Having attended integrated schools on the U.S. Army bases in Europe where his father, an Army officer, was stationed, Michael Engs did not know what racially segregated schools were until age 14, when his father was sent to Fort Eustis and the Engs family moved to Newport News. After Michael's freshman year at then all-black George Washington Carver High School, his parents sent him to Walsingham Academy in Williamsburg, a private Catholic school, to better prepare him for college. His older brother was a national merit scholar attending Princeton; his mother, a teacher; and his father an Army Captain. He was expected to follow their footsteps.
My parents had let me know that no money would be forthcoming for my college education in any substantial amount, so I needed to go somewhere close and inexpensive. Christopher Newport College was in town. So I applied. As an African American, many times I am asked why I didn't attend Hampton University or Norfolk State, traditionally black colleges that were not much further from my home. My answer is always the same. The choice was clear.
Michael Engs as a CNC freshman. 1966 Trident, p. 64.
In an age of segregated schools, I would integrate every school I attended from tenth grade on. This was my means of protest. I could never let it be said that no black person had attended or would ever attend this school or that school. It was as if I had been raised for this task. Being brought up in the military by two college-educated parents, I had almost always attended integrated schools, and I had no fear of being the "only" one.
What struck me about Christopher Newport College in 1965 was the ease with which it accepted people of color. It seemed that anyone who applied was being accepted, even as late as May of his or her senior year in high school. There were no "special programs" or assumptions that deficiencies in a student's educational background might exist. No suggestion that race was the basis for your being accepted. What Christopher Newport offered was a level playing field, a place where I could succeed or fail on my own merits.
I went on to become one of the first African Americans to graduate from the College of William and Mary (Class of 1969)....Christopher Newport paved my way to a thirty-three-year career as an administrator and faculty member in the Pima County Community College District in Tucson, Arizona...the tenth largest community college system in the country with more than fifty thousand for-credit students at seven locations.
EDITOR'S NOTE: After W&M, where he was in ROTC, then three years in the Army, Michael began his career and earned further degrees: an M.A. in Counseling and Guidance at the University of Arizona and an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership at Northern Arizona University. Retired since 2007, he and his wife, Sidney, live in Tucson, where they are involved in Arizona's black history research. Their daughter, Stephanie, a University of Arizona alumna, works for National Public Radio in Tucson. ________________________________________
“Christopher Newport College 1965: A Sanctuary from the Draft,” in Memories of Christopher Newport College: The First Decade, 1961-1971, pp. 194-199, by A. Jane Chambers, Rita C. Hubbard, & Lawrence B. Wood, Jr. (Hallmark, 2008). TO ORDER BOOK: Send check for $20 , made out to CNC First Decaders, to: Dr. Jane Chambers, 15267 Candy Island Lane, Carrollton, VA 23314. The money will be donated to the CNC First Decaders' Treasury.
______________________________________ We welcome your FEEDBACK. Send to cncmemories61_71@yahoo.com or dave.spriggs@cox.net. Published first May 12, 2017 Published again January 20,2023
A Memories Book Bit:
Nontraditional Student Recalls How
CNC Significantly Influenced
Her Life and Career
Account by Joan T. Morris on pages 186-187 *
My education at CNC had two beginnings with a long pause in between. The first beginning was in the mid-1960s ... But college was not right for me at that time. I had a young child and a husband who was working long, irregular hours, and it was a challenge just to arrive on time for each class.
I tried again and began the 1970-71 school year by taking nine hours each semester and attending three mornings a week. It worked well. By that time, my son was a seven-year-old, healthy, and happy second grader.
I felt very comfortable this time among the diverse student population of traditional students, retired military, college graduates changing careers, and older students like me getting a late start. Faculty members were encouraging, and we students found ways to help each other, often forming study groups and tutoring those who might find a course difficult.
I had many fine professors ... two in particular. Dr. Theodora Bostic inspired my interest in European history and foreign travel, and Dr. Elizabeth Daly encouraged me to pursue graduate studies. I remember telling her that I was reluctant to apply to law school because, if accepted, I would be thirty-nine years old when I graduated. She said, "Well, you will be thirty-nine in 1977 anyway, so why not go?" I did enter Marshall-Wythe Law School at William and Mary, and when I graduated, I went on to practice law, later becoming a circuit court judge in Newport News.
Editor's Note:
As Joan Turner Beale, in 1974 Joan completed her B.A. at CNC as Class Valedictorian; she also earned honors at William and Mary's Marshall-Wythe Law School. After retiring at sixty-five as General District Court Judge, Joan traveled Virginia evaluating sitting judges. The evaluations were used by the judges for self-improvement and by the General Assembly in considering reappointments. She died in 2018 at 78.
*"From Stay-at-Home Mom to Courtroom Judge,” by Joan T. Morris, in Memories of Christopher Newport College: The First Decade, by A. Jane Chambers, Rita C. Hubbard, & Lawrence B. Wood, Jr. (Hallmark, 2008). To order book: Send check for $20 made out to Jane Chambers to: Dr. Jane Chambers, 15267 Candy Island Lane, Carrollton, VA 23314. Money (minus mailing cost) is donated to the First Decaders' Treasury.
It was December of 1967, shortly before the first men's basketball game was to be played in the newly opened Ratcliffe Gymnasium, which did not yet have a scoreboard. Here was Coach Vaughan's solution:
There was no funding available yet for a traditional scoreboard for the first game, so I asked Mike Cazares, CNC's Building and Grounds Supervisor, to build one. Several days before the game date, Mike brought his innovative version of a basketball scoreboard to Ratcliffe Gym. It was a piece of plywood, about 3’ x 3’ with “CNC” painted in the upper left-hand corner and “Visitors” painted in the upper right-hand corner. About halfway down on the board was another caption, “Quarters.” Under each heading, there were tracks, constructed of wood, to hold numbers, also constructed of wood. It was somewhat like an information board that hangs up front inside some churches, indicating the various hymns to be sung for a specific service. This handmade scoreboard was mounted 6 – 8 feet above the left side of a wall located at one end of the gym. As the game progressed, a person on a stepladder changed numbers for each category.
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*“Setting the Sail: Launching the Men’s Basketball Program,” by R. Bev Vaughan Jr., in Memories of Christopher Newport College: The First Decade, by A. Jane Chambers, Rita C. Hubbard, & Lawrence B. Wood, Jr. (Hallmark, 2008). TO ORDER BOOK: Send check for $20 made out to Jane Chambers to: Dr. Jane Chambers, 15267 Candy Island Lane, Carrollton, VA 23314. Money (minus mailing cost) is donated to the First Decaders' Treasury.
Excerpts by Heather Millar and sisters on pages 200-201 *
"The memories are still vivid."
My sisters and I have fond memories of growing up on the Christopher Newport campus, a place we came to know and love as our second home. It was such a treat for us to visit campus and surprise [Dad] during one of his classes. As my sister Ginger said, "I can still see him now standing at the front of his classroom. I would wait patiently for him to notice me through the little window on the door. As soon as he saw me, he would get that little sparkle in his eye and then bring me into the classroom to introduce me as he would stand there beaming." He always loved showing us off to his students.
