While most members of UofL’s Class of 1958 strolled down memory lane during their recent 50th class reunion, one of their classmates most certainly was driving. Among Dr. H. Clarke Anderson’s fondest UofL memories is motoring around campus in his used hearse—aptly dubbed Rigor Mortis.

“I had it when I was an undergrad … my junior and senior year,” Anderson says. “I paid $125 for it. And I certainly got my money’s worth. We used to take it out on parties in Cherokee Park. I sold it when I needed the money to go to med school.”

During the Golden Alumni Reunion in May, Anderson, who earned his bachelor’s in zoology in 1954 and his medical degree in 1958, shared pictures of the hearse including the Courier-Journal photo from fall 1952 (right), in which friends and fellow students gather around Rigor Mortis in front of The Thinker. That’s Anderson behind the wheel.

Not surprisingly, the hearse caused quite the furor on Belknap Campus back in the day. A newspaper article proclaimed: “The used hearse craze has dug its first foothold at the University of Louisville.” The story goes on to report that the hearse “has almost as much passenger capacity as a small bus” and how “young Anderson” had recently packed about half the membership of his Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity into “its cavernous recesses” for a weekend trip.

“I had three in the front seat and 15 in the back,” Anderson reported at the time. “You can only have three in the front, according to the law, you know; but I don’t think there’s any limit on the back seat.”

Anderson’s neighbors on Crescent Avenue had some difficulty getting used to the hearse, according to the article. One called his mom and wailed: “I wonder if your son would mind parking that thing down the street just a little. Every morning, when I wake up and look out the window, there’s that, that—thing!”

It’s probably no wonder that Anderson ended up in pathology. Since 1990, he has been the Harrington Professor of Orthopedic Research and professor emeritus of pathology at the University of Kansas Hospital.