Doc Quick Funeral Includes Final Journey to Mississippi College Campus

Mississippi College bells sounded as hundreds of admirers watched the late Doc Quick make his final journey to his alma mater in a hearse Tuesday morning.

It was a fitting tribute to the beloved Mississippi College administrator and friend to many on and off the Clinton campus.

“Doc was all about second chances,” the Rev. Tom Washburn said at a memorial service Tuesday at First Baptist Church Clinton.  He recounted the many times Quick helped former MC students seeking to return to the Christian university and get their lives back on track.

“Doc was big on redemption. He was big on forgiveness,” Washburn told hundreds of faculty, staff, students and alumni packing the sanctuary. He cherished his former colleague as did many others.

“I’m so grateful for the opportunity to know Doc Quick,” Washburn said. “I’m grateful that God called Doc Quick to serve students.” While the longtime Clintonian, 1955 MC graduate and faithful servant of God was to be buried on an April 1 afternoon, “We can never bury the influence of Doc Quick.”

His many friends included star Choctaw athletes, student leaders, and academic success stories, but also a good number of MC students at risk. There are enough stories to write a book about these former students that Quick assisted for generations as a Mississippi College administrator, Washburn noted.

Moments after his casket draped by an American flag was loaded into a hearse for his last loop around campus, friends like Clintonians Caby Byrne and his wife, Betty, shared a few of their fondest memories of the iconic Mississippi College leader.

As the Baptist Student Union director in 1960, Caby Byrne recalled he had the opportunity to offer a staff position at Mississippi College to the young Christian gentleman. “He accepted and never left. As a result, Mississippi College was never the same.”

A 1954 MC alumnus, Byrne and Doc Quick were more than good friends during their undergraduate days. “He was my best friend. My invitation brought him to Mississippi College.”

It was not a last minute decision that led to Quick’s last ride around campus occur while student leader Micheal Walley of Waynesboro rang the university’s bell.

When he retired from Mississippi College after more than three decades as a leader in student and alumni affairs, Doc Quick in a 1999 “Beacon” story requested that some of his “boys” prop up his corpse in a car and “ride me around campus one more time.”

In front of Provine Chapel, Alumni Hall, Nelson Hall, the B.C. Rogers Student Center and other buildings on the Clinton campus, many friends paused from their busy day to express their thanks and love for Doc Quick.