Jerry Good is one of the most interesting fellows that I knew at Penn State.

I’m not sure if his last name is spelled with a final “e” or not. I can’t find anything where I wrote down his name.

I first got to know him during Fall term of my second year. That’s when I had the horrible roommate on the third floor of Mifflin Hall, so I spent most of my time up on the fifth floor where former high school classmates Steve Sattazahn and Allen Maurer resided.

Jerry’s room was directly opposite theirs in room 520, the only single room on the floor. I soon learned that the previous year he had roomed with Jeff in 517 (the fellow that I would end up rooming with the following term), but Jerry had put in for the single room when he learned it was becoming vacant. He had told Jeff it was because he just wanted his privacy, but he eventually told me that although he liked Jeff and remained friends with him, he just couldn’t stand to room with him. I never learned what the problem was.

Anyway, at the end of the Fall term, Jerry decided to take a few terms off from school, so the single room 520 became vacant. That’s when Terry Carroll, Jeff’s current roommate put in for it, paving the way for me to room with Jeff. Terry also told me that while he liked Jeff well enough, he found him a pain as a roommate. I managed to room with Jeff for two years and we got along fine, I just learned never to take him to any parties.

Anyway, I was talking about Jerry.

The following year Jerry came back to school but he lived off campus. Still, he managed to visit the fifth floor of Mifflin Hall frequently.

It turned out that the months that he had been away he had spent chauffeuring some rich dude. Somehow I couldn’t picture Jerry as a chauffeur. Still can’t. But that’s what he did. And I have no idea why he did it. To see the sights, perhaps.

Oh, I ought to describe Jerry. As I think about it, he looked sort of like Titus Welliver, but actually good looking. That same oval shaped face and that same habit of tilting his head when he spoke. 

Jerry Good did not suffer fools gladly, in fact his numbering of fools was even greater than mine was, if you can believe it, although I may have caught up with him in the intervening years.

Still, he was one of the most amiable fellows I’ve ever known.

He seemingly knew everybody. He did not partake of the drug culture himself, but he had contacts who could get you anything you wanted. Or if it was something exotic, he knew people who knew people.

Sadly, like practically everyone I knew at Penn State, I lost contact with him. I’ve periodically done searches for Gerald Good, as I think that’s his correct name, but I’ve not found anyone who seems like it could be the fellow I knew.

BUT— In one of my searches I did find a record of a Gerald W. Good born in 1947 in Hanover, PA. I think Jerry Good was from Hanover but I’m not certain, but it does seem to ring a bell (maybe the wrong one). Still, it’s something.