We would wait in his office until he finished class, which really meant we could rummage through all of his funny E.T. memorabilia and Dallas Cowboys paraphernalia, talk to his colleagues in the offices next to his, and look at all the funny gifts his students left him. Visiting with Dad in the summers was another special treat. He would let us play in the classrooms, write on the chalkboard, pretend we were students and sit in the desks, type on his typewriter, and run up and down the halls....
Several times, my sisters and I would try to clean and help organize his office, but to no avail. Dad said he "couldn't find anything for days" when one of us tried to help. I'm not quite sure how each office he occupied through the decades he taught always ended up in a chaotic mess, but he always managed to get it "just the way he liked it."
*"Remembering Dad: Dr. Albert E. Millar Jr.," by Heather Millar with Valerie Butcher and Ginger Dupuis, in Memories of Christopher Newport College: The First Decade, by A. Jane Chambers, Rita C. Hubbard, & Lawrence B. Wood, Jr. (Hallmark, 2008). To order book: Send check for $20 made out to Jane Chambers to: Dr. Jane Chambers, 15267 Candy Island Lane, Carrollton, VA 23314. Money (minus mailing cost) is donated to the First Decaders' Treasury.
Dr. Mario D. Mazzarella's Accounton pages 216 - 217 *
A man of unostentatious faith, he faced the prospect of his death with calm and equanimity. His health had not been good for years. Forced to give up playing tennis, his strength was not robust. Returning from a medical exam, he told me, "Well, the doctor told me, 'Don't go takin' out no long magazine subscriptions.'" He said it as a joke, without a trace of self-pity. Perhaps feeling that he might not survive to the end of the spring 1971 semester, he prepared his exams in advance so they could be administered to his classes. It was unhappily provident; he died a short while before the semester ended.
Photo in the 1970 Trident, p. 26.
He endowed a small scholarship in the name of his sister, Bo-Peep Usry, and left his home to the College, which sold it and used the proceeds. Room 214 in the now-demolished old student center was named "The Usry Room." A portrait of him was commissioned and hung there. The twinkling image of his eyes was faithful enough, though I thought it failed to display the touch of vinegar that helped make his personality so delightful. He was a founding stone of flesh and blood that helped to make Christopher Newport College what it was and is. It is a lasting tribute to his dedication, to his efforts, to his love. He should not be forgotten.
*"Remembering Robert Madison 'Pat' Usry: Professor Extraordinaire," inMemories of Christopher Newport College: The First Decade, by A. Jane Chambers, Rita C. Hubbard, & Lawrence B. Wood, Jr. (Hallmark, 2008). To order book: Send check for $20 made out to Jane Chambers to: Dr. Jane Chambers, 15267 Candy Island Lane, Carrollton, VA 23314. Money (minus mailing cost) is donated to the First Decaders' Treasury.
Ella Walker Mitchell joined the office as a secretary in 1966. A few months before her death, I visited her at her home, in April 2008. Still petite, alert, and lively in spirit, if not in body, at age ninety, she was delighted to hear about the memories book being written, even before I said, "You'll be in it!"
Ella Walker Mitchell, secretary to the registrar, enjoys a cigarette at her desk. (1966 Trident)
She came to work at CNC after her husband, pediatrician Dr. William A. Mitchell, suddenly died of a heart attack. Scotty Cunningham, a family friend, suggested that working at CNC would help her adjust to her widowhood.
Learning that her duties would include typing, she told him that although she had a B.S. degree, she had never learned how to type. He said, grinning, "Don't tell Miss Ramseur you can't type." Passing a typing test was a state requirement for the job, however. Nancy let her work in the office part-time until she learned to type--which Ella Walker did, teaching herself at home with a typing book. After six weeks, she successfully passed the typing test. "They wanted me to succeed!" she exclaimed.
This little story illustrates how kind-hearted both Nancy and Scotty were and how all of us were like a family at the College at that time. Ella Walker served CNC in that office until retiring in 1988. Of her CNC career she said, " I loved it, every minute of it! It was wonderful!" And her eyes were shining.
"The People Within: Smith Hall in 1967,” by Jane Chambers, in Memories of Christopher Newport College: The First Decade, by A. Jane Chambers, Rita C. Hubbard, & Lawrence B. Wood, Jr. (Hallmark, 2008). To order book: Send check for $20 made out to Jane Chambers to: Dr. Jane Chambers, 15267 Candy Island Lane, Carrollton, VA 23314. Money (minus mailing cost) is donated to the First Decaders' Treasury.
If one word could be used to define the CNC of those days, that word would be community. Because of our small size, all faculty, staff, and students knew each other no matter what department. We worked, studied, played, and built an institution together. An example of how close-knit we were was demonstrated at the birth of my first daughter. At Riverside Hospital, anyone in the fathers' waiting room was only allowed one guest, and that guest had to sign in.
Cones as biology instructor his second year at CNC. 1970 Trident, p. 28
As I sat alone in the waiting room, [biology professor] Ruth Simmons waltzed in, officially dressed in her lab coat. She brought a hot dog. Shortly thereafter, [biology secretary] Ann Tiller arrived in a lab coat with a hot dog. As the day progressed, the waiting room gradually filled with lab coat-dressed students and faculty, all armed with hot dogs sent by Mr. Takis. When the doctor came to announce the birth of my daughter, near midnight, he invited me to come to the nursery to take a look. When he asked, "Who is here with Mr. Cones?" the entire waiting room, then numbering about fifteen people dressed in lab coats, stood up. The doctor smiled, as I smile now as I write this. And the nurse in charge of the nursery was a student who let me hold my daughter ahead of the normal allowed time.
*“Biology Department: The Ties That Bind,” by Harold N. Cones, in Memories of Christopher Newport College: The First Decade, by A. Jane Chambers, Rita C. Hubbard, & Lawrence B. Wood, Jr. (Hallmark, 2008). TO ORDER BOOK: Send check for $20 made out to Jane Chambers to: Dr. Jane Chambers, 15267 Candy Island Lane,Carrollton, VA 23314. The money (minus mailing cost) is donated to the CNC First Decaders' Treasury.
_______________________________________________
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Published September 20, 2019
A Memories Book Bit:
How Norman Beasley Became Dick Lamb
and a CNC First Decade Student
Excerpts from an interview of Dick Lamb
by A. Jane Chambers, pages 98 - 101*
Born Norman Beasley in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1938, he explored radio work while in high school, then after graduation in 1956, moved to Alexandria, Virginia, where he began his radio career at eighteen--"Mainly working as a gofer," he recalled. "But sometimes I got a little on-air time." In 1958, a friend told Norm that a radio station in Newport News, WGH, was looking for a full-time DJ. He applied for the position, got it, and began his very successful career as...Dick Lamb. How did that happen?
