University of North Alabama - Diorama Yearbook (Florence, AL)

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- iA ▼r w . ' VilK :i Diorama 1958

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...r • The 1958 Diorama would like to make this eleventh edition of the Diorama an expression of thanks to Florence State College. It is an unusual to dedicate a book to a college but the staff felt that it was the most deserving of all the people and ideals and other suggested things to honor so by dedication. So, to Florence State College, its lofty ideals, faculty, and students and all the memories and friends it has helped us to gain, we respectfully and humbly dedicate this 1958 Diorama and we hope it will serve in years to come as a symbol of your own thanks and appreciation to your alma mater. i!

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CAMPUS AND GROUNDS The campus at Florence State is a thing of beauty the year around. The buildings and grounds are steeped with a mellowness and air of tradition put here by constant use and service. What a story the legendary Turris Fidelis could tell if he would come down from atop his perch in the turrets and towers of historic Wesleyan Hall! Covering forty acres of hills and mounds, Florence State is located in a residential area near downtown Florence. It possesses a special beauty that varies with each season. Spring brings forth a myriad of colors, odors and sounds all over the campus. Who will ever forget the delicate pinkness and whiteness of the billowing dogwood trees in front of O ' Neal Hall? Stimulating freshness fills you with energy and enthusiasm. Color fills the air as the scarlet buds of the maple trees venture out and become chartreuse spires of spring. Everywhere the air is warm and humid and filled with the odor of blossoms and damp soil and there is a monotonous hum of voices, birds, and buzzing insects. An air of expectancy covers everything. Unobtrusively and quietly, summer pushes away the freshness and delicacy of spring. Darker and more intense colors come over the landscape. The trees are no longer fairy-like clouds of light green, but have become great clusters of rustling shadow-filled leaves. The air settles to a dry stillness and the sidewalks burn as you walk in the blinding glaring white sun. The rock garden, with its square little pool, offers a refuge from the heat. You can stand and look at the reflection of your image in the still crystal surface of the pool. And as you stand there gazing, fat, sleek goldfish glide silently beneath the surface of the water and the reflection becomes distorted as a cool breeze stirs between the trees and as time passes, the surface of the pool is covered with leaves of crimson, yellow, and gold. Autumn creeps in almost unnoticed as the sudden rush of new-semester activities envelops you. The leaves have blossomed forth with colors reminiscent of spring except they are more daring and loud with yellow and crimson predominating. Suddenly, the color is gone and bareness and greyness comes over the campus. Christmas brings artificial colors of lights about the grounds as the dormitories prepare for holiday seasons. As you walk about in the grey twilight, you hear the voices of students floating from the living room of O ' Neal as they join in singing their favorite carols. All about there is a feeling of warmth and cosiness The real beauty of winter comes when snow and ice cover the campus with light downy whiteness. It becomes a wonderland as the countless infinite crystals float down and land with a soft sticky hushed sound upon the fallen dry and curled leaves. The amphitheater takes on a particularly beautiful look as the shining pure white columns are lost in a swirl of waftin g white flakes and the gaunt, naked, and twisted limbs of the trees are festooned with clear and tapered icicles. The lawns and car tops are frosted with whiteness. The dull leaden sky often opens to let a spotlight of sunshine radiate the panorama with a blaze of tinsel and sequins and then retreats back under the clouds to leave you with a fleeting memory of beauty. The 19 ' ' S Diorama has tried to capture permanently some of the impressions of our campus in pictures on the following pages. The entrances and doorways are shown because they represent the most familiar and most used part of any building. Turris Fidelis views this scene cich day as the twilight fades into darkness.