Westminster Choir College - Quadrangle Yearbook (Princeton, NJ)

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History of the Class of 1961 These have been the years of growth, of development, of maturing. These past four years represent our deepest thoughts, our most intense learning, our richest experi¬ ences, our warmest friendships. For each of us the time spent within the close harmony of the Quadrangle has its own particular significance which each one must record in his own history. The events and experiences which have transpired during these four years, however, we can record, in hopes that they will provide pegs on which we can all hang our wonderful memories. We arrived at Westminster at a unique period in its history. It was general knowledge that our Freshman year, 1957-1958 would be the last year that the school would be under the direct leadership of its founders, Dr. and Mrs. J. F. Williamson. How well we can remember that first orientation speech given by Mrs. Williamson, then Dean of the College, in which she told us how much this, their last Freshman class, meant to her and her husband, and spoke of the great things they were expecting from us. This spirit of finality pervaded the whole year, bringing with it a sense of earnestness which touched every facet of our first experiences and activities. 5Ve were welcomed with a week of parties, picnics and “get acquainted’’ gatherings and very soon we felt as if we “fit” in the college community. We soon got under way with classes and ' studies and very soon it was December, and we planned and presented “The Silver Christmas Ball.” Another high¬ light of Christmas week was the informal singing of The Messiah one weekday morning conducted by Dr. William¬ son. The Spring Semester held such events as the departure breakfast for Westminster Choir, the Valentine’s Dance and our first tryouts for Westminster Choir. Some of us returned three weeks early the next year for Westminster Choir rehearsals in preparation for an early tour in October. Very soon, however, we were joined by the rest of the college community and the usual round of activities ensued. We put on the Sock Hop for the incoming Freshmen, remembering only with difficulty how we had felt the year before. The first semester was a blaze of activity. We saw the choir off on a successful tour under the direction of Harold Hedgepeth, then there was the Halloween Party complete with live ghosts and presenta¬ tion of the Thanksgiving banquet. We had no sooner completed working on the Beethoven Ninth Symphony performed under Herbert von Karajan, filmed for tele¬ vision with Leonard Bernstein and recorded with Bruno Walter than it was time for the Christmas drama produc¬ tions, one of which was, Uncle Jimmy vs. Christmas The new year brought the exciting departure of the profes- sional choir chosen by Dr. Williamson to tour Africa for the State Department and many of us traveled the icy roads to Scranton, Pennsylvania one January evening to hear their farewell concert. The rest of the year was taken up with varied activities. Who can forget our classes in piano and piano pedagogy under Frances Clark or the singing of the Dream of Gerontius in New York under Sir John Barbarolli, or our main spring project, the elaborate dramatic production of The Flowering Peach. Toward the e ? d ° f i 6 ye f r We began P lannin S for our presentation of May Day the following year and raised money for the project by selling popcorn in the dormitories. The year ended with a climax in the form of the presentation of The Verdi Requiem with the Princeton Symphony under the direction of Nicholas Harsanyi. Our Junior year was focused around the sponsorship of the annual May Day festivities. 5Ve chose Disneyland for our theme and set to work. This was a big year in re-organization and re-evaluation of the college. The new administration was in its second year and was really be¬ ginning to mold the life in the college into a strong insti¬ tution. The addition of a Dean of Women, Mrs. Gladys Keating, and her work in setting up a vital functioning Women s Council was a great unifying factor in these uncertain times. And these were troubled, uncertain times. Any change as drastic as was made at the end of our Freshman year is bound to bring a period of turbulent transition. But toward the end of this our Junior year we began to feel more settled, more accustomed to the change, and were beginning to realize the many bene¬ ficial aspects of the new life of the college. A real mile¬ stone was established by the Student Council of 1959-1960 the first constitution of the Student Association was completed and approved, thereby providing a real basis for strong student leadership. Musical activities this year included the fall performance of Villa Lobos Chorus 10 with the N. Y. Philharmonic; an Easter engagement in Carnegie Hall singing the Beethoven M issa Solemnis, which we also recorded; a southern tour for Westminster Choir and appearance on the Bell Telephone Hour, na¬ tionally televised. May Day, though tiresome, was a huge success, and another year came to a close as we reacted with mixed emotions to the news that Frances Clark was establishing her own school, which meant the termina¬ tion of her work here, and as we tried out for a West¬ minster Choir under new leadership. We watched the Seniors receive their well-earned degrees with a new depth of appreciation, grateful for one more year of the time of preparation. But how quickly we arrived at the exalted position of Senior, and how many times we contemplated the quick minute which had comprised the preceeding years. We attacked our work with a sense of finality and each activity was fully savoured in an effort to fix more firmly in ‘our ' Tt. 11 u- tbe w ich have been so meaningful to us. The big and little brother-sister program, coordinated with Freshman week brought back a host of memories of first impressions and experiences which had somehow been lost in the intervening years. From there we quickly moved into the performance of the Beethoven Mass in C and Gnoral Fantasia with the Princeton Symphony—a memorial concert for Dr. Charles R. Erdman whose passing had greatly grieved the community the preceding spring. Our last two class projects were well under way—the Christmas party which centered around an Old English theme and the Quadrangle. Early in second semester we bid West¬ minster Choir farewell on their tour of the southwest under the direction of both Elaine Brown and Warren Martin. At the same time Symphonic Choir was performing and recording the Prokoffiev Alexander Neves y in N.Y under Thomas Schippers; on the same program the women sang the Debussy nocturne Sirens. So here we are, eagerly, yet anxiously awaiting the strains of the majestic march which leads us through the end to another beginning—a beginning the potentialities which are greater than we can know, for who can know the joy of the Lord into which the servant enters when he has been faithful over his talents? 28

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Senior Class m o A 4 1 Sk OED

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Seated: Carol Smith. Standing: James Terry, Walter Reinhold, and Sylvia Grubbs. Nicholas Harsanyi SENIOR OFFICERS President .James Terry Vice ' President .Walter Reinhold Secretary .Carol Smith Treasurer .Sylvia Grubbs Advisor .Nicholas Harsanyi 29