Pat Conroy gave the 2001 commencement speech at The Citadel, something he once thought Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein or feminist actress Jane Fonda had a better shot at.
UPDATE: Pat Conroy's funeral arrangements announced; services open to the public
Credit: Jennifer Brett
Credit: Jennifer Brett
Conroy, who died Friday at 70 following a battle with pancreatic cancer, was estranged from his alma mater for decades over "Lords of Discipline," the novel set in a brutal military academy. Many in The Citadel community took issue with the jarring depiction of the school.
"Class of 2001, listen up. I don't have much time," he said. "They don't give you much time for graduation speeches. Because of various aspects of my character and fate, I did not get to address the corps of cadets in the last century. There were many years when I thought that Saddam Hussein or Jane Fonda had a better chance of addressing this class than I did."
Toward the end, he issues a very touching invitation to the cadets in the audience that day: He said he wanted them all to attend his funeral.
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