| By Drew Moody
As part of the week's graduation activities, 50-year graduates of Glenville State College were invited back to the school for the weekend. They will be recognized during Saturday's commencement.
Twenty-two members of the Class of 1957 made the trip from eight states; one traveling from California. Of those returning, 76-percent were teachers and professors during their careers.
An outdoor reception was held Friday evening at the home of Drs. Peter and Betsy Barr, president and first lady of GSC.
During their years in college, this group of students saw many significant world events unfold. It was the height of the cold war and Russia was well ahead of the United States both in offensive missile technology and the space race. DNA was discovered. The first atomic submarine was launched. The Supreme Court of the U.S. ruled segregation of public schools was illegal. For the first time, children were being given polio vaccines.
By today's standards, rules at GSC in those days were strict. There was a curfew in the dorms, with an early mandatory "lights out." A curfew policy continued at GSC well into the 1970's. One concession by then - students were permitted to stay out until midnight on weekends.
Oliver Hunt, '55, now living in Fountain Inn, SC, said his yearly expenses were $600 a year. "Tuition at the time was $75 a semester," he said. Hunt initially considered WVU but couldn't afford the $125 or $150 semester rate.
Oliver Hunt, left, and Fred Marks visited during
the reception Friday evening. Hunt lives in Fountain
Inn, SC. and Marks resides in Gathersburg, MD
One year the homecoming game was flooded out with 8-feet of water standing on the field. Students managed to have a homecoming parade though.
Apparently one fellow got in some 'hot water' for a float too risqué the previous year. His solution....create a claw-foot bathtub parade entry. He sat in the tub pretending to scrub his back with a long-handled brush. Written on the sides of the tub: "They told us to keep it clean this year."
Yvonne King, '57, long-time Mercury (former GSC student newspaper) and GSC yearbook adviser, was co-editor, then editor of The Mercury while she was a student. She vividly recalled her first assignment as a reporter - interview Dr. Harry B. Heflin, then president of the college. She was petrified.
Yvonne Hart King, left, of Glenville, and her daughter, Marilyn
King Parsons, talk with Oliver Hunt. Prior to her retirement,
Yvonne was a member of the Glenville State College faculty
"I was just a shy little girl from Clay county," King remembered.
When the time came for the interview, Dr. Heflin immediately put her at ease. It was a kind gesture she'll never forget.
Juanita Radcliff Bokanyi, '57, of Grafton, Ohio, is an avid sportsman. She travels and hunts with husband Dr. Richard Bokanyi, DVM. During the 2005-06 hunting season she felled the largest Axis deer in Texas, her husband said. She was using a .243 caliber rifle at 175 yards.
Dr. Richard Bokanyi, DVM, left, and his wife Juanita far right,
enjoy hunting trips together. Pictured with them are Helen James,
of Glenville, and her son, Greg. Helen, a member of the Class of 1944,
was a teacher for many years in Gilmer County. Greg, also
a GSC grad,
is the well-known director of the Richwood High School Lumberjack Express Marching and Concert Bands
Barbara Given Ayers, '57, of Cowen, was an elementary school teacher in Kanawha, Putnam and Webster counties before retiring. She and her husband, Arnold, graduated from high school in Webster County. They came to Glenville together, but after a year of classes Arnold joined the military. After his service duty was complete he worked in the mining industry.
Bill Jones, '57, and his wife Connie, of Parkersburg, are both Glenville State College graduates. The couple spent their careers in social services. Friday was Bill's first trip back to Glenville since the early 1960s.
A group of women at Friday evening's reception said they didn't fit in with any campus sororities at the time. So, they made one up, calling the group "The Physiqurita's." None of them could remember what the name meant.
Meet the Physiqurita's. From the left are, Joyce Bourne Boggs,
Patsy Green Marks, Martha White Hunt, Barbara Given Ayers,
Evelyn Given Fleming, Phyllis Given Sciarrone, and Doris Marks Wise.
