Swarthmore College - Halcyon Yearbook (Swarthmore, PA)

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THE CLASS DF MIIVETEEIV The graduating class of ' 47 is a diverse group. Among its members are veterans who would normally have graduated as far back as ' 42; returned Swarthmore men and vets who have come from other colleges; former Swarthmore V-12 ' s who have stayed on here as pre-meds; accelerated seniors who came in on the Navy speed-up program, and non-accelerated seniors who have taken their four years in the normal manner. Because they are so interwoven chronologically, it is difficult to trace their class history as that of a coherent group. No attempt will be made here to unravel the threads; the nucleus of the class of ' 47 will be considered as those of us who were freshmen in ' 43. The freshmen who arrived in 1943 came in the early winter rather than in the fall, for the college was then in its Navy-set schedule of three semesters a year. The Frosh went through the usual routine of sign-wearing, celebrated their initiation into col- lege life with a carnival and later with a barn dance, and went all out for the Little Theatre, the Phoenix, Dodo, Halcyon and the rest of Swarthmore ' s myriad of activities. The Fresh- man Executive Committee of 43-44 was headed by Lee Town- send, assisted by Keith Culverhouse, Amy Roosevelt, Eleanor Gillam, and Elizabeth Pope. In their sophomore year, the class of ' 47 found its roster still consisting largely of Navy men, one of whom. Chuck Scriver, was chosen class president in an unusually lively election, along with other officers Sue Bradley, Liz Crawford, and Bobbie Gates. The class had increased in size, for it was augmented now by a large group of accelerating ex-freshmen who had survived the summer term of ' 44. 1945 found the college still on its wartime program, but with V-12 ' s giving way to a smaller unit of V-5 ' s, and with the influx of returning veterans getting under way. Ex-Swarthmore men were coming back from the service, ex-V-12 ' s were joining the civilian ranks as med students, and more accelerators were beina absorbed into the junior class. Elections in the fall of ' 45 re- sulted in the choosing of ex-12 ' s Fuzzy Fausnaugh and Chip Paxson as president and vice-president, with Demi Affleck as sec- retary and Sue Bradley as treasurer. The class took on a new significance and a new unity that year; V-J day had come and gone, and a new spirit had invaded Swarthmore; a post-war re- vival of all the college traditions and activities which had been temporarily extinguished by the war. It was not till its senior year that the class of ' 47, which had been a war baby from the start and had never known the dining room when it wasn ' t a cafeteria, or Wharton when it wasn ' t a barracks, finally saw the semblance of a return to normalcy. The fall of ' 46 brought a large contingent of veterans back to Swarth-

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STUDENTS 19

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FDHTY-SEVEIV CLASS OFFICERS: Fausnaugh, Allebach, Lorwin, Eber- f sole