, when Danny was asked, “What did Lank do for you?” he followed up by saying the wrong question was asked. Then he said, “What didn’t Lank do for you?” He followed by saying Lank was a marvelous, wonderful father. He shared

Lank’s advice that “…the thing under your nose can be your best friend

or worst enemy.” Danny made similar statements about Victoria, noting that she was his

disciplinarian. Danny was another great part of Lank’s

World.

Danny’s description of Lank’s daily routine in the

1960s was memorable: Every morning Lank would

be up and off to the Chi Phi House by 8 o’clock where he would work until 11 a.m. He would head to the store after lunch and work until 5:30 or 6 p.m. and return home for supper. At 8 p.m. he would go back to the store and keep it open until 10:30

p.m. or later if people were there. Brown’s

Store was a nightly meeting place for not

only Chi Phi’s, but other students and locals. As Lank aged, his store aged. It was very small, worn and unpainted with plank floors, barred windows, with a wonderful atmosphere of rural Americana. In this relaxed atmosphere, one could always find good conversation. Lank had Dr. Peppers and Cokes in the small bottles and Moon Pies and the larger Johnny Cakes. There were two big glass jars, one filled with children’s candy and another filled with pickled sausages. What seating there was consisted of an old church pew and 4 or 5 rickety chairs. A single, bare

electric light hung from the ceiling by a wire. The shelves were full of canned food and hardware items. It seemed that Lank was always there, occasionally smoking a Camel or grilling a piece of baloney on his potbelly wood stove. In winter, the fire in the stove was always burning and the store was always warm. In addition, inside the store was an antique brass cash register on a counter and a glass case. On one wall appeared a large poster, showing a pretty woman smoking a Camel. Outside the store, Lank had a 10- foot cement pad poured under the shed roof that extended beyond the front door. There was a small wall outside the store, and beyond that was a gas pump. Occasionally, on Friday and Saturday nights, locals would use this pad as a floor where they danced to the tunes of a piccolo juke box. The store, now in ruins, is still visible across the road from Mercy Seat Church. The roof and some walls are caved in and dense bushes and briars form a secure jungle around it. Brown’s Store was a major part of Lank’s World.

From that time on Danny, Victoria and Lank were inseparable. Danny would follow Lank like a little puppy wherever he went, whenever he could.

Lank’s wife, Victoria, was a dedicated community servant and educator, and was even known to pull teeth. She dedicated most of her life to

educating children. She most likely taught at Mercy Seat Elementary from the early 1920s up until 1959 when the Prince Edward County Schools were closed to avoid integration. It is thought she had a Masters Degree in Education. In the 1950s she attended refresher courses in New York City at either Columbia or New York University and in the 1960s she was enrolled at Howard University in Washington D.C. These were month-long programs which took

place in the summer. Her adopted son, Danny, attended Mercy Seat Elementary for first grade in 1958, and then attended Carver Price Elementary in neighboring Appomattox County from 1960 to 1964.

The trip to Appomattox involved a 60-mile round trip Victoria would make each school day until the Prince Edward Public Schools were reopened in 1964. Then she taught the second or third grade at Murray Branch Elementary in Farmville. Like Lank, she was a great believer in getting up every day with a positive attitude to make her world a better place for her family, friends and community.

Neither she nor Lank ever voiced their frustrations and disappointments concerning the incredibly selfish school closing decisions made in 1959 by Prince Edward County administrators to us, their Chi Phi friends. They were never arrogant, self-righteous, nor vindictive. They both had a keen Christian sense of what was right and what wasn’t.

Victoria had long been on medicine and she was still teaching when the assassination of Martin Luther King took place on April 4, 1968.

Lank shared with his close friends that she was very emotional and upset that day. Perhaps the shock of Dr. King’s death was too great for her.

The next day, April 5, 1968, Victoria unexpectedly passed away. She was buried next to Lank’s brother, Charlie, who passed away on June 6, 1956. On Victoria’s tombstone the phrase “A WONDERFUL LADY WHO LIVED CHRISTIANITY” appears. Lank’s years with Victoria brought both good times and difficult times. Both were a central part of Lank’s world.

The community’s Mercy Seat Baptist Church was and still is the “heartbeat” of Lank’s World. As stated earlier, Lank’s father, Stokes, was one of

the founders of the Church in 1870. From that time forward, the entire Brown family remained faithful members. From his adoption in 1956, Danny Morton was to follow in their footsteps. At 5 or 6 years old, there is a sweet picture of him that tells the story better than any written words. The little boy is dressed perfectly in a full dress coat and bow tie just before church. This photo has been combined with a recent photo of Danny at age 62 in front of the church (see above). Danny has been a faithful member all his life along with his wife, Vicky, his son, Lodonus, daughter, Dekeance Victoria, and grandchildren Tye, London, and Victoria.

What really counts in life is what a person does outside the church. Throughout Lank’s life, he shared what he had with family and

friends. He sold his property at very affordable prices to friends that needed a place for a home; he gave store credit to many who could not afford to repay. All who knew him loved and admired him. He became the father figure of the Mercy Seat Community, the center of Lank’s world.

