West Virginia Wesleyan College - Murmurmontis Yearbook (Buckhannon, WV)

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REGISTERING WITH STEELE: M I i don, B. Lawson. that they might learn to live and work and play together with all the world tomorrow. They came. They took up their books, heir test tubes, their pens, and began to work. They retook old f runts and regained lost grounds. Here is a story of a Wesley an year. It teas a great year but little greater than any other. The problem were different, perhaps, but the spirit was the same. There were comedies and tragedies, happiness and sad- ness, play and work. Then, too, there was a little more seriousness. The war railed here, and there had to be answers. And this is how it hap- pened: On September 1 1, 1942, freshmen began to appear on the campus. In- quisitive, curious, and a bit fright- ened at the experience, they gathered together — changing but slowly from individuals to a group. Student Union guides met them at the buses and trains, and counselors welcomed them to the campus. Feeling at home, however, proved to he not so much a matter of friendship and advice as a matter of time. It was a busy week. There were examinations, and what examinations — that tested every- thing from what one knew down to one ' s vocabulary. And there was A VISIT WITH VYLESWORTH: K P..-.- Mout. A Mo i-. Wood. - dl, D.

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Chapter I This is a story of Wesleyan, a story of a small group of people living in the truest American ' way. Beyond that lull and across the water there were battlefronts burning blood like ml. Here, too, there were battle- fronts. Here heroes fought long, quiet wars to maintain those things for which the soldiers die. Students they are called — inadequately. Truly, they are guards. As ' wardens they watched through day and night to see that none of the American freedoms might disappear. Through the telescopes of education they kept their eyes on the institu- tions that are good. For want of praise, at times, they nearly fainted . This is a silent tear — unpublished and unsung, fought without a decla- ration and lasting beyond an armis- tice. That tomorrow might be a fit place in which to live when today is done, they fire with all their courage and charge with all their daring. They came to be teachers, doctors, nurses; lawyers, merchants, cooks; chemists, statesmen, wives; sailors, churchmen, and writers. They came to live and work and play together 1

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that strange, incomprehensible col- lege institution called registration. Somehow it worked, and everyone found he had prescribed classes at prescribed hours. The sessions with the advisers were a bit disconcerting, for preconceived ideas about pro- fessors began to break down. They were human after all. They seemed willing to help and to listen. The picnics were the best of all. That afternoon in Jackson ' s grove was the goodby to home and the hello to this new world. Even other fresh- men suddenly came alive. Nothing • I I DEN I I Nil ' I t M II Bai I Brown. Middle row: McDonald, executive secretary; Steele, Hymt, Harper, Thome, Kill- I i u Williams, treasurer; . Reger. really caught the spirit of the new- comers until almost without thinking or planning they staged one of the shows of the year — in their own name. It was a strange show — a mix- ture of everything that they said was W esleyan — ami thev called it Ameri- can Wesleyan. AI Boyles with Willie on his knee brought a new art to the campus; l)c Sales Purkev ' s voice joined the long tradition of good music at Wesleyan; ami Mary Jane Conley read Patterns. Yes, W es- leyan had gained something when these youngsters came — and they were just representative of the whole group. Then Freshman Week was over. It had not been college. That was soon to be seen. It had made college easier. It had been the change from one thing to another — and not at all unpleasant. The Student Union was at work from the very b eginning. Here was an organization that was scarcely a year old. Nancy Goodwin, the presi- dent, was there to meet the train. Ami when it came to planning and staging of parties, Jack McDonald stepped even beyond his office as executive secretary to make the whole campus the sort of place one likes to live on. An organization nt all the students and faculty is one thing. A working organization of such pro- portions is another. This group de- termined to give the students recre- ation of the best sort — ami a recrea- tion center. There has been the finest democratic spirit growing out of the dancer and parties. The Student Union PX is a success. W esleyan owes a great debt to Nancy Goodwin, Jack McDonald, Curtis Thome, Jerome Brown,