The Death of An Icon

It is with a heavy heart I write this. Lt. Col. Thomas Nugent Courvoisie, known by most as "The Boo," died Sunday, April 30, 2006, at Cooper Hall Assisted Living Center, where he resided. He was 89.

http://www.citadel.edu/pao/newsreleases/sy05-06/courvoisie.html

Most of you who may read this will have no idea who this is. "The Boo" is famous among Citadel alumni. I was fortunate to meet him my freshman "knob" year at the Citadel. He had just married his second wife, Dot Ferguson, who was like a grandmother to me. He came to my grandfather's Citadel alumni gathering at Homecoming. My grandfather graduated from the Citadel in the class of 1950. I followed him half a century later. The Boo spoke to me and was very intimidating as he usually was, especially to freshman. There was a book written about him simply titled The Boo. It was written by Pat Conroy, another Citadel grad, who also wrote The Prince of Tides, The Water is Wide, The Great Santini, and The Lords of Discipline. I would later get the Boo to sign my book. He wrote "To Del, who is doing well, The Boo." It was short but it was all I needed. It still sits on my shelf. This does not tell you much about the man but just know that he was a great man. He always looked out for cadets and loved his school more than anything. It is a Citadel thing I suppose.

I would later get Pat Conroy to sign the book also. Pat wrote that I was a member of His class. He had been estranged from our school after publishing the book The Lords of Discipline about the school. My class, the class of 2001, brought him back to his alma mater, and at our graduation he spoke. His gift to us, strange but novel, was an invitation to his funeral. He was happy we had brought him back to his alma mater and told us to show our rings and tell them we are the class of 2001.

Pat Conroy - "In closing, class of 2001, I cannot thank ya’ll enough for doing this for me. I did not exactly pencil this speech into my schedule of coming attractions, and you do me the highest honor by bringing me fully into my Citadel family. And I was trying to think of something I can do because a graduation speaker needs to speak of time—time passing. Usually, I tell graduation classes I want them to think of me on their 40th birthday, but I got something else I want to do for ya’ll because I’m so moved at what you’ve done for me. I would like to invite each one of you in the class of 2001 to my funeral, and I mean that. I will not be having a good day that day. . . but I have told my wife and my heirs that I wanted the class of 2001 to have an honored place whenever my funeral takes place. And I hope as many of you will come as you possibly can because I want you to know how swift time is, and there is nothing as swift—and you know this—from the day you walked into Lesesne Gate until this day—a heartbeat, an eye blink. This is the way life is. It is the only great surprise in life.

So I’m going to tell you how to get to my funeral. You walk up. . . You find the usher waiting outside, and here’s your ticket. . . You put up your Citadel ring. Let them check for the 2001, and each one of you, I want you to say this before you enter the church at which I’m going to be buried. You tell them, 'I wear the ring.'"


http://www.citadel.edu/r3/pao/addresses/conroy.htm

Throughout the years, The Boo remained a living legend at The Citadel often receiving countless letters, cards, photos, and other memorabilia from past cadets.