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Whitman Memories 1957 to 1961
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Remember the folk songs we listened to and sang during our
years at Whitman? The Weavers, the Limelighters... and our
very own Whitman group, 'the group', consisting of Dave Coxwell,
Mark Graff, Bill Hartwell, Mike Moloso and Kirk Prindle. Here
are a few of the songs from the album 'the group' visits
Puget Sound. (MP3 files will open in new windows. Please close those windows when you're through listening to the songs.)
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See song descriptions
and notes along with a larger version of the album
cover. (Opens in new window...please close that window
when finished)
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Do you remember...
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Freshman English class in which Dr. Jackson introduced us
to literature, music, architecture, sculpture, and lots more....
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Notes from Paul Knostman's journal (original hand-written
in a brown Fightin' Missionaries Notebook):
Thursday, October 10, 1957
10 a.m. - In English 1 lecture,
Dr. Jackson is finishing up his coverage of the Parthenon
as all papers are due in the seminar sections by tomorrow.
"Now when you go to Greece", he is saying, "and stand at the
foot of the Acropolis observing the Parthenon, I want you
to . . . " At this point a wave of skeptical laughter rumbles
through the class. Dr. Jackson's reaction is quite remarkable.
In a fury he slams his notebook down on the podium. "I can't
believe you people", he rages. "Are you really so provincial
that your aspirations don't extend beyond Spokane, Portland
or Seattle? If you don't learn anything else at Whitman, I
want it to be that the world is waiting for you out there,
and you are limited only by your own expectations." There
is some nervous titter at this outburst, but I am impressed.
Even as a very young child, I've been interested in other
countries, and hoped to visit them someday, and now here is
a college professor telling me I should expect to do it. I
decide that if I ever do get to Athens, I'll write to Dr.
Jackson and tell him I made it. (See Postscript
note.)
1 p.m. - At English 1 seminar
I turn in my Parthenon paper, which I stayed up until 1 a.m.
typing. I think it's a good paper, but who knows what Branham
will think? He assigns our next paper, due in two weeks, on
Chartres Cathedral (France, Middle Ages).
Postscript
note: I eventually did get to the Parthenon in April 1968.
I was serving with the Navy's Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean,
and after participating in a NATO exercise, we made a port
visit to Piraeus. As I wandered around the Acropolis, I thought
of Dr. Jackson's remarks. Shortly afterwards I mailed him
a postcard, reminding him of the incident and letting him
know that I finally made it. It might have come to him from
another planet.
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From Marlys Hughes Saltzer:
In 1961 I was living in Boston and walked into the Museum
of Fine Arts. Remember the small replica of a female statue
that Professor Jackson had on the podium of his desk during
his English lectures that he used to illustrate the connection
between art and ideas? There in the MFA was the original statue
that we had studied. It was larger than life size and very
beautiful. That same year I was in New York City at the Museum
of Modern Art and hanging on the wall was Picasso's "Guernica"
which we had also studied in that same class. Upon seeing
these pieces I was very grateful that I already knew something
about them thanks to my freshman English class at Whitman.
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More notes from Paul Knostman's journal:
Saturday. October 19, 1957
1 p.m. - Today is the Beta -
Phi Delt intramural football game. I'm not playing on the
team, but I go over to the house to help make signs for the
pre-game festivities. The pledges make a large banner reading:
"I dreamt I was a Phi Delt in a Maidenform bra". The Phi Delts
counter with a sign of their own: "I'd rather be a . . . .
than a Beta Theta Pi!". The Betas have beaten both the Delts
and the independent men so far, but the Phi Delts won their
first two games as well, and they win this one too, 21 - 14.
The game, on Ankeny Field, attracts a huge crowd from all
the campus social groups and high spirits prevail.
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Best job on campus was dishwashing, because you could wear
your grubbies, sing, and get extra desserts at dinner and
ice cream for breakfast. Not to mention the top salary of
$1 per hour.
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Sitting around a campfire singing "Michael Row the Boat Ashore".
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Scavenger hunts including a cowpie, towel from the Marcus
Whitman Hotel, a new verse to a song (was the song "Pay
Me My Money Down"?) and the bubblegum machine from the
police station.
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Going to the public library to study so we could go to Roedel's
(sp?), where they had three different flavors of hot fudge
sundaes.
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Sunday nights when the dorm didn't serve dinner: pecan waffles
at Magees (sp?) or a baked potato with all of the trimmings
(and nothing else) at the Marcus Whitman Hotel.
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Playing your favorite songs at the juke box with controls
right at your table at the Spud Nut.
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Plays and concerts; Choral contest; French club movies.
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Dress code: Okay for women to wear slacks to class only if
temperature is 15 degrees Fahrenheit or lower. No rubber zories
allowed.
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"Late minutes" and getting "campused"
for getting back to the girls' dorm after closing time.
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The famous (or infamous) Boston Cream Pie fight.
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During snow season, sliding down the slope and across the
bridge in the amphitheater using lunchroom trays in lieu of
sleds.
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Contests to see who could grow the longest icicle outside
the dorm window.
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Mysterious dormitory sounds: tweet, tweet, squeak (someone
learning to play the recorder); thump, skitter (people upstairs
playing jacks).
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From Janet Whitacre Miller:
What I Remember: I graduated in 1957 and entered Whitman
as a 17 year-old freshman from a town smaller than the 900
plus students that was the Whitman College enrollment at the
time.
My High School graduating class was 14 strong and my Freshman
Whitman English Class was 363. (All of the Freshman Class
took English together three sessions per week with smaller
discussion groups of 15 to 20 meeting another couple of times
each week.)
My first semester classes included: Music (five 8 a.m. Monday
through Friday classes), English, Chemistry, Calculus, Whitman
Choir and Band for a total of 18 hours. The Second Semester
- I added voice lessons and helped with the ski team on the
weekends. Needless to say I was never bored - and when did
I sleep?
1. Curfews: 10:30 on weeknights and 12:30 on Friday
and Saturday nights.
2. Room Checks in Anderson Hall: Beds to be made and
rooms kept picked up - daily. Spot-checks every so often -
unannounced. No boys in rooms, no alcohol or beer bottles
in rooms. Dates would check in with the Dorm Mother and she
would page you. Prentiss Hall had students working at the
front desk - same paging system.
3. Signing out of Anderson Hall /Prentiss Hall after 6
p.m: On written form - stating where you were going and
with whom. This was to keep tabs in case of an emergency at
home, or so we were told.
4. Library hours: Delta Gamma Freshmen were to spend
evenings studying until 1st grades were given out. If our
class was in the top two Sororities on campus, we were allowed
more freedom. Our Pledge moms were to keep tabs on us.
5. Senior Year freedoms: In our senior year, the rules
were relaxed for those whose grades were "in the black" and
we were given a key to the front door of Prentiss Hall. I
think I remember that each Sorority had a half dozen keys
- it may not have been that many.
6. Fraternities: Once we started dating someone in
one of the fraternities, they kept tabs on us and others would
date you from the same frat house, Took me a while to catch
on, but it was nice to know that we were being "looked after."
After graduation I married my High School buddy - a graduate
of Oregon State and Eastern Oregon College. We celebrate our
50th wedding Anniversary in December of 2011.
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Any other memories or photos to add? Please send them to
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