Morningside College - Sioux Yearbook (Sioux City, IA)

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fn Mcmariam With deep affection and humble hearts we dedicate this annual to Miss Ethel Murray. In our memories we will cherish those of Miss Murray, who helped to make the past come alive through her history classes. Her per- sonality and enthusiasm for life gave so many students a lift when the road of life seemed difficult. With her encouragement and help, rising above the hurdles of life was easier. Miss Murray gave her love and service so faithfully and gra- ciously to Morningside College. Few people have given as much of themselves as she did to the college. Even through her days of pain and suffering she continued to be radiant with hope. She realized that sweet peace was near at hand, but her step did not falter until the day she found it neces- sary to remain in bed. Our hearts were laden with sorrow on April 21, 1956 by the death of our beloved Miss Murray. We are sure that her reward is being with her Creator in the garden of love and peace.

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Report to the Annual by retiring president Earl A. Ptoczdrnon While history is much better fortified in the minds of men than prophecy, i-t is quite often as difficult to reconstruct the past as to forecast the future. The ever-pressing experiences of today tend to dis- color and change the appearance of the events of yesterday. A beautiful and happy married life tends to glamorize and beautify many rugged ex- periences of the past which possessed at the time, little of glamour or beauty. I recognize that my re- port of the past twenty years at Morningside is being made with something of colored glasses be- cause the total of the experiences of those years has been so very gratifying. I had had three personal relationships to Morning- side College prior to my election as president on February 7, 1936. First, I was a member of the Upper Iowa University debate team which contest- ed with Morningside in the spring of 1908. Inter- collegiate debate in that first decade of the twen- tieth century enjoyed attendance quite parallel to attendance at athletics contests. The old chapel, now Klinger Forum, was filled to capacity for the event. Second, I was scheduled in 1909 to appear in the state oratorical contest which was held in Morningside's chapel. I again was to represent Up- per Iowa University. My place, however, was va- cant because I had a combination of mumps and an operation for appendicitis. Third, in the autumn semester of 1922, I taught a two-hour course in Rural Sociology by meeting a class of twenty-four students on nine Friday afternoons in four hour sessions. As a part of that which immediately preceded 1936. there had been a most devastating depression in which students at Morningside from farm homes had brought provisions of eggs, meat and vegetables to pay for tuition. There are pictures in the Sioux City Journal of those days, showing students who were operating a butcher shop in the kitchen of Dimmitt Hall and preparing the tuition beef for student consumption. CThey had their beef and they ate it tool. Our graduates went into high school teaching positions with the highest salaries of 9110 a month, or less than one thousand dollars for nine months work. Graduates went into grade teaching positions at 580.00 per month. Frequently during the first two years following 1936 our faculty salaries were delayed from thirty to sixty days. Sometimes a half salary check was available. Dur- ing these days, however, college spirit was as- high and ennobling as it has ever been. In 1938 the North Central Championship was won. Mr. Buckingham, as a student player, was very important in winning that championship. We had the famous Corn Hunt which began on a Thursday evening in 1937 in Dimmitt Hall with ci- der and do-nuts. The faculty and students went forth during Friday and Saturday and visited farms all over northwest Iowa asking for gifts of 15-20 bushels of corn. The corn was only worth about 30 cents a bushel at that time but the mass production of corn for Morningside produced something ap- proximating S3,500, which was an exceedingly im- portant amount in the Morningside budget. Stu- dents of those days still talk with a gleam in their eye about The Corn Hunt. , The fact that Morningside's debt was greater than its endowment was a bit difficult but not an im- possible factor. Faculty salaries were finally paid in full for the year of 1939. From then on the finances of students and the college improved rapidly. The debt, however, was not fully retired until 1944. The Jones Hall of Science was dedicated in the spring of 1948. The first basketball game was played in the Allee Gymnasium on December 17, 1949. The O'Donoghue Observatory was dedicated at Com- mencement in 1952. The Klinger Forum and the Men's Dormitory were first occupied in September of 1953. The new look in the Conservatory of Music began in 1954 and the Miriam Jones Hall of Culture will be completed for housing the Petersmeyer Li- brary in 1956. Naturally, one of the most interesting and important periods of the immediate past was the program of GI education. In the spring of 1942 about four hun- dred Air Force Cadets were moved into Dirnmitt Hall. Eight large houses were rented for the occu- pancy of the women. The Grammer House Girls are still maintaining something of a round-robin com- munications to keep ever alive the wonderful ex- periences of those days and events. At Dimmitt Hall two boys lived where one girl had lived before. Four boys were put in each room. Closet space was much less of a problem with men than with women. The enrollment of women re- mained about normal. The romances which began were above normal. The number of college men on the campus, apart from the cadets, was greatly reduced. In September, 1944 there were about forty-six men. Our athletic directors had all gone into service. Our college bas- ketball team was coached by the ladies physical educational director. The North Central Conference had abandoned its schedules entirely. There were a few inter-collegiate games. However, we did not play the University of South Dakota. We boasted at least, that the University feared risking the experi- ence. In 1945 Germany surrendered in May and Japan in August. The G.I. Bill fhad been put into operation whereby the tuition costs were paid directly to the college and subsistence of S90-S120 paid directly to the students. Enrollments increased so rapidly that there were over five hundred men enrolled in Feb- ruary, 1946. Five hundred men in the spring of 1946 in contrast with the fifty-six men in October, 1944 was a shock in every direction. The effort to secure sufficient faculty was very great. In 1947 before we had the Jones Hall of Science, we had a daytime en- rollment of twelve hundred fulltime students. Class- es were scheduled not only on Saturday but from 7 A. M. to 9 P. M. in order to have sufficient class- room facilities. The basement of Grace Church and the building now occupied by the Curran Drug Store were used as classrooms.