Illustrations by John E. Bailey

As a freshman I received an invitation to participate in an honorary celebration of our baseball captain (Arthur Allard ’33), who was to be recognized by an award of a floral crown. The time of the celebration found me supplied with a crown of flowers to place on his head. I climbed up a ladder in preparation of this occasion. Wearing the flower crown was originally “sissifying,” but the audience’s loud approval after hearing speeches of his success proved that it was appropriate recognition. The two of us became close friends thereafter and frequently reviewed our act with chuckles.
Louise Teich Johnson ’36, ’52 M.A.

Vivid bookend memories: One was my “welcome” to New England for graduate work in sociology. My trip from California was made by railroad coach in the dead of winter. In spring, the Northeast was battered by a 100-year record storm. The other is the distinction of receiving the last degree from Connecticut State College. Two of us—me and the late William R. Crooks were awarded the final master’s degrees. Since the order of presentation was alphabetical, I received the last diploma. The next year the College became the University of Connecticut.
C.R. (Dick) Draper ’39 M.A.

I had just arrived at my part-time job at Wilbur Cross Library when I was asked if I had heard about Pearl Harbor. I remember thinking: these graduate students are so serious. What was Pearl Harbor? The next day, we crowded into Hawley Armory to hear President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s famous “Day of Infamy” address. Many of the men would leave to enlist immediately. Most would be in the service by the end of the next year. Nothing would ever be the same again.
Polly Murray Cunningham ’43 (CLAS)

During my junior year, I enlisted in the Air Force and was told that I would not be called for duty until I graduated in June 1943. Unfortunately, the Air Force decided to require my enlistment in February of that year. Fortunately I had enough units for graduation, but comprehensive exams were given only in June. The department of chemistry, my major, was reluctant to offer these exams at any other time. Dean C. Burt Gentry’s intervention was especially memorable since he arranged to send these exams to my commanding officer who arranged for a proctor during six hours of examination. I graduated in absentia with the class of 1943.
Julius Glater ’43 (CLAS)

One of the events of Freshman Week was the annual rope pull across the pond between freshmen and sophomores. Sophomore seniority gave them the choice of direction to pull—up hill or on the level. They chose to pull on the level. They remembered walking through the water the previous year. But the Frosh had had some thinking people at Storrs Hall, and several were dispatched with shovels and flashlights after dark to the hill. Several hours of work produced rock-lined steps up the hill not visible across the pond. The next day, shortly after the order to begin pulling, the Sophomores were again walking in water, in spite of the added friends who tried to help them pull.
Robert B. Neumann ’49 (ENG)

My fondest memory is when I portrayed Gen. Douglas MacArthur in the Community Chest parade. I had the trench coat, sunglasses, and Army cap and stood in back of a convertible and had “Secret Service (my fraternity brothers from Tau Epsilon Phi) guard me as they held water pistols. That was around April of 1951. It was a blast.
B.S. “Chic” Hendel ’51 (BUS)

I remember with pride the introduction of the “new” UConn M arching Band in the fall of 1952. Andrew McMullen was the new director, and musical arrangements were by Harold Kidder, a music professor who moonlighted doing arrangements for the Stan Kenton Orchestra. We rehearsed night after night. On the big day, we came onto the field marching at 180 beats per minute, playing “UConn Huskies.” I remember the people in the stands rising and cheering us. I am willing to bet that we in the band were in as good physical shape from the intense rehearsal as our football team.
Lou Marhefsky ’54 (BUS)

In the fall of 1951, I suddenly realized that I had just learned to read in a very special way. Robert Wooster Stallman entered my life with an American literature class with an emphasis on Stephen Crane and a new critic’s approach. Following a detailed examination of The Red Badge of Courage, the class went on to Crane’s short stories. My breakthrough was the identification of the red wafer of the sun as a communion wafer. Imagine the world ahead...Moby Dick read at least once a year with discoveries of nuances every time. It is enough to say that Dr. Stallman changed my life in a most positive manner. His enthusiastic, animated, intellectual stimulation helped me remember through the years of the lesson learned one quiet day in Storrs.
Frank Kurt Cylke ’54 (CLAS)

