Class of 1959 Remembers Austin
College
by Jerry Lincecum and Peggy
Redshaw
The Class of 2009 might ponder this
question: Fifty years from now, what will you remember from your
four years at Austin College?
When the Golden ‘Roo Class of 1959
went through a “Walk Down Memory Lane,” with us, they recalled with
pleasure many humorous incidents and lauded the efforts of a number
of faculty, administrators, and staff members.
Praised most often was Professor
Glenn Maxwell, who taught courses in logic and philosophy. Although
he was “Mr. Maxwell,” there was a tendency to call him “Dr.” as
graduates recalled the rigor of his exams and the Socratic
questioning that enlivened his lectures.
One graduating senior recalled
picking up her final exam from Mr. Maxwell. Although she passed the
course, her exam has received a grade of D- and the comment: “You
know a lot, but it is all mixed up.”
Another student remembered the thrill
of working with Biology prof M.D. Bryant for six weeks one summer,
gathering specimens that are still in the Biology Department’s
collection. “We camped out all over Grayson County, and he actually
cooked for us.”
Filling a coed’s dorm room with
wadded up newspapers while she was attending a dance will never be
forgotten by those who carried out the prank. When all that paper
was transferred to the dorm incinerator, the mass of smoke brought
the Sherman fire department to campus.
Then there was the time a local
funeral home was called and told that Dean Rollin Rolfe had passed
away. When the driver of the hearse knocked on his door, Dean Rolfe
himself answered. He was not amused.
Some mysteries remain unsolved after
50+ years. No one seemed to know who had placed sardines in the
bedsprings of one Luckett Hall resident. Resident Dorm Director Mom
Ramsey, a veteran of the Women’s Army Corps in WWII, was not happy
when the stink made the room virtually uninhabitable.
She was undaunted, however, when a
young West Texan crossed her threshold wearing a big hat and two
six-guns, asking, “Whar am I s’posed to live?”
“Take off that hat, give me those
guns, and sit down over there. After a while I might talk to you,”
was her response. Discipline was her strong suit.
The steps leading up to the Luckett
Hall porch seemed to invite greeting someone with a large trashcan
of water. But two alumni learned that mistaking the Dean of Men for
one of your buddies leads to severe punishment.
There were several married couples in
the class who had met during their time at AC, and they enjoyed
recalling the courtship rituals of the 1950s. Someone confessed, “I
don’t remember where we went on dates.” The quick reply was, “So
few of us had cars that we rarely left campus.”
Today’s undergrads would find it hard
to believe how primitive the campus phone system was. There was one
phone line per dorm, with all calls coming in at the front desk. If
you received a call, your room was buzzed. You then had to go down
the hall to take the call in a somewhat private booth. Your time
was limited by the tolerance of others who might need the phone.
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