A man named Dick Lamb had been WGH's first DJ choice. The station had invested time and money in having jingles written to promote him. Then he changed his mind about taking the job! Norm was asked during his interview if he'd mind using the on-air name "Dick Lamb" so WGH could use its jingles. He didn't mind at all. By then a young husband and father, he really wanted that DJ position.
He and WGH ("World's Greatest Harbor") were a perfect match.
1966 Trident Page 11, Dick Lamb
In 1959, wanting to further his education, Dick enrolled at William and Mary. But commuting there from Newport News, while also managing a full-time radio career and a growing family, became impractical. He gave up going to college after one year.
Then CNC was created and, in fall 1964, moved to Shoe Lane and opened its first new building, Newport Hall, quickly followed in 1965 by Gosnold Hall, with plans for more buildings very soon. And Dick Lamb, living on Whits Court, in the Deep Creek area, suddenly had a college "almost close enough to walk to!"
When he enrolled at CNC for the 1965 - 66 session, he had to register under his legal name, Norman Beasley, but he was quickly recognized on campus as Dick Lamb, and it is under this name that he was identified in CNC's yearbook pictures. In the mid-1970s, Norman Beasley legally changed his name to Dick Lamb.
*"Dick Lamb Remembers His Years at CNC,” by Jane Chambers, in Memories of Christopher Newport College: The First Decade, by A. Jane Chambers, Rita C. Hubbard, & Lawrence B. Wood, Jr. (Hallmark, 2008). To order book: Send check for $20 made out to Jane Chambers to: Dr. Jane Chambers, 15267 Candy Island Lane, Carrollton, VA 23314. Money (minus mailing cost) is donated to the First Decaders' Treasury.
Editor's Note: The following letter by CNC's first president, H. Westcott (Scotty) Cunningham, was sent via his wife, Cecil Cary (Cecy) Cunningham, to be read aloud at the first meeting of CNC professors, staff, and administrators gathered to discuss plans for writing the first book about the young College. This luncheon meeting was graciously hosted in Newport News by Psychology Professor Emerita Ruth Mulliken. Scotty was then confined by illness to the Cunningham's Gloucester home and died shortly thereafter, on July 24, 2007. Paragraph two refers to first Business Manager Tom Dunaway's method of indicating which of two staff members named Odell he was summoning--first building supervisor ("He Odell") or first housekeeper ("She Odell").
Photo from 1964 Trident Dedication page.
Hello, Jane, and the rest of you CNC pioneers.
I hate to miss your party today, and I will be thinking of you and missing mightily a great opportunity to relive a few great memories with you. The medics have found my body so irresistible that I must stay here under their ministrations. I know you all will have a glorious time expounding upon and expanding some stories of the early days of the college on 32nd Street and later on Shoe Lane uptown.
Sometimes in the dead of night…I can hear Tom Dunaway’s voice yelling “He Odell” or She Odell.” Those early days were very exciting as we walked into a geographical area which was really hungry to have its own college. We all gave them that!
How many people do you know, other than yourselves, who participated in the conception and birth of a college? Our “baby” is nearing the end of its first half century. Its accomplishments and occasional failings are big news in Virginia. We brought a new venue that was wanted, and we were welcomed in the area.
Thank you for all you have done and for your continuing interest in what we accomplished as a team!
*Published on page 254 of Memories of Christopher Newport College: The First Decade, by A. Jane Chambers, Rita C. Hubbard, & Lawrence B. Wood, Jr. (Hallmark, 2008). To order book: Send check for $20 made out to Jane Chambers to: Dr. Jane Chambers, 15267 Candy Island Lane,Carrollton, VA 23314. The money (minus mailing cost) is donated to the CNC First Decaders' Treasury.
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Published June 14, 2019
WhenProfessors Mulliken and Wood
Psychoanalyzed an Artist
Who Overheard Them
Dr. Barry Wood's Accounton page 77 *
Ruth Mulliken was a creature of great fun, and this spirit of play gave her a sharp (sometimes stinging) wit .... Sometimes, fun took over her sense of who may be near her as it did one day with me (also most likely to follow fun rather than warnings from inside saying, "Be socially alert!"). We were in Newport Hall's first floor hallway, which had become the first home and gallery for the Peninsula Fine Arts Society. The Society was busy hanging a new one-man show.
I do not remember whether Ruth or I started the hodge-podge of Freudian-Jungian-Skinnerite analysis of the art work as signs of inner working of conflicts in the artist's unconscious and in his painting behaviors--but I do remember our joy turned to individual embarrassments the next day when we were told that the artist had been near us on the floor for his whole "psychoanalysis" and had been quite content not to have to pay for it. To this day, Ruth and I still rehearse the joyful dangers of absent-mindedness.
*"On Building a Collegial Place: Psychology, 1962 - 1972,” by Barry Wood, in Memories of Christopher Newport College: The First Decade, by A. Jane Chambers, Rita C. Hubbard, & Lawrence B. Wood, Jr. (Hallmark, 2008). To order book: Send check for $20 made out to Jane Chambers to: Dr. Jane Chambers, 15267 Candy Island Lane, Carrollton, VA 23314. Money (minus mailing cost) is donated to the First Decaders' Treasury.
How Dr. Richard Guthrie Taught Me Personal Responsibility in Thirty Seconds
Alumna Mary Swift's Memory
Excerpts from pages 174 - 175*
My sojourn with Christopher Newport began in the summer of 1967, when, fresh from Hampton High School, I "tiptoed" up to Professor Guthrie to ask, "Where should I sit?" Hurling himself into high animation, all arms and eyes and teeth, gathering his frame to his feet to make his parade, forward he strode from desk to desk spewing German, which I now know, was meant to obviate the necessity of my question. I didn't need to know a word of German to get his drift, "Girlie, you are on your own! Choose and live with it!"
Mary Swift in the 1969 Trident, when she was pursuing her first of three CNC degrees.
Richard Guthrie in the 1970 Trident, as Assistant Professor of Modern Languages.
I do not remember whether Ruth or I started the hodge-podge of Freudian-Jungian-Skinnerite analysis of the art work as signs of inner working of conflicts in the artist's unconscious and in his painting behaviors--but I do remember our joy turned to individual embarrassments the next day when we were told that the artist had been near us on the floor for his whole "psychoanalysis" and had been quite content not to have to pay for it. To this day, Ruth and I still rehearse the joyful dangers of absent-mindedness.
Instantaneously transformed and locked forever within the freeing jaws of personal responsibility, I decided to take my place....The lesson I learned in thirty seconds with Professor Guthrie ... is the lesson, I feel, which is crucial to an understanding of what an education can mean. Our little "commuter college" remained large on that intangible during my forty-year sojourn. Christopher Newport University, "How are you measuring up to the immeasurable? NOW?"