At German House, tradition was that the seniors prepared breakfast for all the
underclassmen working on the Homecoming Display. Their creation was a mock-up of a “country fellow” taking a bath in a wooden tub — which was suspended across the front of German House. It was created from chicken wire, cardboard, crepe paper and colored tissue. Given special permission from our housemother, Mrs. Smith, a few male friends were allowed above the first floor to help set up our entry. It looked great, but it needed “soap bubbles” as our fellow scrubbed his back to a tune similar to “Splish, Splash, I Was Taking A Bath,” so a number of girls took assigned positions and, with fans and lip power, they blew bubbles around our fellow as the judging took place.
Phyllis Mancini Kaercher ’56 (CLAS)

Back when the Student Union and I were young, we used to listen to math instructor Tom Paley play his five-string banjo on the terrace of the union in the spring. Tom went on to form a very famous musical group, The New Lost City Ramblers. They were instrumental in bringing back America’s traditional mountain music. I got an “A” in math, but I remember Tom mostly for his generosity of spirit, sharing with us his passion for lost treasures. I have recordings of the group, and when I play them, I think of those UConn days.
Nancy Canevari Lindemeyer, ’56 (CLAS)

We had our art classes in the old Rostoff building on campus. I had Nathan Knobler for drawing and, since there were only a few art majors, felt closer to the instructors. I wrote to Prof. Knobler a few years later, and told him I had become an art teacher and wanted him to know how he influenced me. He wrote back. I then visited the new Art Department building and Prof. Knobler. Retired after 33 years in elementary art and education, I again wanted to contact Prof. Knobler. I went on line and found him through the Philadelphia College of Art, where he was teaching. I am so glad I could contact him once more before his recent passing, 50 years after having been in his class at UConn.
Sandra Whitman Manning ’58 (CLAS)

We were among the first families in Redbud Apartments and spent many fall/spring evenings exploring Horsebarn Hill and the apple orchards. We attended football games and superb performances, such as Victor Borge. We celebrated our daughter’s birth in Windham County Hospital in 1957.
Ann G. Phillips ’58 M.A.
Col. Victor F. Phillips, Jr. ’59 M.S.

My memorable moment describes the events surrounding our wedding ceremony on Jan. 6, 1962, in the University Chapel while I was a graduate student in physics. We had only a few days to prepare. The University chaplain, Rev. Waggoner, of the First Unitarian Church, graciously accepted our request to perform our marriage ceremony in the University Chapel. My best friend and fellow graduate student, Richard Breslow, kindly agreed to be my best man and his wife, Mimi, was maid of honor for my wife-to-be, Hazel. They also graciously offered to give an after-ceremony reception at their home. We celebrated this happy occasion amidst the well-wishing fellow grad students, faculty members, staff, and their spouses of the Physics Department.
Chong K. Lewe ’60 M.S.

Summer session of 1960, I found myself in Business Law I, the instructor the dean of the School of Business, Laurence J. Ackerman. Each morning, a student who drove in from Hartford and was late would always apologize and mention something about traffic, flat tire or alarm clock mal-function, whatever. After four or five days of class, this student was concerned over the fact that Ackerman had not called on him to discuss a case, and he brought this to the dean’s attention. Ackerman scanned his notes, confirmed the student’s concerns and apologized to the student. From that point forward, Ackerman would call on this student at exactly at 8 a.m. Of course, the student had not arrived yet, but the good dean was calling on him. I often wondered if that student passed the class.
Harold Holderith ’61

Our christening party for Kingston House got us placed on social probation straightaway. In ’61, our winter jaunt to classes from the new Towers Quadrangle was often a trek through frozen tundra. In due course, I would attend Robert Wooster Stallman’s inspiring English classes, and I would settle for journalism after encountering James Baldwin in American literature. My very first week, however, featured discovery of another sort. Challenged by my prowess as a snorer, my housemates counter-attacked. One night, when I was far gone in NREM slumber, the hallway fire alarm bolted me awake. A blanket of diaphanous, white puffs covered me neck-to-toe, like a corpse on a slab at the morgue. My Kingston floormates stood around guffawing at their handiwork with the shaving cream. Thank God they didn’t take pictures.
Les Payne ’64 (CLAS)

Before attending UConn I had taken three thermodynamics courses at various other universities. However, as I sat in Prof. William L. Masterton’s courses and he covered various topics, I repeatedly said to myself, “So, that’s what they meant!” Between his thermodynamics courses and his general chemistry lectures which I attended, it was very easy to decide that he was the best teacher I had ever had, which covered over 22 years of formal education.
Ladislav H. Berka ’65 Ph.D.

