Small College Advantages - Part C 1954-1955

PERSONAL NOTE -- THIS IS MY 100TH POSTING ON THIS BLOG THAT STARTED FEBRUARY 2008! I didn't know I had this much to say! On to number 200.

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This is a series of five postings. If you haven’t read the previous three stories, please do so now before reading this current posting.

C. Junior Year 1954-1955

Ann spent the summer traveling with an Endowment Ladies Quartet for the college which paid her first semester of school expenses for the following year. But the trip was long and tiring. Besides singing in churches they were counselors in church camps. No trip home but her folks did come down for a weekend in New Mexico to give her a break. I drove up to Salinas for a surprise visit. The pastor’s wife was the sister of my Aunt Edith where I spent the last three years of my high school. So I arranged to stay there with them and gave Ann another break from her routine.

My summer was spent working at the Nazarene Book Store and writing letters! Wrote to her every day and she wrote to me every day. Yes, some of those letters still exist but will have to be destroyed before my kids get to them! There is a story about her receiving these letters which will be in another posting some day.

This is my junior year. Two down and two to go. Checking my yearbook, there is only one picture of Ann and I besides our class pictures. We were part of a picture story done about one of our friends about writing a term paper. There were twelve pictures going about his day finishing with the paper done. We were in one of those pictures with Gene Rice. Ann was pictured with a ladies trio for the college endowment. I didn’t get many signatures or comments written in this book but two that stand out are Dave Cole and Marlene Webb. They were getting married in 16 days, just one month before Ann and I were. As stated in a previous post, Marlene and Ann were born the same day but didn’t know each other until they came to college and sang in the Endowment Groups. You can read about that story here. Dave also sang in a quartet for the college.

This year the people owning the house that we rented a room in asked us to move out of the room. But instead they gave us the entire upstairs apartment for the same price! We had a bedroom, living room, partial kitchen (no sink), and a bathroom all to ourselves and furnished. The bedroom and kitchen were partitioned off with a free standing book case cabinet full of dishes. When Dave was to leave for a two week choir tour, he set two clocks so he wouldn’t oversleep. The one in the living room went off and so did Dave -- right into the cabinet knocking it over with a loud crash. Remember this is early in the morning. Then he was gone for two weeks. The people thought we had fought and he left. We straightened them out.

Since this was my junior year, the school had a Junior Ditch Day when all the juniors skipped classes that day and this year the trip was to Catalina Island and the city of Avalon. One catch -- the juniors always captured the Senior Class President and took him and his girlfriend along. My roommate, Dave Benson, was the Senior Class President. So naturally the job was mine and we got it done without any problems. His girlfriend, Ginny Curl (later his wife), also went and we all had a great time skipping our classes that day. That was the first time Ann and I had been to Catalina Island which became later in our lives our R & R destination.

Dave Benson, Virginia Curl, and Ann Edwards waiting for the boat. See my 1947 Plymouth behind them.

Taken on Junior Ditch Day in Avalon Catalina Island. Count the ribs! I weighed 120-125 pounds at this time.

In December 1954 during the Christmas Break, I had a life altering experience when I decided to live my life for Jesus Christ and turn my life over to Him for guidance. No bells went off - whistles didn’t blow -- I didn’t hear anyone speaking in a “God like voice”. Just a decision that actually changed me from living for myself to living for Him. I had been in a Christian atmosphere most of my life having lived with my grandparents who were ministers and an uncle who was very involved in music ministry. But living around Christianity is much different than living as a Christian. This was a decision that I have never regretted.

In February of 1955, I asked Ann for her hand in marriage. So that you don’t have to wait much longer, she said yes. Then I asked her father, Robert Edwards, for permission to marry his youngest daughter and he didn’t hesitate in saying yes to my request. Our wedding date was set for July 22, 1955. This was during the summer between my junior and senior year at Pasadena Nazarene College.

Ann left school for Kansas City, Missouri, and to prepare for the wedding. I stayed in Pasadena in our rented duplex and continued my work at the book store.

Small College Advantages - Part B 1953-1954

This is a series of five postings. If you haven’t read the previous two postings, please do so now before reading this current posting.

B. Sophomore Year 1953-1954

I spent the summer before my second year in college working in Sears Mail Order in Kansas City, Missouri. This was the last summer I spent in Kansas City. I didn’t have a car as my brother returned from overseas in the Navy and picked up his car at the college. So my transportation was by street car and bus to get around.

I returned to Pasadena, California by Greyhound bus which is a two day continuous trip sitting up. Not the best way but the cheapest way. I remember sitting next to a girl my age who lived in Las Vegas, New Mexico and when we reached there, we had an hour layover. She wanted to show me her town and we walked for a number of blocks to see it. Don’t remember the town or the girl - just the fact that we got off the bus and walked around.

