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VOLUME 1. NUA.BER 1
Twenty-Five Years Later
iSi 77
r. nf '47 hf-autv Tomie Cates fnow
grass of Coker Arboretum. Modeling for his own camera is Alumni Review Editor
Roland "Foo" Giduz, gazing intently into the eyes of Tomie, who is now unknown to
alumni records. Does anyone know where Tomie is? If so, report same to "Foo."
pike, Now
emembers Old '47
By SPIKE SAUNDERS '25
Alumni Secretary (1927-70)
Editor Bob Morrison does a daring and a dangerous thing when he asks
a fellow" who became Alumni Secretary at the Univervisity 45 years ago
this summer to "reminisce a bit" about the Class of 1947, reflect on its
collegiate years and recall a few highlights and personalities of its campus
residency.
Such a request by a reincarnated Editor of the "Tar Heel" can blast
cranial floodgates and let loose stored-up memory cells that may inundate
these columns. Indeed, halcyon memories normally held dear by
classmates returning for a 25th reunion could be polluted (to use a
presently much used horror word!).
The Class of '47 was, of course, no
normal university class. It was a wartime
baby that first saw the light of day in the
fall of 1943 when a relatively small group
of teen-agers came onto the campus at
Chapel Hill to form the new body.
They numbered a few more than 300.
Dean Robert B. House, the top
administrative officer of the Chapel Hill
campus of the Consolidated University in
those years, used to say that when
anyone walked Chapel Hill paths and got
a gravel in his shoe, Chapel Hill got into
his soul.
It was that way with the freshman of
'47. They quickly joined other campus
individuals students and trainees to
make up the campus community of the
1943-44 academic session. The other
groupings included 1,300 Navy V-12
apprentice seamen, 250 Army ASTPs,
some 1,400 civilians divided about
equally between co-eds and males, and
2,000 Pre-Flight aviation cadets of the
U.S. Navy.
There was a war on and Chapel Hill
was no college-as-usual place.
Before arriving the freshmen had been
mailed a copy of the "Carolina
Handbook," a little booklet that in earlier
years was known as the freshman bible.
Published by the University Y.M.C.A.,
the handbook's every word was probably
considered pure gospel by incoming
freshmen of '47.
Some quotations from the good book
must be understood in the context of the
times: "The campus is waiting to
welcome you," it said. "Some people
have imagined that the crowding into the
campus of military units has made the
place undesirable for civilian students.
Don't let that thought worry you. . . .
Right in the midst of 'marching uniforms'
we find a place to live, good food,
campus activities, and every facility for
full-rounded educational opportunity
both for women students and the men of
pre-military age."
"Learn to enjoy your freedom here
and do you part," wrote the President of
the 1943-44 Student Body, John M.
Robinson, Jr., himself a member of the
Navy ROTC.
Perhaps more realistic were the words
in the handbook written by Dean of
Students Francis F. Bradshaw in a section
subtitled "You and the War." He said:
"Your nation and mine is engaged, with
twenty-six allied nations, in what is
known as 'total war.' This stark fact
must enter into all your choices and
Of
cm
Mrs. Roger Troxler) from Raleigh grazes the
Emeritiii
activities in college."
The dean's words were pointed.
Indeed, there was a war going on. It had
been almost two full years since Pearl
Harbor and the Class of '47 hit the
campus in the middle of changing times
and swift moving tempos.
Those in Chapel Hill at the time can
remember the large section of the campus
that was called the Navy Pre-Flight area.
Included were dormitories in the upper
and lower quadrangles and others
building adjacent Caldwell Hall (the old
medical school building), Lenoir dining
hall and some of the athletic fields
nearby. Cadets of the Pre-Flight School
and regularly enrolled students of the
University shared other
facilities Woollen Gymnasium, the Tin
Can, Emerson Field, and Kenan Stadium.
But the core of the Pre-Flight Area the
former dormitories then converted to
barracks and the mess hall
(Lenoir) seemed to stand as symbols of
war preparation. The area was strictly
zoned. There were guards and even sentry
posts to mark the borders whether to
keep the cadets in or visitors out is not
now remembered.
Steele and Carr were the only campus
dormitories left for civilian males and
most of the freshmen were assigned in
these two buildings. Others had to
exercise their freedom of choice to find
rooming places in town if they could.