I remember how we were just about sitting down to dinner on Nov. 9, 1965, and all the lights suddenly went out in the dorm. Quickly we learned that the entire campus was without power. What would 12,000 college students do on a weeknight without power for lights? Slowly but surely, the entire student body found its way to the shores of Mirror Lake just to mill around and to try and find out what was going on. Soon, shortly after darkness had set in, the University fire trucks arrived with temporary lights and some power. The firemen lit up a small area and played music, and we all danced and socialized until it was time to go to bed. Little did we know that that night would be forever remembered as the Great Northeast Blackout.
James B. Seger, ’66 ENG

Two classes in particular stand out for me. One was a Latin American history class with Fred Turner that gave me a great sense of American foreign policy and the impact it had on developing countries. Another was a constitutional law class with Fred Kort, which at a time when many government officials were thinking about Constitutional reforms, gave me a great love and belief in our constitution and the rights of a constitutional democracy.
Sam Gejdenson ’71 (CLAS)

I got to see the first moon landing at the UConn Student Union in the summer of 1969. I had arrived at the University as an engineering freshman that year, a bit earlier than the rest of the student body to sharpen my English skills. It was a moment of major significance for me in my short life in the United States where I had come to pursue the dream of becoming an astronaut. As a young boy in Costa Rica, the dream of flying in space seemed to me far away but — just perhaps — achievable. To get closer to it, I knew I had to come to the United States. That day, witnessing that magnificent human achievement, I felt a very private and personal sense of communion with those two men in their bulky suits hopscotching on the lunar surface. My personal dream seemed now less distant.
Franklin Chang Díaz ’73 (ENG)

I lived in The Jungle and played on the freshman hockey team coached by Rick Andrews. Practice began at 6 p.m., and we were provided an early dinner at around 4 p.m. in the North Campus dining hall. After eating quickly, we walked to the field house, changed into our hockey gear and carrying sticks and hockey bags, walked to the old outdoor rink. The shortest distance was across the field. As we crossed the field, the lights from the rink created a magical sight, spreading light across the open field and highlighting the unique shape of the rink’s roof. At the rink, we donned our skates, gloves and helmets in the old warming hut—a fire usually blazing in the stone fireplace. We practiced for an hour or so and made the return trip.
David Gallogly ’74 (CLAS)

The national service sorority and fraternity used to do the Campus Community Carnival, in which we raised thousands of dollars for local, state or national charities. We tried to get each dorm involved, and sponsored events such as a pancake breakfast, an auction, an 84-hour Radio Marathon, a clown contest, a pie throwing contest (which brought in celebrities like U.S. Sen. Lowell Weicker); a Midway Carnival, Trike-a-thon and my favorite, the parade. UConn’s Marching Band led the excitement, along with many other bands from Connecticut. We would top off their performances with historical fire trucks, clowns, floats from various dorms and the ever famous Budweiser Clydesdale horses.
Donna Fazzino ’76 (SFS)

I can still remember thinking, “What am I doing here?” during my first semester in the political science graduate program, sitting in a U.S. diplomatic history class taught by Prof. J. Garry Clifford. I felt too young, too intimidated to compete with the other grad students. Luckily, Prof. Clifford was approachable and encouraging. And he even liked my writing. Thanks to him and another young faculty member, Susan Koch, I became more confident and more outspoken. And I learned something about politics and about myself.
Stuart Rothenberg, ’76 Ph.D.