*“Wheeling Horizons: An Introspection," by Mary Swift, in Memories of Christopher Newport College: The First Decade, by A. Jane Chambers, Rita C. Hubbard, & Lawrence B. Wood, Jr. (Hallmark, 2008). TO ORDER BOOK: Send check for $20 made out to Jane Chambers to: Dr. Jane Chambers, 15267 Candy Island Lane,Carrollton, VA 23314. The money (minus mailing cost) is donated to the CNC First Decaders' Treasury.
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Published July 6, 2018
How CNC Changed my Views about Race
in the 1960s
Alumnus Kim Lassiter's Memory
Excerpt from pages 178-179*
I remember things that changed me, particularly those that I recognized at the time as changing events. My views of race, for instance, probably reflected those of many white, liberal, Southern males of the time. In short, I was confused and really did not know any black people as individuals. My experience had been limited to sneaking away from home and venturing into the East End [of Newport News] to listen to Fats Domino at Shaun's Townhouse, a black nightclub. I was petrified the whole time I was there, even though people were very nice to me. I was the only white person in the club and was only sixteen. Scary!
Senior year photo of Kim Lassiter. 1971 Trident.
Freshman year photo of Michael Engs, the first black student at CNC. 1966 Trident.
Mike Engs was the first black man of my acquaintance, and conversation with him was like my first experience of champagne. I learned that being young-and-black was vastly different from being young-and-white. I learned about Stokely Carmichael from Mike. I learned that many black people were angry at me, at us. I read some of the books he suggested and developed an appreciation for and a love of James Weldon Johnson and the Harlem Renaissance. I learned that "frame of reference" affected how and what you learn. Sandy Seese was the first young black female of my acquaintance, and I learned from her friendship that the black experience was not limited to a single perspective. Bill Leong, an Asian American, was the most white-bread person in my circle of friends and refused to see himself as different from any other American at a time when race and ethnicity divided us as a nation.
I knew then and know now that my collegiate experiences in the area of race changed me for the better and that the environment of Christopher Newport was such that I came to know people not just in terms of a shared college experience, but more fully because we got to know each other's homes, parents, siblings, and friends away from school since we all lived in either Newport News, Hampton, or York County.
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*"Memories That Pre-Date the Song,” by Kim Lassiter, in Memories of Christopher Newport College: The First Decade, by A. Jane Chambers, Rita C. Hubbard, & Lawrence B. Wood, Jr. (Hallmark, 2008). TO ORDER BOOK: Send check for $20 made out to Jane Chambers to: Dr. Jane Chambers, 15267 Candy Island Lane, Carrollton, VA 23314. Money (minus mailing cost) is donated to the First Decaders' Treasury.
Editor's Note: Having demonstrated CNC's President James C. Windsor's traits of "forbearance, integrity, and rationality," in this part of his essay Barry Wood gives an example of Dr. Windsor's fourth important character trait: his sense of humor.
He could tell a joke and could find his place in a joke. To illustrate, every year, in June, we held a dinner meeting for the communities' leaders, both to review the year completed and to look forward to the year ahead. Jim had made one of our usual points--that we were at the bottom of all public colleges and universities [in Virginia] in funding per student. I believe it was Senator Hunter Andrews who interrupted to observe, "Well, someone has to be at the bottom."
1968 Trident photo of James C. Windsor, p. 20.
Jim paused in deference, but then replied: "Hunter, that reminds me of a story--it seems that there was this young couple who had just moved into a new house, and after the husband had left for work the next morning, the young wife's old boyfriend showed at the kitchen door, only to find the young wife still had passionate feelings for him. And so passion filled the air. As it happened, the young husband, remembering too heatedly his prior night, had turned his car around and sped home.
When he opened the front door calling 'Honey,' shock waves went through the kitchen. The young wife opened the refrigerator and said to her lover, 'There's nothing in here--so hide there.' The ardent husband comes into the kitchen, and seeing his wife naked, sweeps her into his passion, only to hear a strange noise coming from the refrigerator. He quickly lets go of his wife, opens the door, and, amid his shock of seeing a naked man, shouts 'What are you doing in here?'
To which the clothesless man replied--'Well, everybody has to be somewhere!' So you see, Hunter, being somewhere does not always make it right." Hunter, being himself a rather clever jester, laughed a good laugh--as did the whole crowd. Well, after the next General Assembly Budget Session, we were still in last place. But Jim, reassuming patience, still smiled.
*“James C. Windsor: President, 1970-1979," by Barry Wood, in Memories of Christopher Newport College: The First Decade, by A. Jane Chambers, Rita C. Hubbard, & Lawrence B. Wood, Jr. (Hallmark, 2008). TO ORDER BOOK: Send check for $20 made out to Jane Chambers to: Dr. Jane Chambers, 15267 Candy Island Lane,Carrollton, VA 23314. The money (minus mailing cost) is donated to the CNC First Decaders' Treasury.
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Published September 1, 2017
A Memories Book Bit:
Edna Carney: CNC's First Secretary
by A. Jane Chambers
Excerpts from pages 146 & 150-151*
When Registrar Jane Pillow, a W&M alumna, ... joined CNC in July 1965, there were already three of her family members on board. As Jane said, it was truly "a family affair." Her mother, Edna Carney, hired in 1961, was Scotty Cunningham's secretary; Jane's husband, Graham Pillow, hired in 1962, was teaching physics and computer classes, and her sister-in-law, Brenda Carney, was working toward her A.A. degree (1966) and would later become a member of CNC's first four-year class, earning her B.A. in History in 1971.
President Windsor sometimes described [Mrs. Carney] as "the real president of Christopher Newport." Jane Pillow recalls that her mother came to CNC because her other daughter, Ann Rowe, Scotty's secretary in W&M's Admissions Office, didn't want to leave Williamsburg to follow Scotty down the Peninsula. Ann recommended her mother, then a full-time secretary for the Adult Education Department in the Newport News Public Schools. Scotty hired her promptly after her interview.
Edna Carney at her desk in Smith Hall (1970 Trident, p. 17).
At first, she had to perform as everybody's secretary (there was no other)--plus receptionist, registrar's assistant, switchboard operator, copy machine operator--even caterer by the late sixties. Her daughter-in-law Brenda Carney, a CNC student then, remembers she was "a wonderful southern-style cook" and voluntarily prepared delicious lunches for the Board of Visitors.
Edna often chauffeured Brenda to and from CNC, so Brenda spent time in her office, studying between classes or waiting to catch a ride home. She had a close-up view of her mother-in-law at work and remembers she was "an industrious, competent woman" with a "wonderful command of the English language" and "impeccable" typing: "When I heard the word 'Drat!' I knew she had discovered a typing error."
Jim Windsor remembers Mrs. Carney would sometimes correct documents he wrote--"not just the spelling or grammar, but whole sentences. She never mentioned what she did, and neither did I. Occasionally, I would tease her just a little and say something like, 'I don't remember saying that, but it sounds good.' I didn't call attention to her editing because it was usually better than mine." And when people sent him poorly written memos, he "would sometimes get them from Edna with errors marked in red and a grade attached--usually a D-."
