Stadium Home of Tyler Field for one of many activities slated
during 50-Year Reunion festivities at WSU May 11-13.
Members of the Class of 1950 revisited campus this May, bringing with them memories of days past and a youthful exuberance for the future.
Lead by Reunion Chairman Q. Patric Rowley, members of the University of Wichita’s class of 1950 celebrated their 50-year graduation anniversary May 11-13 with a varied slate of activities. In all, 65 class members from all over the country returned for reunion festivities.
Classmates began the weekend with a reception Thursday night at the Woodman Alumni Center, followed by a Friday morning tour of the Edwin A. Ulrich Museum and a walking tour of WSU’s renowned outdoor sculpture collection.
Among reunion highlights was a Friday luncheon held in the newly completed All-American Club at Eck Stadium where class members were inducted into the university’s 50-Year Club and presented with commemorative gifts. Rowley, WSU President Don Beggs and Pat Larimer, former Class of 1950 president, each addressed the crowd, which comprised not only class members, but also university guests and members of the 50-Year Club. The italicized quotes that follow come from Rowley’s remarks.
Remember how uniformly we all dressed back then? The girls in their sweaters with pearls and long skirts and bobby socks and saddle shoes and plenty of long hair, and sweaters and shirts and slacks and — no pearls for boys — but plenty of hair in stand-alone pompadours.
Also at the luncheon, awards were presented to Leo Armstrong for having the most grandchildren (27) and to Tom Allen of Sequim, Wash., for traveling the farthest for the reunion.
Remember how crowded the old upstairs soda fountain at the Commons was and how sad and doleful the freshman fraternity pledges assigned to secure and hold places for actives seemed to be?
After the luncheon, classmates gathered for a class photo and enjoyed a tour of Eck Stadium, one of the premiere college baseball stadiums in the country. Later that afternoon, reunion attendees boarded a trolley for a campus tour conducted by Dr. James Rhatigan and Dr. George Platt. The day’s activities were capped off with 20 Class of 1950 members leading the Class of 2000 graduates into Commencement Ceremonies at Henry Levitt Arena.
Remember how much Harry Corbin looked like a movie star-stud — and how little he resembled the fuddy-duddy stereotype of a college administrator type? Remember how much like Aunt Bee Dean Grace Wilkie appeared to be and how lovely and gracious and intelligent she was in real life?
Reunion festivities concluded Saturday with a Class Brunch at the All-American Club followed by a Shocker baseball game.
Remember when one Independent student submitted an honest-to-goodness mule as a contestant for homecoming queen — and almost won? Remember how sweet the smell of wood smoke after a big campus bonfire? And the equally seductive odor of the lilacs around McKinley…or was it Fiske Hall?
Reunion planning committee members were David Adams, Bill Calhoun, Robert Cather, Mary Ann Gertsen, George Laham, Robert Langenwalter and Charles Petrie.
Sometime this fall I will start at 17th and Fairmount and walk north past the old red brick gym and on into the dying light of a green-gold day. I will move on into the clear, cool silence and look down for a moment on the darkening city below. I’ll stand clear and watch the last of the sun dissolve in glimmering streaks of orange and pink and yellow. Then I’ll salute all my fellow classmates, and ask for a safe and restful harbor for those who didn’t make it this far. Amen and — thanks for the memories!
And thank you, Class of 1950, for keeping the essence of WSU’s traditions alive in the actions of your lives.