The fraternity houses had been leased by
the University to house the V-12
apprentice seamen and the "Roteecees"
were put up in Old East, Old West, and
other buildings. These students in
uniform, along with the Army assignees
(the ASTPs and, later, the Army Air
pre-meteorology trainees) were fed in
(Continued on page 3)
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CHAPEL HILL NCRT- CAOL:A SATL'?.2AV. v.AY '3 1972
9
Back
4&
Deai House" Lauds "Dr. Frank"
As you of Carolina 1947 graduated
twenty-five years ago, your class theme
was "We Tar Heels leave our footprints
on the traditional paths." I submit that
you have done so in every department of
student activity in the University, in
North Carolina, in the nation, and in the
world. You did so under the inspired
leadership of that transcendent person,
Frank Porter Graham. As you gather in
your featured reunion, among many faces
you miss is now the benign countenance
of our great commander.
There can be but one reunion theme
for you and for all of us; namely, love of
Doctor Frank. He was an humble servant
of the Master and therefore a man of
love. He loved you; no man understood
you better than he did. He put moral
stamina in us all. He was a moral genius.
He was also an intellectual giant. He knew
the meaning of war, peace, politics,
economics, social change, spiritual
insight. He was a soldier of the true, the
right, working in the beautiful way of
love. He united us in love while he was
yet with us. His death and funeral
centered here the deepest tide of pure
love that ever came here to wash us clean.
That tide moves through you today.
Doctor Frank was a merry man. He
would enjoy with you our mutual
heritage and tradition and the fun and
frolic of reunion. He trusted you, and he
knew that, as you have, you would
achieve greatly. He would not preach at
you. He would be his merry, active self.
But you would feel, as you do now, the
impulse of his spirit to follow him
creatively, as you do. in shaping all events
Famed Editor Of Alumni Review
Reviews The '47 Alumni Scene
By ROLAND GIDUZ
Twenty-five yeras a mere quarter of a
century is not a long time at all when
you look on the similar cycle and
circumstances of so many things in
Chapel Hill now and way back then.
Certainly the old grad of '47 coming
back to Chapel Hill for his silver
anniversary reunion will be hard hit by
the many new buildings, the long hair,
the crush of automobiles, and the
asphalt-lined suburban shopping centers.
But just beneath that veneer he'll find the
same Carolina spirit that he sensed so
keenly when he trod the campus in the
booming days just after Worid War II.
And before he returns home from "the
Hill" he'll also realize that a vivid cycle of
parallels, some coincidental and some
inevitable, has passed before him.
The year 1947, it is recalled, was the
glorious era of Carolina's first post-season
football game the Charlie Justice-led
squad that faced the Georgia Bulldogs in
what became popularly known to
Baxter Sapp and Eugenia Nash do the
Big Apple, Charleston, or whatever it was
in that long ago time circa 1947. Himself
a well-known photographer with the UNC
News Service back then, Baxter says,
"Those pictures that were taken of me
were made by a friend standing nearby
with my camera." Now practicing
dentistry in Durham, Baxter
appropriately is in charge of the gala
dance to be held tonight at the Hope
Valley Country Club in Durham.
I if
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"Dean House" he was when Class of
'47"ers began assembling at diverse times
upon the campus at Chapel Hill. Before
they graduated he had become
''Chancellor House" by virtue of an act of
the General Assembly, his office, duties,
and harmonica playing remaining
substantially unchanged by the new title.
For several years, Dr. Frank Porter
Graham had written the keynote for the
Reunion Tar Heel. The mantle of that
responsibility has now fallen to Dr.
Robert Burton House, who still resides
among us, still a symbol of strength,
integrity, and common sense.
subsequent to your graduation in 1947.
Heartily yours,
Robert B. House
partisans of blue and white as the Great
Sugar Bowl Robbery. Consider the
coincidence then that for the first time
since that drizzly Jan. 1 in New Orleans
over 25 years ago, the Tar Heels played
Georgia in a post-season bowl game again
this past season. The results were,
unfortunately, similar. But Carolina fans
who saw and watched the Gator Bowl
game of last Dec. 31 surely felt that UNC
again acquitted itself nobly before a more
powerful Bulldog squad. The score of
that game in Jacksonville, 7-3 quite a bit
closer than the referee-abetted 20-10
victory that Georgia captured in the 1947
Sugar Bowl.