When Edna Carney retired, the Board of Visitors recognized her outstanding contributions to CNC at the May 15,1977 graduation ceremony, presenting her with the Distinguished Service Award, a bronze medallion of the College seal. After her death (January 20, 1997), Jim Windsor delivered the memorial service eulogy.
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*“The People Within: Smith Hall in 1967," by Jane Chambers, in Memories of Christopher Newport College: The First Decade, by A. Jane Chambers, Rita C. Hubbard, & Lawrence B. Wood, Jr. (Hallmark, 2008). TO ORDER BOOK: Send check for $20 made out to Jane Chambers to: Dr. Jane Chambers, 15267 Candy Island Lane,Carrollton, VA 23314. The money (minus mailing cost) is donated to the CNC First Decaders' Treasury.
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Published July 7, 2017
A Memories Book Bit:
Two Vivid Examples of Jim Windsor's Fortitude
Professor Barry Wood's Memory
Excerpts from pages 165-166 & page 169*
It was seeing Jim at home that let me understand him best. He was of average height but was muscular--always holding within his Marine Corps body both carefully orchestrated reflexes and a willpower that ordered and disciplined his emotions.
In the Corps, he had had the extremely dangerous assignment of living moment by moment in the face of "this fell Sergeant, Death" by walking in front of everybody into minefields to find mines, to use his steady hands to defuse these mines, and finally to walk on. This was to be done over and over again, day by day, month by month. It was through this prism that I came to understand him and through this faceted glass I have held him many years.
In the Corps, he had had the extremely dangerous assignment of living moment by moment in the face of "this fell Sergeant, Death" by walking in front of everybody into minefields to find mines, to use his steady hands to defuse these mines, and finally to walk on. This was to be done over and over again, day by day, month by month. It was through this prism that I came to understand him and through this faceted glass I have held him many years.
And it was, thus, I saw him over a period of four days in June 1965 as he had twice stood at home looking from the high banks of the James River just above Jamestown. A tough frugality had joined his body-led confidence to convince him that by himself (and with a plan designed by the Army Corps of Engineers), he could build a pile driven wooden seawall across three hundred feet of property to shut off the threat of natural erosion of his bank--and so, for three months--March, April, May--he had gone home to drive piles and then to attach them firmly to each other until he had a wall.
The last pile in and attached, he had arranged for his yard to be landscaped, with a sharply dropping taper that would carry his yard beautifully to the top of the wall. Needless to say, this action moved thousands of pounds of loose dirt to press against the backsides of the wall. All might have been well had a pouring rain not shown up unexpectedly on the very next day, raising the dirt's weight up and up and up.
It so happened that both of our families had planned to go to the World's Fair in New York City on the next day. Thus, Ann and I at dawn drove up Route 5 and onto the lane leading to their house, only to hear the groaning of the seawall trying to resist the push of the ever-increasing weight. We found Jim was calm, accepting that there was nothing he could do but wait and that he could wait as well in New York City. And so we hit the road, joking off and on that God might be on the hunt for a new Job.
When we returned four days later, there had been more rain--and his great wall was down and silent. Now, I would have cried, screamed, cursed until my soul had been irrevocably damned. But Jim stood there in silence and in balance like a Marine looking at a battlefield of undefeat. On the next day, he set out to start all over again. This capacity to deal with frustration and to move on and to move ahead--call it forbearance--made him the College's leader as a faculty member and as an administrator.
* * * * * * *
Through his eighteen-year career as teacher, counselor, dean, and president, Jim remained a person of fortitude, integrity, and reason who both extended the legacy of Scott Cunningham and put upon CNC his very own mark.
*“James C. Windsor: President, 1970-1979," by Barry Wood, in Memories of Christopher Newport College: The First Decade, by A. Jane Chambers, Rita C. Hubbard, & Lawrence B. Wood, Jr. (Hallmark, 2008). TO ORDER BOOK: Send check for $20 made out to Jane Chambers to: Dr. Jane Chambers, 15267 Candy Island Lane,Carrollton, VA 23314. The money (minus mailing cost) is donated to the CNC First Decaders' Treasury.
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Published June 9, 2017
A Memories Book Bit:
Dr. Michael S. Engs on Being CNC's
First Black Student
Excerpts from pages 197-199*
EDITOR'S NOTE: Having always attended integrated schools on the U.S. Army bases in Europe where his father, an Army officer, was stationed, Michael Engs did not know what racially segregated schools were until age 14, when his father was sent to Fort Eustis and the Engs family moved to Newport News. After Michael's freshman year at then all-black George Washington Carver High School, his parents sent him to Walsingham Academy in Williamsburg, a private Catholic school, to better prepare him for college. His older brother was a national merit scholar attending Princeton; his mother, a teacher; and his father then a retired Army Captain. He was expected to follow their footsteps.
My parents had let me know that no money would be forthcoming for my college education in any substantial amount, so I needed to go somewhere close and inexpensive. Christopher Newport College was in town. So I applied. As an African American, many times I am asked why I didn't attend Hampton University or Norfolk State, traditionally black colleges that were not much further from my home. My answer is always the same. The choice was clear.
In an age of segregated schools, I would integrate every school I attended from tenth grade on. This was my means of protest. I could never let it be said that no black person had attended or would ever attend this school or that school. It was as if I had been raised for this task. Being brought up in the military by two college-educated parents, I had almost always attended integrated schools, and I had no fear of being the "only" one.
Michael Engs as a CNC freshman. 1966 Trident, p. 64.
What struck me about Christopher Newport College in 1965 was the ease with which it accepted people of color. It seemed that anyone who applied was being accepted, even as late as May of his or her senior year in high school. There were no "special programs" or assumptions that deficiencies in a student's educational background might exist. No suggestion that race was the basis for your being accepted. What Christopher Newport offered was a level playing field, a place where I could succeed or fail on my own merits.
I went on to become one of the first African Americans to graduate from the College of William and Mary (Class of 1969)....Christopher Newport paved my way to a thirty-three-year career as an administrator and faculty member in the Pima County Community College District in Tucson, Arizona... the tenth largest community college system in the country with more than fifty thousand for-credit students at seven locations.
POSTSCRIPT: After W&M, where he was in ROTC, then three years in the Army, Michael began his career and earned an M.A. in Counseling and Guidance at the University of Arizona and an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership at Northern Arizona University. Retired since 2007, he and his wife, Sidney, live in Tucson, where they are involved in Arizona's black history research. Their daughter, Stephanie, a University of Arizona alumna, works for National Public Radio in Tucson. Michael's sister, Barbara, is also a CNU alumna (Class of 1999).