At the Chi Phi House during the Homecoming weekend in 1974, a picture was taken of Lank between two brothers, Richard Michaux and William Spotswood; both were in the class of 1934. It is one of the last pictures of Lank and the only one that shows a visible smile. All the others dating back to

BOY TO MAN: Danny Brown as a young boy stands with Danny Brown as 62-year-old man in front of Mercy Seat Baptist Church in this photo illustration.

1936 show him with a serious, maybe bashful, maybe self-conscious, visage. Lank’s nickname was “Shy,” yet no one ever felt uncomfortable is his presence, quite the opposite. One felt his spirit and his love. But why didn’t he smile?

Our Brother, Stetson Tinkham, provided the answer. Lank smiled with his eyes! Yes indeed, he smiled at his world with his eyes.

After Lank’s retirement, a brass plaque dated November 15, 1980, was placed on the sidewalk in front of the Chi Phi House in Hampden-Sydney, Virginia. It reads: “IN HONOR OF LANCASTER BROWN FOR MORE THAN 50 YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP TO THE BROTHERS OF THE EPSILON CHAPTER OF THE CHI PHI FRATERNITY.”

Lank departed this life on May 8, 1985 at the age of 94 years, one month shy of his 95th birthday. He is buried in front of his beloved wife, Victoria, in

the Mercy Seat Cemetery.

In March of 2014, the Chi Phi Epsilon Brothers of the 1960s established The Lancaster and Victoria Brown

Charitable Endowment to preserve the legacy of Lancaster and Victoria Brown whose humble, kind and unconditional love and loyalty not only supported us while we were in college, but also set the lifelong standard for all to follow. The beneficiaries in equal grants are The Mercy Seat Baptist Church (Lank and Victoria’s church) and the Robert Russa Moton Museum in Farmville, which serves as a center for the study of civil rights.

This biography will be updated when more information becomes available.

Drafted by Louis Basten ’65, reviewed by Steve Beck ’67 and Mike Christian ’72 and edited by Stetson Tinkham ’67. Credit is given to Ray Gaskins for content taken from the Farmville Herald newspaper articles titled: “Brown Family Served Hampden-Sydney and Community,” dated September 4, 2009 and “History of the Mercy Seat Elementary School,” dated February 7, 2014. Credit is also given to Greg Krenzelok for the information on Veterinary Hospitals taken from his web page titled: “The Army Veterinary Service During the Great War, WWI.” Credit is also given to Craig Shaffer for his design, photography and editing work on this document.

Lancaster Brown’s tombstone at Mercy Seat Baptist Church.

Mercy Seat Baptist ChurchHampden-Sydney, VA

Pastor Fells, President Howard, Danny, Brothers, Ladies and Gentlemen:

My name is Breck Montague, Class of 1970, which makes me one of the younger members of this reunion. My contribution is to touch upon Victoria Brown’s Teaching Career and some of the reality of segregation in Prince Edward County.

For those of you who may not know, the 1951 Moton School student strike, which was organized and lead by a 16-year-old-student leader named Barbara Johns, marked the start of the modern Civil Rights—movement four years before Rosa Parks.

Victoria Brown and “Massive Resistance”

Dorothy E. Davis (center, with glasses) stands in 1953 with some of the more than one hundred students named in Dorothy Davis, et al. v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, Virginia. The lawsuit that came out of the student strike at Robert Moton High School in Farmville, Virginia, was later part of the landmark Brown case that went before the U.S. Supreme Court. —Hank Walker/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

This strike produced 75% of the plaintiffs in Brown v. the Board of Education. Here in Virginia, the case was called Davis v. Prince Edward and was one of five cases reviewed by the Supreme Court in reaching their historic decision.

In Virginia, the Byrd regime responded with what was referred to as “Massive Resistance.” Prince Edward closed all of its public schools in 1959. They were not opened for another five years. I strongly urge you to visit the old Moton School, now a museum commemorat-ing this early struggle.

Against this backdrop, Lank’s wife, Victoria, was teaching elementary school. She most likely taught at

Mercy Seat Elementary from the early 1920s up until 1959. When the schools closed, she was forced to commute a 60-mile round trip with young Danny Morton to Appomattox to find a teaching job at Carver Price Elementary. When the Prince Edward County schools reopened in 1964, she returned to teach at Murray Branch Elementary in Farmville.

Victoria was an extraordinary woman (as Lou said, she was known to pull teeth, both literally and figurative-ly). Well-educated, she had an advanced education degree, I believe from NYU. I remember the diploma on the wall of their home; however, I cannot recall if it was a Masters or a PhD. And here she was teaching school in Prince Edward County!

During the summers of the 1960s she enrolled at Howard University in Washington, D.C. She was pas-sionate about education and a strong, quiet voice for the advancement of African-Americans. Her summers at Howard University in the turbulent ‘60s undoubt-edly opened her eyes to the larger aspects of the Civil Rights movement. It was telling that Lank reported that she was tremendously upset by the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. Victoria had been unwell for some time; she died the following day.

