University of Rhode Island - Renaissance / Grist Yearbook (Kingston, RI)

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The GRISTETTE didn’t walk on the grass, and we found out who the Vigilantes were — even if some of us did it the hard way. The Davis Hall girls bunked in the lounge of Eleanor Roosevelt Hall while Davis was being re- decorated, and in a spirit of fun nicknamed their temporary headquarters “The Bar- racks” and proceeded to have a fine time while they were there. That first Saturday we cheered at the Brown-State game, not realizing, then, that it was the last we were to see for the duration. We had a football team and a band that year — we even danced in Octo- ber to Sam Donahue at the Soph Hop, and in November to Mai Hallett at the Aggie Ball. Agatha Jones and Anna Bills were cheerleaders and Gail Graham, Marcia Cady, and Fran Stickley were Queen can- didates for the Aggie Ball. Even then we were making ourselves known. We joined the Glee Club, Phi Delta, the debating societies, Home Ec Club ; we did the small jobs for the Beacon ; we went out for football and track and basketball and hockey and softball. We didn’t know what class we were going to graduate as, but, for tradition’s sake, we put our “Frosh 46” on the quadrangle walk. Event followed event that first year. And in the meantime the streetlights had gone out, students and faculty were keep- ing a twenty-four hour watch on the roof of Washburn Hall. We elected our first and only complete set of class officers. Doug Graham was our President; Marite Delaney, Vice-President; Marcia Cady, Secretary; William Briggs, Treasurer; Herbie Kauffman, Social Chairman, and Dr. Robert Stallman was our class adviser. We presented the “Frosh Frolic” — we danced again at our first Military Ball — rushing came and some of us joined fra- ternities and sororities. Janet Datson and Elsie Anderson walked off with the first prize for their nursery rhyme skit at our Stunt Night. That winter we packed Rod- man Hall at every game and soon we were calling Coach Keaney “The Mente” as if we’d been around for years. We watched State’s first graduation with snow on the ground — the Beacon was -cut to almost half its size. In December we danced at the last Junior Prom in the Biltmore. On February third all courses began on an accelerated program. We were now T called “second semester freshmen” be- cause a new freshman class had entered. This date really marked the beginning ot the end of our class unity in the strictest sense of the word, although our classmates really didn’t start to fall behind until the next summer. The war was brought closer that sum- mer semester by the arrival of two hun- dred and fifty Army Trainees who moved into Eleanor Roosevelt Hall. We listened to their “Jolly, Jolly, Sixpence” and “Hup- 2-3-4” going to and from classes ; our girls danced with them at the “Union,” which was formerly Beta Phi fraternity, and we turned our Cafeteria over to their use. The civilian boys, regardless of fraternity affiliation, moved into TKE, Alpha Tau, Lambda Chi, and Beta Psi. Delta Alpha, S. A. E., Theta Chi, Phi Mu, and P. I. K. became the habitats of dorm girls and freshmen, and soon it no longer looked unusual to see girls going in and out of fraternity houses at all hours. All stu- dents used the individual housing units as dining rooms. We donated blood — there were air raid drills — and we watched the number of blue and gold stars grow on our service flag in Edwards Auditorium. Semester representatives now replaced class officers and we elected Bob Shea as our third semester director and Doctor Wilson as our adviser. That summer we still found time for the Pier; we took life saving courses at Thirty Acres ; we played softball and tennis ; classes progressed and our tans deepened at the same time. That summer we learned football was to be a war casualty. In the September gradua- tion we watched twenty-two senior men -4 22 jfr-

