St Bernard College - Bernardian Yearbook (Cullman, AL)

Page 82 text:

WAYNE M. WEISSEND PHILLIP WHISENANT BENNY D. WHITE BONITA WILLIS Cullman, Ala. Cullman, Ala. Cullman, Ala. Cullman, Ala. Education Mathematics Education Education ROBERT J. WITCHGER JAMES A. WOLF Saginaw, Mich. Cullman, Ala. Phllosophy Hlslory I see my g-g-golden ideals turning brown before my eyesl awk? Peace, BROTHER??? I'II make you an offer you can't refusel

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WILLIAM SMITH THOMAS P. STECKEL MICHAEL F. STINTON VINCENT P. STRUMOLO Cullman, Ala. Havertown, Pa. Portsmouth, R. I. Orange, N. J. Accounting Chemistry Education Education DAVID SWEENEY CATHY TERRY GERALD E. THIBAULT DIANN THURMOND Aldan, Pa. Cullman, Ala. Morristown, N. J. Horton, Ala. English Education Education Education CONETA TIDWELL CLAIRE TILLEY RICHARD VANSLAVIE DEBRA WARD Addison, Ala. Hartselle, Ala. Freehold, N. J. Addison, Ala. Education Education English Education 77

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Whatever you felt as a student for Saint Bernard College, and whatever you did for and received from the same, is now but a matter of record. Our varied academic and extracurricular careers, which for the most part commenced on a muggy, overcast day in the late summer of 1968, have been instrumental in determining our present stations in life. The early days are dim in our memories now, iust as the entire tenure eventually will be. But no one among us will stop trying to recall people, places, and things from those times which transpired so quickly and yet will always mean so much. It is not difficult to set on paper a comprehensive synopsis of general events and personal experiences spanning four years, it is impossible. The more memorable occurrences are common knowledge, and it would belabour the point to bring them up. The smaller remembrances, with all their myriad connotations and denotations, are best left to those who actually lived them. Taken together, though, everything we have experienced at Saint Bernard since our first hours on campus will hopefully lead to a benediction of years of good fortune. During these impressionable years, life at Saint Bernard proved to be a microcosm of the rest of the world, complete with the fulfillment and defeat of many aspirations, intermingled with sham, trickery, and politics. For everything that it was not, Saint Bernard was something in return although, of course, at times not everything was in accord. When we were students there were improvements and there were setbacks, both of which had to be expected. Above all, it was possibly expected by some that we would immediately and naturally assume a position which was contrary to the viewpoints expressed by the college administration, an assumption which made for some classic encounters over the years. At the very least, all members of both camps were critical of the other at one time, and with various degrees of intensity and success. The administration, for example, was frustrated with the results wrought by the Battle of the Grotto and the planned Appalachian Valley Music and Arts Festival, both of which came to a heated climax because of cultural differences they, in their different ways, sought to eliminate. We, in comparison, were frustrated by the slow pace of going to practical coeducation, the voids in recreational activities, and the constant clashing of administrative and faculty wills over what was good for the college. There are other matters over which we clashed, but the final analysis is the same - the entire sphere of events seems to have been a manifestation of the ever-present conflict between bureaucratic tendencies and the impatience of youth, and the fact that each side would not sufficiently surrender their interests until the final hour had come. There can be no mistaking the fact that our lifestyles have changed considerably since leaving Saint Bernard. Dormitories and off-campus homes have been traded for dwellings amidst the quiet of the country, the conventional malls of suburban homes, of the breakneck pace of a modern city. Topics of conversation, among others, have switched from blue ieans to Blue Cross and Blue Shield protection plans, and the collegiate Bohemian lifestyle has given way in the process of transformation. Along with countered dreams and relished successes, we now experience, there is a nagging feeling that we have been through it all before in a lesser degree. And we have. For the faculty, the administration, and every member of this class has in some manner influenced one another, and we will always habitually reflect this association. We are living very distinct lives now, much removed from the educational and cultural oneness known in college. For us, the classrooms and related buildings are still, although these innately sterile but theoretically invaluable structures still beat for others. lt is certain our association with Saint Bernard College has had varying degrees of mutual enrichment, but the ultimate greening of the college, despite what we have contributed to it, has been left to a future association of interested parties. We are limited to speculating about our own associations, and where we would be and what we would be doing if they had taken a different course. Undoubtedly, though, all of us throughout his or her own life will entertain memories of the bittersweet years when we were young and living in this one place. - Ernest J. Porter