* “Christopher Newport College 1965: A Sanctuary from the Draft,” inMemories of Christopher Newport College: The First Decade,1961-1971, pp. 194-199, by A. Jane Chambers, Rita C. Hubbard, & Lawrence B. Wood, Jr. (Hallmark, 2008). TO ORDER BOOK: Send check for $20 made out to Jane Chambers to: Dr. Jane Chambers, 15267 Candy Island Lane,Carrollton, VA 23314. The money (minus mailing cost) is donated to the CNC First Decaders' Treasury.
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Published May 12, 2017
A Memories Book Bit:
The Historic Meeting that Changed CNC
from Junior to Senior College
Dr. Barry Wood's Accounton pages 25 - 27 *
Professor Barry Wood teaching. 1969 Trident, p. 22.
Background: Debated toward the end of CNC's first decade was the question of whether our young college was ready to grow beyond junior college level to senior college level. CNC, supported by the Peninsula community, wanted the college to move forward to baccalaureate status, and had asked William and Mary for permission to do so. Barry Wood describes what happened early one Monday morning in the spring of 1968, when he received a phone call at home, while shaving, from President H. Westcott (Scott) Cunningham's secretary, Mrs. Edna Carney.
Her call was to alert me to an emergency meeting of the college and the community's most important political and economic people at four that afternoon in Newport Hall's Auditorium, where they would hear [William & Mary's] President Paschall, with the board's rector, explain the [W&M] Board's negative decision on our being advanced to a baccalaureate institution. She said in a subdued voice that President Cunningham had asked the Board for this meeting.
On campus, all day there was buzzing. When I arrived at the auditorium, I saw Gary Hammer from Chemistry and took a seat beside him. Soon mayors and their councils, corporate CEOs and their vice presidents, service club presidents and their leading members, and residents of Riverside appeared to fill the hall to capacity. They had come, I found out later, because on Sunday (the Board's meeting had closed Saturday afternoon) Scott and Cecil Cary [Cunningham] had called them to ask them to show by their presence and by their voice their protesting the William and Mary decision.
President Paschall and his rector, upon entering the auditorium with Scott, seemed very surprised to be looking at 250 faces that showed no friendship. Now he had seen faces like this before, and thus adjusted to show confidence in his Southern-bred Ciceronian Silver Tongue which he was sure could move any face into the smiling position and do that in the quickness of a wink. His eyes moved to charm.
What President Paschall did not know was how well Scott had woven his college into the fabric of the community's carpet of self-understanding. And so, quicker than his eye could act, Paschall lost the floor never to get it back for an extended Ciceronian flourish. While many voices came at him, none achieved the status of a death knell more than that of King Meehan. A Peninsula old-timer and the executive officer of the Industrial Development Committee--with his lit pipe in hand--rose to dismiss William and Mary's negativity as being ill founded:
E.J. (King) Meehan. Family photo reproduced on p. 21 of Memories.
"I've heard all this before, when Newport News and Isle of Wight wanted to build what is now the James River Bridge. There was opposition fully equipped with charts, like you have, and those charts' numbers were negative--like yours. But the favoring foresighted group decided this is no way to build a bridge: 'Build the bridge and then cars will come.' We built it and the rest is history. As far as we are concerned here, 'Build the College's programs and students will come!'"
He puffed his pipe and sat down amid heated applause. Paschall understood that the "People's" wisdom had chosen Scott's way into their future. And thus, at meeting's close, he announced his willingness to lead the Board of William and Mary through a reconsideration of its decision. Three months later, we were advanced to baccalaureate status with the first degrees to be in biology, English, history, political science, and psychology [in June 1971].
H. Westcott (Scott) Cunningham at his CNC desk.1966 Trident photo reproduced on p. 34 of Memories.
Looking back ... I am proud to have been present at such a change-making event, and to have worked so near with its leader--H. Westcott Cunningham--who on that day, out of his duty to a vision of the larger good of the Peninsula, had put on line his very job (his legal contract having tied him to Dr. Paschall and the Board of William and Mary even as an emotional contract bound him to his alma mater [W&M]).
*"H. Westcott Cunningham: The Dutiful Man,” by Barry Wood, in Memories of Christopher Newport College: The First Decade, by A. Jane Chambers, Rita C. Hubbard, & Lawrence B. Wood, Jr. (Hallmark, 2008). TO ORDER BOOK: Send check for $20 made out to Jane Chambers to: Dr. Jane Chambers, 15267 Candy Island Lane, Carrollton, VA 23314. Money (minus mailing cost) is donated to the First Decaders' Treasury.
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Published March 17, 2017
A Memories Book Bit:
Flexibility for CNC's Nontraditional Students
in the Early Years
Professor Doris Reppen's Memory
Excerpt from page 73*
Professor Doris Reppen. 1971 Trident photo, p. 23.
The young CNC was friendly and new. It was also flexible in a way that is uncommon at larger, and older, institutions. I remember a particular case of a twelve-year-old boy who had transferred to the Newport News school system with a Spanish ability from his previous school so high that no course offered by the city's middle schools met his needs. His father approached CNC to see if his son could attend my evening Spanish Conversation class to maintain his language skills. This was fine with me, provided that the boy would be able to stay awake!
He did, and something very interesting happened. There was another student, a retired gentleman, who sat next to the boy, and a friendship developed between these two nontraditional students! In a large university, flexibility to accommodate the needs of such different students is seldom possible. Those of us who experienced it at CNC know how rewarding it was.
________________________________
Student Susan A. Frith's Memory
Excerpt from page 228*
When my daughters and I got the mumps, Mr. Wise wouldn't let me attend my evening class even though we had mild cases and didn't feel sick. He said there was too much risk for the other students, especially the one pregnant woman. Since there were very few people in the [Daniel] building during the day (most classes had moved to the new campus), he suggested that I come to the lab then and bring my girls with me, along with toys or coloring books to occupy them while I caught up on my lecture notes and lab work.
Student Susan A. Frith. 1969 Trident photo, p. 33.
*“Starting the Modern Languages Department," by Doris Reppen, and "Remembering Flexibility for the Nontraditional Student, 1964 - 1969," by Susan A. Frith--both essays in Memories of Christopher Newport College: The First Decade, by A. Jane Chambers, Rita C. Hubbard, & Lawrence B. Wood, Jr. (Hallmark, 2008).TO ORDER BOOK: Send check for $20 made out to Jane Chambers to: Dr. Jane Chambers, 15267 Candy Island Lane,Carrollton, VA 23314. The money (minus mailing cost) is donated to the CNC First Decaders' Treasury.
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Published February 3, 2017
The S&H Green Stamps Boat:
Solving an Oceanography Course Problem
Dr. Harold N. Cones's Account
Excerpts from pages 221 - 223*
I came to CNC at an ideal time [1968-69], just as we were planning our expansion to a four-year institution....It was determined that my discipline of Marine Science would be important to the new program, and my proposals for Biology 302, General Oceanography, and Biology 403, Marine Biology, were quickly accepted and took their place among the earliest upper-level course offerings (p. 221).
Cones as Biology Instructor his second year at CNC. 1970 Trident, p. 28
Boat less but happy CNC marine science students on a field trip at Nags Head, N.C. 1970 Trident, p. 76.
