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.

Small College Advantage - Part A 1952-1953

If you haven’t read the previous posting that started this series off, please do so now before reading this new posting.

A. Freshman Year 1952-1953

I had my brother Ben’s car (1939 Pontiac) for my first year on campus. He was in the Navy overseas. I drove it from Kansas City, Missouri by myself when I was 18. As related in a previous story (click here), I had to keep the speed under 55 miles per hour and covered all 1,700 miles at that top speed. Gives you a chance to see some scenery as you go along.

I stayed a few days with my Aunt Doris and Uncle Orval Wright in Los Angeles before leaving for college. The only freeway in Southern California at that time was the currently named Pasadena Freeway. It was about 10 miles long ending in Pasadena. I pulled up to the campus and was met by a student named Ramon Cortines who was called “Peanuts”. Ramon disappeared for two years and returned my senior year because of time with the U.S. Army. Ramon is still in demand today as Interim Superintendent of Schools in Los Angeles. I see him occasionally on TV news. He had quite a career in education before retiring and has been called back into service a couple of times in LA to be Interim Superintendent.

Students were assigned the task to help freshmen get settled in campus life when they arrived. So Ramon helped me move the personal items from the car into my assigned dorm room. He noticed that I had a small TV and told me that it was not allowed on campus. Pasadena Nazarene College (PNC) had a rule that no TVs would be allowed. I didn’t know that when I left Missouri. So I put it in the closet and watched it there when time was available. A related story about this is found on the BLOG here under the title of “Forbidden Entertainment”.

My roommate was Dave Benson who was from Kansas City and a friend for the past three years. Dave and I attended the same high school and church. He asked me to be his roommate for his second year at the college. We ended up spending three years together.

I needed a job to pay for college expenses and applied at the local Sears store. I worked for Sears Mail Order in Kansas City which helped me get the job. My duties were to price and stock items. I wasn’t there long and got a job close to the college at the Headliner Coffee Shop as dish washer/busboy. My hours were 5 p.m to 1 a.m. Monday through Thursday and 12 noon to 5 p.m. on Saturdays. The college had a curfew and bed check but I was exempted because of my hours. They didn’t know when I worked so they didn’t check on me at all. I spent two years working for the Headliner. Paid all my expenses including college costs. Couldn’t do that today.

I bought a breakfast pass from the college and had breakfast with about 8 people every day. You get to know them that way. Two of them (Sharon Lamkin and Sheila Lawlor) ended up spending their careers with the college retiring recently from Point Loma Nazarene University. PNC moved to San Diego in 1973. Both of these ladies married students from my graduating class year - Ross Irwin and Keith Holly.

Looking through the 1953 La Sierra yearbook is an interesting adventure. You see many people that signed your book that you have forgotten. Also many that have been life long friends. On page 121 you will find a full page picture of me driving a 1913 Model T Ford for a school rally. That story is also in a previous post on this BLOG here.

This was the year of “The Fire House Five” basketball team that were state champs in N.A.I.A. small college basketball. They played in Kansas City representing California. John Davis, Ralph Leech, Ted Cummins, Doyle Cozzens, and Bob Hopkins were coached by Ken Keoppel who happened to be the Business professor that taught many classes of mine.

Two of our next door neighbors were Clyde Rose and Ken Robinette. When I went down to change my driver’s license from Missouri to California, the observer wouldn’t get into the Pontiac because it had a cracked windshield. So I borrowed Clyde’s 1946 Ford to take the driving test. Ken and I did a lot of things together over the weekends including driving up to Mount Wilson, attending car races in Compton, etc. Guy things.

A requirement at this church college is to attend chapel services. We had assigned seats and attendance was taken. This is another place that you get to know people around you. This provided many laughs and close friendships.

Classes were small and you got to know the other students. The teacher got to know you. This is a big advantage over the larger universities where you become a number. In order to place you in some classes, tests were given at the beginning of the year. I must have aced the English exam as they put me in the top class that only wrote themes. This was taught by a man who attended Olivet Nazarene College and sang in a quartet with two of my uncles. So naturally I thought I would ace this class too. NOT! He worked our tails off writing and re-writing themes. I can recall working hours and hours on stories and getting a very low grade on them. I can also recall writing a story on the day it was due and getting an “A” on it. I guess he was preparing me to write this BLOG.