Race relations in Virginia are complex. The brothers of Epsilon Chi Phi in the 1960s were for the most part unaware. We had warm relations with Reggie Smith and even Francis the Ax Man. But we had no Idea of what it was like to walk in their shoes. We were a priv-

ileged group of young white boys that Lank and Victoria befriended.

How many of us remember fondly the breakfasts at Lank’s farm house after a party (my wife would think I was out of my

mind if I brought a bunch of inebriated teenage boys to our home at 1 a.m.!)—and the wild game dinners that were mentioned.

We enjoyed the unique opportunity to receive the support, guidance and dare I say love from a couple whose own people

and family members were subject to the meanest forms of segregation. The Browns formed for the brothers of Chi Phi a bridge between two worlds. We are here today because we now realize how special that bridge was.

This contrast was driven home to me when I volun-teered after a conversation with Victoria to become a tutor at the Moton High School during my sophomore year (‘67/’68). There I found myself teaching elementary math concepts to young people three and four years older than I was. They were hungry to learn but had lost five years of their lives.

~ Breck Montague, HSC Class of 1970

FOR MORE INFORMATION: www.neh.gov/human-ities/2013/septemberoctober/feature/massive-resis-tance-in-small-town

No trespassing sign on the grounds of a closed school in Prince Edward County. - Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries

Lancaster Brown and Chi Phi FratI’m Stetson Tinkham, HSC class of 1967. My job is really to keep us on schedule, but as time permits, I can say a few words about Lank’s relationship with us.

Horse OwnershipTwo Chi Phi Brothers bought horses during their senior year. Neither of them had enough money to buy a car. Motorcycles, for some reason, were not an option.

The horses came to campus with no pre-planned liv-ing space. The only possibility was to see if Lank had a place for them and to see if Danny could help care for

them. They agreed; the horses arrived in the field by Brown’s Store: one a sway-back grey mare, the other a brown gelding who had not been told of his lifestyle change.

Being students, the owners adjourned to the library to learn what should be included in a healthy horse’s diet. Mrs. Turney, the wife of the (then) new head of the Biology Department, Dr. Tully Turney, helped research horse nutrition.

The owners settled on bran as the best supplement to the grass and apples available in Lank’s field. The horses inhaled and gobbled up large quantities of this dusty, powdered bran, eyes bulging and tongues extended, as they struggled to swallow it in powder form. Eventually, they received relief in the form of a 55-gallon steel drum filled with water.

Student life and large animal care and training are not a good mix. Danny was a good friend to these unlucky animals. The owners were less so.

I don’t know about Mike Reid’s father, but my parents had a party when they learned from Bob Roper’s mother at Church that we had sold the horses. Of course, that was after we bought enough hay to fill one of Lank’s “extra” two-story frame houses (it is still there) AND after the gelding kicked down one wall of Lank’s barn so he could visit the mare.

We think, but do not know, that this tested our friendship with Lank and probably with Danny. But, by hiring Lank’s good friend, Mr. William Page’s father, “Mule” Page to fix the damage, we made a new friend. Mule needed a hunting license and something for his thirst, so we delivered both to him after he put the barn back together.

We were probably among many of Lank’s friends who uninten-tionally tested the limits of his friendship. But once your friend, Lancaster remained your friend, in spite of the silly adventures you took that friendship on.

Lank’s Mule “Dick”The following events took place the year after I graduated from Hampden-Sydney. I was studying marine biology at the University of North Carolina. I had received my draft notice and it was clear to both the faculty and to me that I would not be back at UNC the following year.

This opened up opportunities to travel to Hamp-den-Sydney on weekends. At about this same time of year, the fraternity decided to have a “Viking Toga Party” at a place we called the “Sand Pits,” a frequently dry stream bed where the highway department found sand for use in road construction.

The road to the Sand Pits was in bad shape. We asked Lank if we could borrow Dick and a wagon to transport items, including dates, to the party.

The detail I remember best about that party was how difficult it was to convince Dick that there was any reason at all to drag that heavy wagon, full of noisy humans, through deep sand in the middle of a hot afternoon. At the end, I think Dick was left pulling an empty wagon, with all of us carrying by hand whatever had been in the wagon. Lancaster Brown had great faith that people he trusted deserved his trust. Dick, the wagon, and the party guests all made it back.

~ Stetson Tinkham, HSC class of 1967

Lank’s Mule

Lank can be seen at the far left in his characteristic floppy hat, as seen in this 1971 photograph of the Chi Phi crew.

Lancaster Brown was a mentor, friend and caretaker to Chi Phi for half a century.

After school I work at their corner store helping Mr. Lank to do what ever he needed me to do. ...They had a old black car in there yard I would sit in that car and pretend I was driving it.

Rita Morton-Cordell, sister of Danny Morton

Speakers for the Lank’s World Program on March 22

The Lank’s World program organizing committee, comprised of Chi Phi brothers from different years.