When I returned to Pasadena Nazarene College, my roommate Dave Benson and I decided to move off campus one block to a room in the back of a house. The people there rented out two bedrooms that were separated by a bathroom which we shared with two other college students. For that year this was our home base. Walked up to the college everyday in time for our breakfast with the gang.

Pasadena Nazarene College Main Building

Dick at entrance of our off campus room.

Dick on a Sunday outing. Was I really that young then?

During this year, Dave got a 1937 Plymouth coupe which he let me use to take my laundry over to Aunt Doris’. Something I didn’t mention in Part A is that my aunt did my laundry for three years -- I just brought it to her and waited until it was done. Never learned to use the facilities on campus. She spoiled me! The Wright’s lived about 15 miles from the campus so the trip wasn’t far to drive.

I returned to the Headliner Coffee Shop resuming my usual hours. One of the perks was I got free food. Since I started at 5 p.m., dinner was provided. During the shift I was allowed to drink as much coffee as I wanted but no soft drinks. At the time I started there, I didn’t drink coffee. But it was free and why not. So I learned to accept the taste of coffee. I don’t drink much of it now but did acquire a taste for the beverage. This entire school year, I worked at the coffee shop. Again, I was able to put myself through a private college and supporting myself on these meager wages. Something you couldn’t do today.

Ann Edwards came to the school this year and since we were friends we would find ourselves out on many weekends seeing the sights or just enjoying miniature golf. She was involved with an Endowment Trio that traveled many weekends to raise money for the school. If she would do this for the entire school year, the second semester would be paid - room, board, and tuition. If she did it during the summer, the first semester of the coming school year would be paid. This is how she helped pay her college expenses. She also worked in the Dean’s Office several hours a week.

Ann Edwards at Mount Wilson on a Sunday in 1954.

One of the things Ann enjoyed doing was bringing a male student friend to the coffee shop while I was working to get my reaction to her being out with someone else. Do girls really do that? Boy - did I have a lot to learn! I only dated one girl once my freshman year so I didn’t have much experience in dealing with the female human being.

There was a place we could get a Pepsi and a taco for 50 cents which comes to $1.00 for a date! We did that a lot of times just to sit and talk. We would also find ourselves sitting under a tree on campus by the hour just talking. Other students would remark about that since they saw us earlier at the same place.

The current university in San Diego puts out a quarterly publication which include notes from alumni. A recent issue had me listed as writing a BLOG which includes stories about my time at Pasadena Nazarene College. One of the former students looked my BLOG up and left a note in the comment section of the latest posting. She signed it “Pat Miller Forney”. My first thought was “Gooch”. That was her nickname that everyone knew her by. We haven’t had any contact since college days when she and Bud Johnston used to double date with Ann and myself. We got in touch with Pat and found out she married Ken Forney who was in my freshman class. I didn’t remember him but looking through my first year book, he signed and left a note for me. So I did know him then. Gooch wrote a note in my second year book as she was one year behind me.

During the second semester a fellow who lived across the hall from me in the dorm the first year offered his car for sale. It was a 1947 Plymouth two door Special Deluxe Navy Blue with 50,000 miles on the car but with a rebuilt engine. John Stinnette wanted $500 for it. SOLD! I gave him $500 cash and he gave me back $5 because it needed an oil change. That car was in my care for the next 10 years. Now Ann and I had wheels!
Dick's 1947 Plymouth with sister Faye in front.

One of the things we enjoyed doing was to attend radio and TV shows in Hollywood. We attended the Bob Hope radio show, Peter Potter’s Platter Parade TV show, The Life of Riley TV show, Our Miss Brook’s radio show, and a few others. We were just part of the audience but saw some stars that made Hollywood what it was then.

Ann and I were pretty much going steady by the summer of 1954.

At the end of the school year I was hired by Ed Speakes at the Nazarene Book Store one block from the college campus. Ed was Ann’s uncle. Of course he became my uncle in 1955. Ann’s mother and Ed were brother and sister. My job was to run the shipping and receiving section of the store and stock the shelves with new books and school supplies. I would take the mail to the post office at the end of the work day. Then when the store closed, I was the janitor mopping and buffing the floors. I worked 40 hours a week during the summer and that continued through the next two school years adjusting my work schedule around my school schedule. Still carried 16 units of school work.
Nazarene Book Store where I worked my last two years of college.

Ann joined five others and traveled all summer covering the school district for the college raising endowments. This included California, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado. A hard job but paid the first semester of the coming year. They were involved in church camps as counselors as well. More about her summer in the next posting.