Christmas vacation was only two weeks long and several of us from the Midwest wanted to go home. So five of us and luggage got into the 1939 Pontiac and drove straight through changing drivers. The road in Kansas was slick with ice and snow and we went into the ditch. Almost immediately a farmer came along with his tractor and hooked up a chain pulling us out of the ditch. Nothing said and he didn’t charge anything. We were on our way again. About 7 miles from home the transmission gave out. During the time home, it was repaired for $125 and we made our way back to the college in time for classes. Toward the end of the school year, my brother came back from overseas duty for his car.

The summer between my Freshman and Sophomore years I returned home to Kansas City (Dave’s dad drove us in his new 1953 Dodge) and worked at the Sears Mail Order warehouse. That was the last time I spent the summer in Kansas City.

Small College Advantages

First of all, let me tell you that I am not a student -- wasn’t interested in school and unfortunately only did what I needed to do to get through. Southeast High School in Kansas City, Missouri wasn’t very interesting to me. I had moved there in 1949 leaving my small town of Celina, Ohio behind. I wasn’t involved in any activities or sports. Most of the time I had a job and that fulfilled my life. So I wasn’t known on campus by many kids.

To add to that, I wasn’t interested in going to college either. However, Uncle Sam was involved in a conflict in Korea and was drafting guys when they turned 18 years of age. That definitely didn’t interest me. The government would exempt anyone who went to college and maintained a “C” average. I can do that! So I applied to a church related school called Pasadena Nazarene College located in Pasadena, California. I thought going that far away from “home” would make me work harder on my studies. I applied for the draft exemption and left for college in late summer of 1952.

Pasadena Nazarene College probably had 1,200 students in the entire college. We had 200 pictured in our Freshman Class of 1952-1953. Living on campus in the East Dorm helped me get acquainted with guys living there and attending some of the same classes I did. Colleges this size are still available but most of you who attended college did so with a large State University ranging from 8,000 to 20,000 students. Hard to get acquainted with other students and especially with the faculty.

I am going to relate my experiences through the four years in four additional postings writing about what happened in each of the years of college to my graduation in 1956. Of course, this is for my family and college friends. But you can come along on the journey if you like. Might bring back some memories of your college days.

Everything's Up To Date In Kansas City

I was 15 years old when I moved from Celina, Ohio to Kansas City, Missouri. I had lived with my grandparents from 1942 until September 1949 and my grandmother's health was failing. My brother, Ben, left right after his Junior year in high school to live with our mother in Muncie, Indiana. So I was alone for the first time in my life and needed another place to call home.

Uncle Ray and Aunt Edith Moore lived in Kansas City and was visiting Ray's parents which were my grandparents. They had a daughter, Kathy, who was 18 months old at the time. Kathy and I got along great and on the way back home to Kansas City, Edith asked Ray if they should take Dick into their home. Ray wrote me a letter which I still have in my memory box asking me to consider moving to Kansas City and finishing my high school years in their home. Ray was my dad's brother.

Uncle Ray and Aunt Edith - my new parents in Kansas City

I accepted their invitation and before I knew it, I was on a train to Chicago where I met up with another uncle, Dale, who accompanied me to Kansas City. I arrived in my new home just a few days before the school year was to start. My wardrobe was lacking in decent clothes and we went shopping. What I wore in Ohio just didn't work in Missouri!

Their home was a single story, two bedroom, one bath home. Kathy was sleeping in their bedroom and the music room (Ray taught voice) became my bedroom.

My new home on 67th Street in Kansas City, Missouri

It was obvious that something had to be done as Kathy was needing to be moved out of their bedroom and into one of her own. Ray began plans to "raise the roof" and add a second floor to the home. He became the contractor and the hired hand to do the job. He needed help on raising the roof but everything else he (and sometimes me) did the job. In time three bedrooms and a bath were added upstairs. They would need all three bedrooms after I left for college as Philip and Harlan were born to the family. Kathy, Philip, and Harlan had their bedrooms upstairs.

I spent my last three years in high school attending Southeast High School which is pictured below.

Southeast High School - attended there 1949 to 1952

I graduated from there in June 1952 and was off to Pasadena Nazarene College in Pasadena, California in the fall. I returned to Uncle Ray and Aunt Edith's home for the summer of 1953. When I returned to college, I never went back home for anything other than a short visit. I stayed in the "old" home when I went back in July 1955 to be married to Ann.