I taught General Oceanography for the first time in the summer of 1969, one of the very first upper-level offerings in the new degree program. The lack of a boat to do field work occupied much of my time during the 1969-1970 academic year as I launched an S&H Green Stamps campaign to acquire the materials needed for the class. The efforts were supported heavily by education reporter Jean Holt of the Daily Press, who provided a number of newspaper articles about our efforts and about the field trips taken by the class. Some of her most memorable articles were about our extended field trip to Florida over spring break 1970. She went with us and filed articles from the road, which appeared daily in the newspaper (p. 222).
A Harkers Island deadrise was donated to the department in September 1970, chiefly through Jean Holt's efforts. Without a motor, the boat sat useless until the green stamps were cashed in and enough money was raised not only to get a motor but also a new slide projector for the department. An oceanography student-organized rock concert provided the funds to outfit the boat, and enough money was left over to fund the spring extended field trip to Florida (pp. 222 -223).
Such were the finances in the early days! (p. 223)
*“Biology Department: The Ties That Bind,” by Harold N. Cones, in Memories of Christopher Newport College: The First Decade, by A. Jane Chambers, Rita C. Hubbard, & Lawrence B. Wood, Jr. (Hallmark, 2008).TO ORDER BOOK: Send check for $20 made out to Jane Chambers to: Dr. Jane Chambers, 15267 Candy Island Lane,Carrollton, VA 23314. The money (minus mailing cost) is donated to the CNC First Decaders' Treasury.
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Published November 25, 2016
Separate and Unequal:
Women's Basketball at CNC before Title IX
Coach Mary Lu Royall's Account
Excerpts from pages 104 - 108*
The first women's basketball team was formed in 1968-69 with Dr. Jean Pugh, Biology Department chairman, as the coach.... She was promised $500 for undertaking this additional duty, but at the end of the season, Dean Jim Windsor told her there was no money available, so she didn't receive anything for her efforts--except the satisfaction of having helped the team and the College.... The costs of basketball uniforms and other expenses that first year were paid out of Jean Pugh's pocket (pp. 104 - 106).
The first uniforms [see above photo] were white blouses embroidered on the front with CNC and the players' numbers in blue. Jean purchased the shirts and paid a little old lady in Gloucester to embroider the letters and numbers. The blue shorts worn by team members were part of their physical education uniform (p. 106).
When I came to the College in the summer of 1969, Jean Pugh handed over the basketball team to me before I could even get organized for classes. This was before Title IX; therefore, the budget for the women's basketball team was $350, while the men's budget was well over $3,000.
My first task was to purchase new uniforms and tennis shoes for the women [see above photo]. I recall the first afternoon the girls tried on their uniforms. It was like Christmas. They looked so good in those uniforms. Alicia Herr still brags to her niece that she wore one of the first pair of Converse shoes made for women (p. 107).
Even though uniforms for the women's basketball team were now funded, the players were still relegated to the "Girls' Gym," the small gym in Ratcliffe. They were only allowed in the "Boys' Gym" to play scheduled games with other colleges. The team was given its own first-aid box, an old grey metal tool box, and the women's basketballs had to be labeled "Women's" so they would not get mixed up with the "Men's" basketballs. Things did change ever so slowly after Title IX, but change was a real struggle between the men's and women's programs at all colleges in the country (p. 108).
*“Women Made It Happen: Building the Women's Sports Program,” by Mary Lu Royall, in Memories of Christopher Newport College: The First Decade, by A. Jane Chambers, Rita C. Hubbard, & Lawrence B. Wood, Jr. (Hallmark, 2008). TO ORDER BOOK: Send check for $20 made out to Jane Chambers to: Dr. Jane Chambers, 15267 Candy Island Lane,Carrollton, VA 23314. Money (minus mailing cost) is donated to the First Decaders' Treasury.
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Published Oct, 14, 2016
A Memories Book Bit:
Coach Vaughan's Surprising First Visit to Ratcliffe Gymnasium
Coach Bev Vaughan's Account, on pages 118-119*
Scotty told me I could visit Ratcliffe Gymnasium, still under construction, any Sunday, when it would be empty of workers. He said I did not need to have a College representative with me, because some exterior doors were not yet hung, so the building would be open. I went there alone one Sunday afternoon. When I arrived in misty rain and heavy cloud cover, I did not see a single vehicle or person on campus. Entering the front of the building, I moved about the hallway and ultimately to the main gym, which appeared to be near completion.
Moving through the hallway toward the men’s locker room, I hearda faint sound, and as I opened the locker room door, a man jumped in front of me, pointing a gun directly at me! Words cannot explain the fear I felt--and the need to use the locker room’s rest room!
Bev Vaughan in the 1968 TRIDENT, p. 30.
The man demanded, “Who are you? And why are you in this building?” I explained. He responded, “I’m the construction security guard and I’m just doing my job.” I’ll never forget my first greeting at Ratcliffe Gym!
________________________________________________
*“Setting the Sail: Launching the Men’s Basketball Program,” by R. Bev Vaughan Jr., in Memories of Christopher Newport College: The First Decade, by A. Jane Chambers, Rita C. Hubbard, & Lawrence B. Wood, Jr. (Hallmark, 2008). TO ORDER BOOK: Send check for $20 made out to Jane Chambers to: Dr. Jane Chambers, 15267 Candy Island Lane, Carrollton, VA 23314. Money (minus mailing cost) is donated to the First Decaders' Treasury.
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Published September 01, 2016
A Memories Book Bit:
The Riverside Nursing Student
and the
CNC Instructor with a "Cute Butt"
Account by Beth Shepherd Mollick
on pages 206 - 207*
My social life [took] a dramatic turn the following year when that cute biology professor, Mr. Mollick, as we knew him, called my dorm and asked me to go out on a date. Flattered and floored, I agreed once I determined that he was indeed single, and that was the start of the personal phase of our relationship. We went to dinner at the (long gone now) Sea Ranch Restaurant on Warwick Boulevard and to the movies at the old Riverdale Theater, where we saw Hello, Dolly! with Barbra Streisand. We learned we both were football fans, so our next date was a William and Mary football game. Then there was a walk in the VARC (Virginia Associated Research Campus) woods to visit his sampling traps, during which we got caught in a sudden rainstorm.
Not long after that we found we were pretty much hooked on each other and continued in a dating relationship until the week after my graduation from nursing school in June of 1972, when we were married. I was suddenly converted from nursing student to faculty wife.
Upon hearing our story, many people even today raise their eyebrows at the idea of a professor marrying a student, but our courtship was not inappropriate, because I was not his student at the time we began dating. The reason he telephoned me in the first place was that he remembered me because I had made the highest grade in his class--and also (he told me later) because he thought I was attractive with my waist-long hair and revealing mini skirts (once the nursing school-mandated raincoat was removed). Curiously, I remember that when I attended his class, I always sat down near the front of the lecture hall. I remember thinking at the time that he had a really cute butt! When he would turn to write on the blackboard, my [nursing school] classmates and I would exchange glances, grin, and roll our eyes. There must have been some latent spark there even then.
