Mike Parr

During my freshman year at Penn (1963-1964), I lived on the fifth floor of the Class of 1928 Dormitory, upper quad, 37th and Spruce Streets, Philadelphia.  There were 33 of us in 11 rooms.  You can do the math.  

In the middle of the year there were rumblings that many of us (not me) were dissatisfied with our roommates.  As a result, the Resident Advisor (RA) on our floor devised a plan to change many of the room assignments in order to return to peaceful coexistence.

I stayed in my room, but I got two new roommates: Ralph Pincus from Pittsburgh and Mike Parr from Baltimore.  My old ones were Steve Sandler from Boston and a name I forgot from (pre-Disney) Orlando (metro area population then 230,000; now 2,002,000).  

Ralph invited me on my only trip to his hometown for a Jewish holiday weekend.  Nice guy, Ralph.  We met again at the Class of 1967's 25th reunion in 1992.

On the other hand, Mike Parr was memorable.  He was a rich kid,  destined to join a lucrative family business after graduation.  

Mike once showed me (at my request) his 27 belts resting in his dresser drawer.  I had one belt .  Who needs more than one?

Mike was good-looking: tall, blonde and well built.  Plus he had oodles of self-confidence.  Especially with girls.  At mixers, he had no trouble meeting and picking them up.  

Obviously, Mike was someone I wanted as a friend, someone who could teach and advise me.  And he became my friend.  

Mike got his girlfriend to fix me up with her friend, Phyllis Green, a freshman at Temple University.  We dated a few times.  Mike gave me some pointers.

Mike could sweettalk anybody.  Once he bought non-refundable tickets to a concert, but had to cancel at the last minute.  He told the ticket agent he needed the money to go home for his mother's funeral.  He got the money.  His mother was fine.

Unfortunately, Mike was lazy and lacked motivation.  We had the same 8 AM class.  Many times I couldn't get him out of bed in time.

After three semesters, Penn determined Mike wasn't making satisfactory progress and sent him packing back to Baltimore.  A pity!  I wonder what became of Mike Parr.