Excerpts From My Memoir of “The Elms On The Campus Murmur Softly..
We were in a wonderful “section” of Ormsby, a very old women’s dorm with radiators that clanged, tall windows, and tiny closets, and a shared bathroom and shower room down the hall. When we were freshmen, we had to sign out after 6PM and sign in by 9PM and be in bed with our lights out at ten o’clock. Some of us went through many flashlight batteries in our closets or under our covers mostly trying to study after having had an evening having fun. Our college administrators considered themselves “In Loco Parent-us”. We couldn’t stay out after eleven on the weekends until second semester. This was much stricter than most of our “no-longer loco parent-us”. We were not allowed to have alcohol or cars on campus. I think the plan was to commence us as “virgins” when we returned to our parents at the end of four years.
Now some things have never and never will change... that is the powerful surge of hormones and the delightful and fiery feelings that come with them. Healthy young bodies were made to mate. We tried to do “everything but” ... In rainy or bitterly cold weather for ten minutes every night before we had to be locked in; the Fishbowl ( space between two sets of glass doors) was packed like sardines back to back and belly to belly. Heavy breathing and sighs... we heated up the glass doors and they became fogged up. We all came to know each other intimately but mostly we were still virgins or pretended to be.
Men were not allowed upstairs and in our rooms and had to yell...”Man on Floor” when they did come for some reason. In our senior year provisions were made in the judicial court for young men to visit on Sundays between 2:00 and 4:00PM in our rooms with the door open “the width of a book”. (Of course, we pleaded...” matchbook?!!!” ) The rule in the lounge was “one foot on the floor and heads above the couch back.” For sure that reigned in those fiery passions! :-) Where there’s a will there’s a way!
On Sundays we had free film classics in the conservatory. Sometimes the movies were enhanced by witty persons with nuggets of wit punctuating the filming in a witty way. It was ALL educational.
Guitar playing and folk singing had become very popular in the late fifties
and early sixties; some of our idols were Peter, Paul, and Mary, the Kingston Trio, Joan Baez, and Judy Collins. I taught myself to play the guitar learning cords on a baritone uke and then adding two more strings to the equation. We gathered in groups here and there and sang our hearts out. We found a perfect echo-chamber in our dorm stairwell enclosed by doors on both ends. A group formed to read classic children’s stories in the lounge at Coleman Hall after the noon meal on Sundays for which we had to dress up. It was really ALL educational.
We were privileged to have outstanding folk and classical music series on campus... Joan Baez, Miriam Makeba, Ella Fitzgerald and many more.
During the presidential election of JFK vs. Nixon, both came campaigning to Appleton...and came on campus. One co-ed who had heard Kennedy speak in the Viking Room said she was never going to wash the hand that he had shaken. How educational can you get?
What about the formal education? you ask? Yes, we did it; I did it. We had many excellent professors and a good selection of courses for the time. After uninspiring history classes in high school I was fortunate to have an excellent history teacher. Required Freshman Studies led us to read a wide assortment of books and to discuss them in depth in a small group. Geology led to wonderful field trips in Wisconsin with it”s “Kettle- Moraines” and learning about how the glaciers had carved out the land. I still collect rocks as I garden in North Carolina. Studying both French and Spanish opened doors for me to have wonderful experiences abroad after college.
My four years at Lawrence helped me prepare in many ways for my forty years as a social worker and therapist for which I am forever grateful. It also brought me a lifetime of friendships with many class mates: interesting, creative, unique people who have had successful careers and full and satisfying lives. I have attended all the reunions at LU... life has only made these classmates sweeter and friendlier. I received a great education and a good start in my adult life and a deeply satisfying career helping people. Going to Lawrence was one of my best decisions!