*"From Student Nurse to Faculty Wife and Nursing Faculty," by Beth S. Mollick, in Memories of Christopher Newport College: The First Decade, 1961 - 1971, by A. Jane Chambers, Rita C. Hubbard, and Lawrence Barron Wood Jr. (Hallmark, 2008).TO ORDER BOOK: Send check for $20 made out to Jane Chambers to: Dr. Jane Chambers, 15267 Candy Island Lane, Carrollton, VA 23314. Money (minus mailing cost) is donated to the First Decaders' Treasury.
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Published July 22, 2016
Memories Book Bits:
How CNC's Colors Were Chosen
Account by A. Jane Chambers, on page 92*
Before the end of the first semester of CNC's first year, 1961-62, the students began to establish an identity for their new college through choosing school colors--although there was not yet an athletic program. Their fledgling mimeographed newspaper, Chris's Crier, tells us that about 116 students (two-thirds of the student body) came up with six possible color combinations, then scheduled a secret ballot vote early in the second semester; before that vote, a Crier article urged them to "remember that this will be a permanent choice" (Vol. I, No. 2 [Feb. 23, 1962], pp. 1-2).
Their first vote (February 26) narrowed the choices to three. Their second secret ballot (March 1 and 2), with 104 students voting, resulted in 25 votes for blue and white, 32 for green and white, and 47 for blue and gray (Vol. II, No. 1 [Oct. 23, 1962], p. 1).
They soon had their CNC jackets and sweatshirts with these colors, but it was not until the College moved to the new campus (1964-65) that the students had their school name [Captains].
*“Permanent Choices: The School Colors and Name," in Memories of Christopher Newport College: The First Decade, by A. Jane Chambers, Rita C. Hubbard, & Lawrence B. Wood, Jr. (Hallmark, 2008). TO ORDER BOOK: Send check for $20 made out to Jane Chambers to: Dr. Jane Chambers, 15267 Candy Island Lane, Carrollton, VA 23314. Money (minus mailing cost) is donated to the First Decaders' Treasury.
Note: The name Captains is discussed on pp. 92-93 of Memories. More detailed information about this choice and the CNC emblem are in our Website Archives (left margin of HOME), under the sub tab First Decade History, in the essay THE CNC CROCODILES ?SELECTING OUR SYMBOL AND NAME. Scroll down almost to the bottom for this article.
It was December of 1967, shortly before the first men's basketball game was to be played in the newly opened Ratcliffe Gymnasium, which did not yet have a scoreboard. Here was Coach Vaughan's solution:
There was no funding available yet for a traditional scoreboard for the first game, so I asked Mike Cazares, CNC's Building and Grounds Supervisor, to build one. Several days before the game date, Mike brought his innovative version of a basketball scoreboard to Ratcliffe Gym. It was a piece of plywood, about 3’ x 3’ with “CNC” painted in the upper left-hand corner and “Visitors” painted in the upper right-hand corner. About halfway down on the board was another caption, “Quarters.” Under each heading, there were tracks, constructed of wood, to hold numbers, also constructed of wood. It was somewhat like an information board that hangs up front inside some churches, indicating the various hymns to be sung for a specific service. This handmade scoreboard was mounted 6 – 8 feet above the left side of a wall located at one end of the gym. As the game progressed, a person on a stepladder changed numbers for each category.
_______________________________________________
*“Setting the Sail: Launching the Men’s Basketball Program,” by R. Bev Vaughan Jr., in Memories of Christopher Newport College: The First Decade, by A. Jane Chambers, Rita C. Hubbard, & Lawrence B. Wood, Jr. (Hallmark, 2008). TO ORDER BOOK: Send check for$20 made out to Jane Chambers to: Dr. Jane Chambers, 15267 Candy Island Lane, Carrollton, VA 23314. Money (minus mailing cost) is donated to the First Decaders' Treasury.
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Published March 25, 2016
Memories Book Bits:
Dr. Harold Cones Fondly Remembers
Mr. and Mrs. Takis
Account on page 224*
One of the great unsung heroes of early days of CNC was Mr. Takis, usually squirreled away in a small corner of the blockhouse of Gosnold Hall that served as his kitchen, in a room that was loosely called the student center, but normally called "Takis' Ptomaine Tavern" by the students. He provided CNC students with hot lunch items, and if you were there at the time, you can never forget Mr. Takis yelling in a Greek accent from his tiny kitchen, "Cheeseburger ready!" Working by his side always was Mrs. Takis, the chef of the baklava that was provided free every Christmas. The Takis family gave much to the CNC campus, not the least of which were time, money, and atmosphere. More than once a destitute student found a free warm cheeseburger on his plate as a gift from the Takis team.
Mr. & Mrs. Takis. 1969 Trident photo, reprinted in Memories on p. 225.
Harold Cones. 1970 Trident photo, p. 28.
*"Biology Department: The Ties That Bind," by Harold N. Cones, in Memories of Christopher Newport College: The First Decade, 1961 - 1971, by A. Jane Chambers, Rita C. Hubbard, and Lawrence Barron Wood Jr. (Hallmark, 2008). TO ORDER BOOK: Send check for $20 made out to Jane Chambers to: Dr. Jane Chambers, 15267 Candy Island Lane, Carrollton, VA 23314. Money (minus mailing cost) is donated to the First Decaders' Treasury.
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Published March 11, 2016
Memories Book Bits:
Pregnant Student's Water Broke in Dr. Sanderlin's Class
Dr. Sanderlin's Account, on page 45 *
I remember once having a most unsettling experience while lecturing. There was a sudden loud cry from one of my female students. Her water had broken, and she was about to give birth! We had only primitive arrangements for such emergencies in those days; so not knowing what else to do, I ran down the hall to the office of the nearest female professor, Dr. Teddy Bostick. When I appealed to her for help, she said, "You know more about such things than I!" We were both like Scarlet O'Hara's maid in Gone with the Wind, knowing "Nothin' 'bout birthin' no babies!" Somehow, somebody called an ambulance, and the young woman, I later heard, had a healthy baby a short time later.
Dr. Sanderlin. 1966 Trident photo published in Memories on p. 49.
*"Remembering the English Department's First Decade," by W. Stephen Sanderlin, Jr., in Memories of Christopher Newport College: The First Decade, 1961 - 1971, by A. Jane Chambers, Rita C. Hubbard, and Lawrence Barron Wood Jr. (Hallmark, 2008). TO ORDER BOOK: Send check for$20 made out to Jane Chambers to: Dr. Jane Chambers, 15267 Candy Island Lane, Carrollton, VA 23314. Money (minus mailing cost) is donated to the First Decaders' Treasury.
Published February 26, 2016
Link to Christopher Newport University home page: http://cnu.edu
