Colby College - Oracle Yearbook (Waterville, ME)

Page 14 text:

Freshman year seems to stand out as the year, perhaps because it was a new experience and we were more conscious of what was going on around us. From then on, time just seems to run together. Fall came after too brief a summer spent at jobs befitting our superior intelli- gence, and we returned to the ney Colby Campus, very much impressed with the fact that we were now officially in the know. The fact that we were pointedly ignored by the upper-classes seemed not to faze us in the least. We were hell bent on teaching the Class of '53 how to behave but, unfortu- nately, we carried our enthusiasm too far. A group of upperclassmen carried off a rebellious freshman from the dorms and after only five days of hazing the rules went, but not before a fruitless, though exciting chase, of President Mac to Boston and back. We weren't the only ones to be honored with new living quarters. Prexy moved to his Howard Johnson-type house and gained rave notices in the ECHO about his blue bathroom. Nels Corey became the new line coach for the football team which split first place in the State Series with Bowdoin. George Bazer, Dick Verrengia, Sandy Sanderson, Ray Billington, Ed Cawley and John Ratoff played some excellent ball for Coach Holmer. Five fraternities laid foundations for their houses in fraternity row. Four suc- ceeded in putting houses on those foundations. The Lambda Chi's, with earnest but unlucrative teachers and preachers for alumni, graciously allowed the Tau Delts and Zetes to squabble over the unsightly hole to decide whether it should be a Tau Delt garage or a Zete cold storage cellar. The success of the Varsity Show, Bottoms Up, was largely due to the hard work and patience of such as Bev Forgy, Joan Acheson, Dick Tupper, Norma Ber- quist and numerous others. Sandy Pearson did an excellent job of substituting for Mary Thomas, on short notice, in the next year's show, Slightly Off Key. Powder and Wig had its share of '52 theater addicts. Appearing from time to time were Caroline Wilkins, Dale Dacier, Janice Pearson, Joan Gridley and Pat Erskine, who picked up a Powder and Wig dramatic award for her lead in The Glass Menagerie. January l8, T949, marked a sad day for Colby College. Pop Newman died. There was something about that guy at once unbelievable and undescribable. lf you didn't know him you couldn't understand the loss, and if you did know him or if you just saw him walking around, you know that volumes could be written about him without fully explaining the effect he had on people. Just before finals, Lambda Chi produced a musical show called Saint Looie Woman. What they lacked in talent they made up in noise. This was the first attempt any fraternity had tried in the line of a full-fledged show. However, all the fratrenities and sororities participated in a Hangout sponsored show a year later which was a tremendous success. Tau Delts walked off with the first prize, with the D. U.'s running a very close second. The Tri Delts pranced into the winner's circle of the sororities. A couple of old traditions were brought to our modern campus during our sophomore year. For one thing, the Elijah Prish Lovejoy stone was settled in the mud way down in front of Miller Libe, and for another, a circular was awaiting our arrival, that announced that henceforth no drinking would be allowed on campus. Both traditions were blithely ignored. The college year of i950-5l kept up the tradition of newness on the campus. A Student Government, worthy of the name, came into being. lt actually obtained results. Dean Nickerson addressed the class at the Senior Banquet, and with com- plete sincerity stated that he was somewhat surprised but extremely pleased by

Page 13 text:

