Colby College - Oracle Yearbook (Waterville, ME)

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SENIIIR CLASS HISTURY On a bright autun111 day i11 1941, the largest class ever to enter Colby arrived at the station to be whisked away by the S. C. A. for a week of freshman orientation activities. Some of the freshmen had come for four years of fun-par- ties, dances, picnics, football games and winter sports. Some had come with an earnest desire to achieve a good, liberal education-in the classroom, in the library, in the lecture halls- but most of the class of 1945 had come with eager expectations of combining both education and fun into four happy, prosperous and peace- ful years. The first few months proved to be all that any freshman could wa11t. Classroom work and lec- tures had started them on the road to an A.B. degree and social activities, in the form of gym dances, tea dances, fraternity and sorority par- ties and football games, abounded. Colby won the Maine State Football Championship and the class of 1945 made the front page of the Boston Herald. The former glory was the result of an excel- lent team and coach. The latter triumph was the result of the enterprise of the freshman men. The boys dug up a dust-covered rule which would grant them exemption from fresh- man rules finvolving bowing in front of Foss Hall and similar indignitiesl if they could cap- ture the sophomore class president and hold him from his classmates for forty-eight hours. The president of tl1e class of 1944 was taken for an unexpected but pleasant trip to Boston while his classmates furiously combed the New England states although really suspecting he had gone to Alaska. Upon the sophomore president's re- turn to Watewille the freshmen were granted exemption from onerous rules and everyone agreed that the class of 1945 was definitely a part of Colby. December seventh is a date which has become as thoroughly imprinted in American minds as the Fourth of July or Armistice Day. ,lust as this date changed the way of life for the nation so it changed the way of life for Colby. The Colby Glee Club was in Portland that Sunday singing Handel's 'fMessiah with the Bowdoin and Colby Junior College Glee Clubs when the announcement of the attack on Pearl Harbor was made. The usual hilarious return of the Glee Club was that night subdued. For days afterward radios blared constantly even at meals 10 and in the gym. Colby's men began to leave the campus for the armed forces. From a happy little ivory tower, momentarily touched with hysteria, Colby changed to a college at war. Preparation for living became more important, and the frivolity of college life was relegated to a minor position. One of the few major social events of 1942 was Winter' Carnival, which took place with all its traditional excitement and glitter. Freshmen marveled at the snow sculpture, were delighted with the moccasin dance on the skating rink, and thoroughly enjoyed the formal which cli- maxed the week-end. Spring came and with it the fascinating news that the Fall of 191-2 would find the Wo1nen's Division living on the Mayflower Hill campus. Also of great student interest was Franklin John- sonis announcement that he was retiring from the presidency of Colby. Late in the Spring he introduced Dr. Julius S. Bixler of Harvard who was to be his successor. Wi,tl1 workmen busy on Mayflower Hill the freshmen left for Summer vacation. Some mem- bers of the class of 1945 returned, however, for Colby's first summer school, which was designed by the administration to enable students to com- plete their college career before induction into the armed services. It was a delightful Summer, with classes in the morning and the afternoons spent walking, picnieking, playing tennis or swimming at tl1e Outing Club. The highlight of the summer was the War Bond Caravan which brought Nancy Carroll, a genuine movie actress, to Wfaterville. Returning in the Fall, upperclass women were met at the station by a shiny new blue bus fmore recently known as Colby's Daily Mir- aclel and transported to the Hill. Whatever' misgivings the sophomore women had about the freshman girls being on the Old Campus within close proximity of the remaining men were dis- pelled by the sight of the wonderful new dor- mitories. Colby by this time had become a wartime col- lege in earnest. A streamlined academic pro- gram was set up while the administration an- nounced plans for a second summer school. Ex- tracurricular activities were cut to a minimtun -Powder and Wig, Colby At The Mike, the Outing Club fell by the boards. In a further effort to minimize extracurricular activities a

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group of forward-looking women tried unsuc- cessfully to eliminate sororities for the duration. Military life, which Colby students had known only through letters from friends in basic train- ing, was brought to the campus with the arrival of the Air Corps 21st College Training Detach- ment. Greeted by a triumphant display of wel- come in the form of a trumpeting parade down College Avenue, engineered by two precocious Colby men, the 21st C. T. D. took over Foss Hall, the Y. M. C. A., and several of the smaller women's dormitories on the Old Campus. The dispossessed freshman women moved to the Hill to live in the incredibly stretched housing space of Mary Low and Louise Coburn Halls. For the rest of the year 1 p.m. on Saturdays brought a flood of khaki to the Hill. The second summer session proved a great success. The Outing Club was again the focal point of social activity and, in contrast to the previous summer, traditional extracurricular ac- tivities were not entirely neglected as an enter- prising student group put out a summer school Echo without the financial aid of the College. In the Fall of the official junior year, the ma- turing class of 194-5 retumed to find a more in- tegrated and organized academic program. Sum- mer construction had provided classrooms in the Women's Union and more classes were held on the Hill. A brave new art department had added its offerings to the stepped-up curriculum. The Averill Lecture and Community Concerts be- came important dates on the calendars of the upperelass women. The campus was almost devoid of male stu- dents, but the Air Corps continued to provide week-end entertainment for the W0lH6H,S Divi- sion. Winter came early, snow piled up and many a student was lured from Gemn1ill and Blodgetti' or uHaycs, volume II out onto terraced slopes of the Chapel lawn. But worst of January weather was avoided by second six weeks Winter vacation. Spring the the the saw sion, its enrollment increased by returning vet- erans, occupied Hedman Hall and the re-opened Roberts Hall. Extracurricular activities were expanded and increased. Powder and Wig was revived and the 1nen's basketball team really re-entered inter- scholastic competition. Campus social commit- tees worked to provide social events reminiscent of the Mold Colby. They succeeded admirably with all-college picnics, a modified Winter car- nival and two big formal dances. In the mean- time, the Men's Division reorganized the Men's Student Council and began, effectively, to take a unified part in all campus activities. One of the major events of 194-4 was, of course, the Presidential election. Many of the seniors were casting their first ballot, and a great deal of thought and time was spent in debating the election issues in the classroom and on the cam- pus. In December a special senior banquet was held at the Elmwood in honor of the January graduates. Following first semester finals, sim- ple but impressive, graduation exercises were held in the Dun11 Lounge for members of' the class of 1945. As the ORACLE went to press, the seniors were preparing for final examinations and looking forward to the traditional graduation activities of Class Day, the President's Reception, and Commencement. As alumni they will look back on their four years at Colby as four years profit- ably spent in studying the important ideas and motives at work in a world at war-four years spent learning the ideas and forces that will con- tribute to a world at peace-four years spent acquiring the knowledge and training that would enable them to live more happily and profitably with themselves and their fellows. the last of the Army depart and accelerated members of the class of 194-5 graduated as mem- bers of the class of 1944. The Summer of 194-4 foiled optimistic cool- weather seekers as the thermometer persisted in ranging around the nineties just at the time perspiring and aspiring students were taking final exams. All survived, however, and those who had not graduated at the close of' Colby's third and last Summer session returned in Oc- tober for their final semester. A huge class of freshman women filled Foss Hall, Dunn House and spilled over into the double-deckers on the Hill. The Men's Divi- Lzlt to right: Loudon, Collett, Oxton, Hoagland SENIUR Cl.ASS UFFICERS Ann Hoagland Lois Loudon Naomi Collett Frances Oxton President Vice-President Secretary Treasurer