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History - i t ♦ In the world today history is being made at such a rapid pace, and the events have been so tremendous, that sometimes we lose sight of the fact that we, too, have been living in a historical sense. Our events have not made the front pages of newspapers but certainly we have written a page of history in the chapter of the College. Our page is mostly the story of a struggle to preserve the organizations and the spirit of the College during the war and to give back to the servicemen in our class, and in other classes, the same Rhody that they left. We did not want them to come back and have to blow away the dust of inactivity before they could start in where they left off. The Class of 1945 never really started. It just accumulated. Some of us were here a little early and didn’t accelerate; another came back after serving with the armeq forces, but most of us arrived in September of 1942 and are the product of a concentrated and accelerated college life which has meant many things besides vacations being few and far between. We were green that September almost three years ago, but we were very willing to learn and we still think our Freshman year was as wonderful as that of any pre- ceding class. Acceleration had started and our “freshman week” was cut short, but we had three full days of stag lines, teas, and making mistakes by ourselves. We learned our school songs; we wore our green ribbons and our frosh caps; we -4 21 )■ -

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The GRISTETTE graduate wearing their caps and gowns over their uniforms. The Soph Hop, the Junior Prom, and just a few of our clubs were other war casualties that next fall. We were forced to realize our responsibility to help keep things going more than ever and we ac- cepted it, grateful that there was some- thing we could do that we knew the boys who once were our classmates would ap- preciate. Girls were taking over most of the organizations now as well as making a good showing in basketball and hockey. We were Juniors in February and Dot Hanna was crowned Queen of our Winter Formal. We danced at the “Crystal Ball” w’hich the A. S. T. P. boys held — and we said goodbye to the Army at a “Goodbye G. I.” Dance in March. Davis and Roose- velt Halls were empty again and the “Jol- ly, Jolly Sixpence” song was sung wist- fully by only feminine voices. Scarcely had the Army left, however, when one hundred secretary trainees arrived to be trained for government work in Washing- ton and gave our girls some competition for the remaining men on campus. Soon we were in the midst of another summer and that June our sixth semester saw a burst of enthusiasm and college spirit that reminded us of our freshman days. TKE was reorganized into Tau Sigma Association as a substitute for fra- ternity life and, as a result, we saw an- other boys’ “Hell Week” . . . Phi Delta came to life . . . the dorm gave us a County Fair ... vie dances started again. Shirlie Lalime was our class director and mem- bers of our class were being elected to lead almost all clubs and organizations on campus. Mickey Fogel was elected Presi- dent of Women’s Student Government. Acceleration ended with the end of the summer semester. Before we knew it we were Seniors. Dot Hanna was the director for our sev- enth semester and Gail Graham, Shirlie Lalime, Mernie Blaine, Bea Browning, and Bob Scott had been tapped for member- ship into Sachems. We had a “Rhody Election Day” that semester w r ith cam- paign speeches, bonfires, buttons and “the works.” Tau Sigma, Beta Tau Omega, and Sigma Beta, the new boys’ organiza- tions, gave us a few formal dances and we had another Winter Formal . . . State was defeated in the Garden but received bids for two national tournaments ... we went to the Winter Concerts . . . and Phi Delta produced “The Late Christopher Bean” with Claire Callahan and Gail Gra- ham in prominent roles. Mernie Blaine, Bea Browning, Mickey Fogel, Mary Gar- iepy, Shirlie Lalime, and Bob Scott were among those elected to Who’s Who in American Universities and Colleges. In February were were “eighth semes- ter Seniors” and were beginning the end of our stay at Rhody. We elected Shirlie Lalime and Bob Scott as class directors and were all soon up to our ears in Grist- ette and Senior Week plans. The Grist- ette took most of our money but we still had a wonderful Senior Week. A Com- mencement Dance, a picnic, a breakfast, a Senior Dance, Class Day, and finally, on Sunday, June tenth, we were transformed in a few seconds into alumnae. In our three years at Rhody during the war emergency we tried, with the admin- istration and faculty, to hold the College together. We didn’t accept defeat as so many students in other colleges did but we kept things going as best we could. There has been no “closing of the doors” because, with all the problems of the world surrounding us, we somehow felt that it was our duty, as well as our privilege, to keep the continuity of the College and give it back to our boys as they left it. Those boys and the new classes that are entering in these more hopeful years will not have the job of opening a dusty house. Our house, as we pass it on to them, is well-ordered and on a firm foundation that not even war has shaken. --••if 23 }§►—