For more than a month after the Sugar
Bowl classic, the Daily Tar Heel
chronicled the misdeeds of referee Gabe
Hill who approved an apparent "forward
lateral" that set up the first Georgia
touchdown. Movies of the game later
confirmed the error of this call, as they
did a Carolina touchdown which was
called back. On that one Kenny Powell
was charged with "pushing" while trying
to snag a Tar Heel pass in the end zone. It
was also reported in the Daily Tar Heel
that Kay Kyser out in Hollywood good
naturedly paid off a bet on the game by
pushing a football down Vine St. with his
nose.
This was also the final period of Dr.
Frank Graham's 19-year tenure as
President of the University. Frequently
absent from the campus during the '47
generation's time on campus, Dr. Frank
was on call to serve in Washington,
Indonesia, and in many other important
off -campus capacities. During this year he
was also taken seriously ill and
hospitalized at Johns Hopkins for an
extended stay. The Daily Tar Heel
welcomed him back to Chapel Hill during
the winter with the expression that "the
feeling that all is not well automatically
arises when President Graham is not here.
His presence erases all those feelings."
Editor Bob Morrison noted that those
who hadn't had a chance to know him
would have that chance on the coming
weekend "when he resumes his
traditional Sunday evening open houses."
This year almost 25 years to the day
from that return home Dr. Frank died in
Chapel Hill from the lingering and
increasingly severe ailments that followed
him through his service in Chapel Hill.
Jimmy Wallace, who wrote a lot about
Dr. Frank in his Tar Heel column, wrote
again about him recently in The Chapel
(Continued on page 3)
Few in 1947 gave it a lot of thought. But here it is: the CUis of 1947-back in
Chapel Hill for a twenty-fifth reunion, guaranteed to be a unique event: newr hav.r.g
happened before, unlikely ever to happen again!
They parked their cars yesterday near Morrison Dorm or Morrison Rtsidt?nce Hall
in the new parlance), greeting each other joyfully on their way up the hill, glancing up
at a piece of sky that wasn't covered 25 years ago. walking on ground reserved then for
lovers and rabbits, chipmunks, and squirrels.
The reunion will continue through Sunday. Although '47 is the prima dor.na,
reunions are also being held for the Classes of '67, '62, '57, '52, '47, '42. '37. 32. '27,
'22, and '13. Those before then have gracefully retired into th Old Students Club,
also holding a reunion. Registration in Morrison Residence Hall will continue
throughout the three-day . period. Alums should go there for information and
assistance. Printed program and schedule material is available at Morrison.
Old DTH Editor Mills Quotes
From Musty Tome: His 'Diar
In the spirited run-off election held
May 13, 1947, Barron Mills was elected
editor of the Daily Tar Heel by a margin
of 415 votes. His byline had become ?ry
familiar to the Class of '47, and he had
held numerous staff posts, including
managing editor under Editor Bob
Morrison.
For the past 17 years he has been
editor and publisher of The Randolph
Guide at Asheboro. He and his wife
Barbara have three children
After leaving Chapel Hill, Barron was
for a while editor of The Alamance Xews
at Graham, and was later with the United
Press (now known as U.P.I.) and The
Winston-Salem Journal.
He reviews here whr happened the
year after the Class of "47 graduated.
By BARRON MILLS
There I was, sitting there with a big
Drown, oversized book on the coffee
table and a notepad and pencil in hand.
"Daddy," the 16-year-old said,
whisking through the room. "What in the
world are you doing? And what is that
musty smell?"
"This is my college diary," I
responded, pointing to my bound copies
of the Daily Tar Heel for the years
1946-48-a "diary" that the book binders
had charged me more to bind together
than my graduation ring had cost.
"Oh, but Daddy, 1947 ... that's a
long time ago!"
But there it was in black and white.
June 5, 1947 Henry Wallace speaks to
a packed house in Hill Auditorium under
sponsorship of the Southern Conference
For Human Affairs, an organization that
was under investigation by the House
Unamerican Committee. And it was
before the days of speakers' bans.
June 21, 1947 Plans being considered
for construction of road between UNC
and Duke, a road that was to be obsolete
before it was traveled.
June 28, 1947-Kenneth Royall speaks
to study group. Men outnumber coeds 4
to 1. Co-op grocery established in Victory
Village to help pocketbooks of married
students.
July 2, 1947 Vic Seixas runner-up for
NCAA tennis crown, defeated by Garner
Lamed.