My most memorable moment at UConn was my commissioning day as a second lieutenant from the UConn ROTC program, which also was graduation day, May 16, 1976. My father and mother, now both deceased, were there to pin the 2nd Lt. bars on my shoulders and I was very proud to be able to serve my country. I retired from the U.S. Air Force on June 1, 2006, after 30 years of service. I tried to have the mandatory retirement date extended, but that proved to be harder than graduating from UConn.
Col. Robert F. Ravelo ’76 (CLAS)

When I was a senior living in Eddy Hall, I always wondered if Willard Eddy, for whom the building was named, was still alive. I found out that he was and contacted him. To my surprise, he and his wife had never stepped foot into Eddy Hall. I invited him back to meet the students, and hundreds of students showed. The Alumni Association sponsored a dinner in his honor, and a portrait was made. Mr. Eddy and I remained friends until his death.
Leslie Savitsky Wolfson ’82 (CLAS)

In February, 1982, I was a junior on the men’s track and field team and we were about to leave to compete in the college New Englands at Boston University. I was late, and the van actually came to Belden Hall to pick me up. The first thing Coach Bill Kelleher said to me as I got into the van was, “If I didn’t know you were going to qualify for Division 1 nationals today, I would have left you.” I went on to win that day and qualified for Nationals in Detroit. I learned a valuable lesson that day — be on time and listen to your coaches.
Steven R. Keyes ’83 (SFS)

In the 1980s, I lived in Merritt, one of the smallest dorms in South Campus. We were very close...like family. Each year, just before winter break, we would have a “Special Dinner.” Everyone got all dressed up for the occasion. When we entered the cafeteria, the tables were set up for a banquet with tablecloths and candlelight. The special menu included dishes such as Alaskan king crab legs, New York sirloin, and green beans almondine. Fancy desserts followed. No one missed dinner on that night. It was like going out to dinner in your dorm. The food was great, but the best part of it was being together with our Merritt “family.”
Lisa (Bottone) Goggi ’88 ED

The most memorable experience at UConn for me was the first time I ate in the cafeteria in the Jungle and realized you could have ice cream for dessert at every meal! For me, a freshman and away from my parents for the first time, that was memorable!
Cheryl A. (Makara) Whipple, ’89, ’97

The memory that stands out the most is watching the UConn-Clemson game in a crowded New Haven Hall dorm room in the Jungle. When Tate George hit the shot, you could hear the collective roar, not just from the room, but from across campus. The spontaneous pep rally and bonfire that ensued in the Jungle quad was the students’ capstone to the Dream Season.
Andrew Slitt ’92 (CLAS)

As a master’s student at the School of Social Work, I was fortunate to have a field placement with Save the Children. My first winter break was spent in the Philippines, conducting an early childhood development-related program review. It opened my eyes in a new way to the opportunities and challenges of the developing world, to the economic and other inequities at home and abroad, and to cross-cultural partnerships and communication.
Lara Herscovitch ’95 M.S.W.

My most memorable moment was the opportunity to know Birgit Berry, the former M.B.A. director of UConn’s Stamford campus. She was a great educator with passion, intelligence, and care. Under her guidance, I felt at ease right away even though I was a rare case of being a full time international student on the Stamford campus. I completed the M.B.A. program with good results, and we have stayed in touch ever since.
Jyh-An, Lin ’03 M.B.A.

Our thanks to other alumni who also submitted memorable moments:
Seymour Bloom ’39 (ED), Morris Rossiter ’41 (CLAS), Betty Gray Blaine ’44 (BUS), Robert H. Franklin ’49 (CLAS), ‘52 M.A., Dorothy (Dot) Gannon Hellstrom ’52 (CLAS), Col. Harold F. Lawson ’52 (BUS), Karl Larew ’59 (CLAS), Karen Wedberg Miller ’69 (CLAS), Ruth Harrison ’70 (ED), Mike Douglass, ’70 (ENG), Susan Godlewski Pease ’75 (SAH), Donna Burrill ’78 (CANR), David A. Denegre ’78 (CLAS), Jonathan Bagg ’81 (ENG), Mike Russo ’81 (CLAS), Bonnie Hackney Corliss ’83 (NUR), ’86 M.S.N., Vincent Mascola ’91 (CLAS)