James Cash Penney, co-founder of the J.C. Penney Company was commencement speaker in 1957.
According to Glenville lore, Penney enjoyed the campus and town of Glenville so much he stayed on for
a month after the speech, living with President Heflin and his wife.
The 2007 Glenville State College commencement will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday morning (today). It is being held in the Jesse R. Lilly, Jr. gymnasium.
WORLD EVENTS DURING THE MID-1950'S
In 1953, when they were high school seniors:
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower inaugurated president of United States (Jan. 20). Stalin dies (March 5). Malenkov becomes Soviet premier (March 6). James Watson and Francis Crick publish their discovery of the molecular model of DNA (April-May). Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay of Nepal reach top of Mt. Everest (May 29). East Berliners rise against Communist rule; quelled by tanks (June 17). Egypt becomes republic ruled by military junta (June 18). Julius and Ethel Rosenberg executed in Sing Sing prison (June 19). Korean armistice signed (July 27). Moscow announces explosion of hydrogen bomb (Aug. 20). James Watson, Francis Crick, and Rosalind Franklin discover structure of DNA. Ernest Hemingway wins Pulitzer for The Old Man and the Sea.
During 1954:
First atomic submarine Nautilus launched (Jan. 21). Five U.S. congressmen shot on floor of House as Puerto Rican nationalists fire from spectators' gallery; all five recover (March 1). Soviet Union grants sovereignty to East Germany (March 23). Army v. McCarthy inquiryâSenate subcommittee report blames both sides (April 22-June 17). U.S. Supreme Court (in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka) unanimously bans racial segregation in public schools (May 17). Eisenhower launches world atomic pool without Soviet Union (Sept. 6). Eight-nation Southeast Asia defense treaty (SEATO) signed at Manila (Sept. 8). Dr. Jonas Salk starts inoculating children against polio. William Faulkner's A Fable wins Pulitzer.
In 1955:
Nikolai A. Bulganin becomes Soviet premier, replacing Malenkov (Feb. 8). Churchill resigns; Anthony Eden succeeds him (April 6). West Germany becomes a sovereign state (May 5). Western European Union (WEU) comes into being (May 6). Warsaw Pact, east European mutual defense agreement, signed (May 14). Argentina ousts Perón (Sept. 19). President Eisenhower suffers coronary thrombosis in Denver (Sept. 24). Rosa Parks refuses to sit at the back of the bus. Martin Luther King, Jr., leads black boycott of Montgomery, Ala., bus system (Dec. 1); desegregated service begins Dec. 21, 1956. AFL and CIO become one organizationâAFL-CIO (Dec. 5). Tennessee Williams's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof wins Pulitzer.
In 1956:
Nikita Khrushchev, First Secretary of USSR Communist Party, denounces Stalin's excesses (Feb. 24). First aerial H-bomb tested over Namu islet, Bikini Atoll > 10 million tons TNT equivalent (May 21). Workers' uprising against Communist rule in Poznan, Poland, is crushed (June 28-30); rebellion inspires Hungarian students to stage a protest against Communism in Budapest (Oct. 23). Egypt takes control of Suez Canal (July 26). Hungarian rebellion forces Soviet troops to withdraw from Budapest (Oct.). Israel launches attack on Egypt's Sinai peninsula and drives toward Suez Canal (Oct. 29). Soviet troops enter and reclaim Budapest (Nov. 4). British and French invade Port Said on the Suez Canal (Nov. 5).
Their graduation year - 1957:
Eisenhower Doctrine calls for aid to Mideast countries which resist armed aggression from Communist-controlled nations (Jan. 5). The "Little Rock Nine" integrate Arkansas high school. Eisenhower sends troops to quell mob and protect school integration (Sept. 24). Russians launch Sputnik I, first Earth-orbiting satelliteâthe Space Age begins (Oct. 4).
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