July 2, 1947-Tuition going up
elsewhere but status quo at UNC. Budget
calls for S3,200,000 from gross
receipts $1,300,000 provided by State
Mrs. Jim Camp, flanked by Alumni
staffer Bo Dunlap (left) and her husband,
listens as plans are made for staging the
twenty-fifth reunion of the Qass of '47.
As Reunion Chairman, Jim worked for
months to put together all the pieces
necessary to make the Reunion click,
while serving as Director of Economic
Development for the Durham Chamber of
Commerce. Bo, possibly a little young to
be an honorary member of the Qass of
'47, nevertheless worked with his seniors
to coordinate their efforts with the
general program of the Alumni
Association and to give them the benefit
of his experience with previous
twenty-fifth reunions.
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Legislature.
July 9, 1947-Paul Green. Pulitzer
Prize-winning playwright for his "Lost
Colony" production, completes
"Common Glory" for Jamestown.
July 12, 1947-Veterans checks are
late. UVA President Hugh Wells and
Veterans Advisor F. Carlyle Shepard say
Veterans "won't go hungry or not have a
place to stay." Meal tickets are provided
at Lenoir Hall.
Sept. 25, 1947 Lincoln Kan organizes
College Council for United Nations. Year
and half building program begins for
construction of Morehead Planetarium.
Army Air Force ROTC program begins at
UNC. Tommy Dorsett pays $3,000 in
settlement to Order of Grail, out of
court, to satisfy a civil action. The Grail
had sought $10,000 in damages. Tommy
had contracted for to bring a 35-piece
band, but showed up minus his string
section. His two-hour concert lasted only
90 minutes.
Sept. 27, 1947-Tom Eller, president
of Student Body, blasts betting and
drinking at football games.
Oct. 1, 1947 UP story from Miami,
Fla. National Sports Director of Cuba,
Manola Castro, is charged with smuggling
arms to Cuba. He demanded that officers
notify his "good friend," Charlie Justice,
to get him out of jail. Responded
Choo-Choo, "I never heard of him."
Oct. 2, 1947 Advertisement for
Harry's: "Now open from 7 a.m. to 1
a.m., Beer, Breakfast, Lunch, Supper."
Oct. 3, 1947-Dr. Frank Graham to be
sworn in as delegate to UN, will seek
solution to Indonesian Crisis.
Oct. 5, 1947 Layne-led Longhorns
(Texas U.) stun Tar Heels 34-0.
Oct. 9, 1947 Coeds will be permitted
to enter the (fraternity) houses 30
minutes earlier in the morning, 11:30
a.m., instead of noon. Coed Senate
discusses the problems of being
confronted with drinking on fraternity
premises.
Oct. 11, 1947-Meatless Tuesday and
eggless and poultryless Thursday comes
to Chapel Hill, at the government's
request.
Oct. 12, 1947-National limelight
fades for Tar Heels as Deacons win 19-7.
Oct. 19, 1947-Tar Heels rebound for
13-7 win over Indians (W&M).
Oct. 24, 1947 Statistics show men
outnumber Coeds by 6-1 again this year
(7,258 to 958). A public opinion poll of
students shows that "long skirts are not
here to stay." Of 100 polled 34 said for
"a while."
Oct. 25, 1947 Student leaders of
UNC and Duke to assemble here to
discuss preventing pre-game vandalism
Oct. 26- 1947-Tar Heels Bulldoze
Florida by 35-7 Victory.
Oct. 30, 1947-Chapel Hill Communist
Party openly revealed by circulars. Junius
Scales, chairman.
Nov. 5, 1947 Coeds draw lots tonight
for partners for human race on Sadie
Hawkins day.
Nov. 6, 1947-The bell of South
Building, rung in memoriam for deceased
faculty members, tolled yesterday for
Elliott "Uncle George" Washington, for
35 years the janitor of the -Zoology
building.
Nov. 9, 1947-Powerful Tar Heels
slaughter Wolfpack 41-6.
Nov. 11, 1947-DTH Editorial
Lndefatigable AI Lowenstein (now a
former NY Congressman) is definitely
one man who should be commended for
his efforts in getting the N.C. Student
Assembly back in its orbit.
Nov. 13, 1947-Free one-dose flu
shots will be given tomorrow.
Nov. 22, 1947-Vaughn Monroe radio
show to be featured during tonight's Grail
dance when CBS sends a national salute
(Continued on page 2)
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