Frosh who casually stepped into the hall to see what was going on. The matter was brought to the attention of the Student Council which appointed an acting Sophomore president, who was promptly captured and rules were over. lUgly rumors were circulated about this capture. Some say the Soph president was anxious to go to Boston on a certain weekend and could find no other ride.l Some also say that we were the first class to have an organized revolt against Freshmen rules. Nevertheless, it certainly fit in with the atmosphere surrounding a class that would instigate and witness many firsts on the Colby campus. During the football season a mascot appeared by the curious name of Ybloc. Although he reported for duty as a White Mule, he was ominously greeted by whispers concerning his paternity and his nondescript grayish colors which blended well with the weather in which the games were usually played. Thereupon, he became a singularly unaffectionate animal and seemed rather bored by the whole procedure. That fall the library stacks were opened to the students. As Mr. Humphrey, librarian, put it, to give them lthe studentsl an opportunity to get acquainted with the material they are studying. Some students gave this statement a rather liberal interpretation and fraternity pins continued to change hands through the cold winter months-an activity that beforehand had been considered a seasonal business. We were the last class to see and give a freshman class play. No decree was forthcoming about this, it seems to have died a natural death. Seventeen members of the class participated in its last rites-otherwise known as George Washington Slept Here. The Faculty also put on a show that year called Notes of Derange- ment, which parodied student activities with a surprising degree of observation. But this show too has, unfortunately, been placed on the shelf. The Outing Club erected the ski tow that fall and many of our classmates were recruited to cut brush, haul dirt, and burn sacrifices to the Snow Gods. ln February, Charlie Barnett showed up at the Winter Carnival Ball held in the new fieldhouse. The attempt to set a precedent of big-game bands for Winter Carnival failed. Actually, the music of such lesser-knowns as Jack Edwards and Ted Herbert, who played for succeeding carnivals, was more danceable than that of Barnett. Few mourned the passing of big-name bands from the Colby Campus. We had our fling. After a minor political campaign in the spring ot forty-nine, Bruce MacPherson, Janet Leslie, Norma Berquist, and Don Silverman were elected as class officers. The problem of construction was ever present from freshman year on. Roads and buildings were in a state of half completion and being rudely awakened by a blast during an eight o'clock class became a matter of course. An interesting little item appeared in the Echo of May ll, 1949. Mayor Squire was quoted as saying that the city could not repair the roads leading to the college at the present time but would do it in the near future. You'd better wind your calendar, Mayor, I think it's slow. Finals came and went and with the malso went a few luckless classmates. We left the old campus for good with fond memories of the smell of the mill, the trains rumbling through the station at all hours of the night the snowball fights at Hedman, bull sessions at the Jeff, the Dead Rat, and Petes, and last but not least, the buildings themselves. How they stood up for so long will forever remain a mystery. You can't deny that they had a heap of character, they sure had time enough to develop it.

Page 15 text:

the attitude of the college in accepting the responsibilities of its own government. Much of the progress of the Student Government was due to Don Silverman, its second president, who strengthened the organization after Mark Mordecai of the Class of 'Sl nursed it through infancy. The Hangout came about through the Social Committee which formed a separate committee to look into the possibility of having a student social center. Ann Ryan, Margie Austin, and Herb Simon were in on the ground floor of this organization and were directly responsible for its foundation and successful growth. When it came to passing out bouquets, a well-earned posie was planted in the sweaty little editorial fist of one Robert Mick Ryley. Varied opinion on the quality of the ECHO did not detract from the tremendous effort the smiling Irishman put toward improving the newspaper. The football highlight of our stay was the Trinity game. They came on Parents' Weekend '5l, boasting a thirteen game winning streak which Colby promptly shattered in one of the best games ever played on Seaverns Field. The basketball team took the Series crown with comparative ease. Johnny Jabar who had transferred from B. U., played the brand of ball that made him captain in 'l952. Just before mid-semester exams, long white envelopes began to appear on campus. Some guys got panicky and ioined the Navy. The weekly migrations to the battle of Augusta Bay became a tradition of such force that even such formidable institutions as Wednesday night fraternity meetings were changed to Tuesday. Uncle Sam was good to most of us, however, and although committees of our neighbors were extremely nosy about our whereabouts, we managed to return to finish our iunior and senior years. One of the most enjoyable events during the spring was the fraternity-sorority sing on the Libe steps. This contest was originally to be held around Johnson's Pond lPrexie's Puddle to the psych maiorsl but the last time that happened the farming folk around these parts raised such a hue and cry about the disappearance of livestock that the practice was discontinued. At long last, we returned to the campus as Seniors, a fact that was hard to get used to. Something even harder to get used to was the appearnce of girls up in the quadrangle dorms. Somehow the old place didn't seem natural with all the curtains drawn. Artie White, captain of the baseball team in l952, was elected class president. Other officers were Sally Shaw, Nancy MacDonald and Russ Dixon. Realizing that our time was almost up, some of us began to look a little more closely at the progress of our education, a thought that seldom entered our heads beforehand. By the next semester, however, the attitude of they never flunk second semester seniors reared its ugly head and we trotted back to Bill's carrying the banner of l can get more education from one bull session than I can from fifty classes. Considering the circumstances, a surprising amount of optimism was present regarding our futures. The male contingent was faced by the draft, and the female element was up against a man-power shortage. Yet a surprising number of people were seeking jobs instead of resignedly awaiting the call to arms. T'was a healthy note amidst the debunking, and negative atmosphere that permeated most of our education. When you stop and think about it, it might have been nice to have gone to college amongst old and settled halls and traditions, but perhaps some of Colby's pioneer spirit did, by chance, happen to rub off onto the Class of '52 making it all the richer for the experience. One thing is for sure, we never had it so good.