A Force for Change: The Class of 1950

by John Norberg

Overview

Some of them were grown men going to college on the new G.I. Bill, and some were boys — eighteen years old, straight out of high school. There were also young women coming to campus, rich in the traditions of their mothers and grandmothers. These women didn't know it, but the seeds of the modern women's movement had been planted during the war and in their generation. There were African-Americans who came to campus and found segregation and racial stereotypes, even after some of them had fought a war for freedom. This mixture of students blended together on the college campuses of America in the late 1940s and exploded into the world in 1950. Journalist John Norberg's illuminating oral history allows members of Purdue University's Class of 1950 to tell their stories in their own words. "(This is) a narrative that will hold special interest for those with Purdue or West Lafayette ties, but its scope is broad enough to interest a wider population".

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781557539663
Publisher:	Purdue University Press
Publication date:	08/15/2019
Series:	The Founders Series
Pages:	406
Sales rank:	856,615
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

John Norberg is a writer, author, humorist, and a chronicler of the human condition. Retired as director of communications for development at Purdue University, he began his humor column in 1971 while working at Indiana’s Brazil Daily Times. The column appeared in the Lafayette Journal and Courier from March 1973 to October 2014. He has received more than 50 state and national reporting awards. A nationally respected, award-winning speechwriter and public speaker, he also is the author of seven books, including Spacewalker: My Journey in Space and Faith as NASA's Record-Setting Frequent Flyer, which details the story of astronaut Jerry Ross. Additionally, Norberg has written articles for various national publications, including the Saturday Evening Post, USA Today, the Christian Science Monitor, and Time magazine. He was most recently honored with the prestigious Purdue University Special Boilermaker Award and was inducted into the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame for a lifetime of work.

Table of Contents

Preface xiii

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 "I wish you could turn back the clock"

Remembering how it was

Reece McGee 13

Lew Wood 20

John Hicks 23

Earl Butz 30

John Foley 33

Robert Peterson 37

Bob Topping 40

Tom Wilhite 46

Chapter 2 "The loneliness is disappearing"

Some who added the feminine touch

Elynor Erb Richeson 50

Sarah Margaret Claypool Willoughby 59

Kris Kreisle Harder 62

Sally Papenguth Bell 67

Mary Zenger Byers 71

Chapter 3 "Times were very tough"

The Great Depression's lifelong effects

Kenneth Johnson 75

Gordon Kingma 80

Norman Coats 84

Mauri Williamson 89

Jim Rardon 96

Duane Williams 102

Gene Egler 108

Chapter 4 "We had a ton of guys playing"

On the gridiron and the court

John DeCamp 112

Bob DeMoss 113

Angelo Carnaghi 121

William Butterfield 124

Chapter 5 "I told her I'd give her a call"

Boy meets girl

Billy Christensen 127

Ros Grindy Christensen 134

George Benko 137

Mary Lou Kull Hopkins 140

Fred Hopkins 143

Doris Roberts Benko 145

Jack Martin 146

Fern Honeywell Martin 149

Arthur Hansen 155

Nancy Hansen 159

Virginia Warren 162

William H. Warren 164

Larry and Jane Martin Lane 168

Chapter 6 "I was an aviation bug"

Some were flyboys

Jim Blakesley 175

William Moffat 183

J. Warren Eastes 189

Richard Wann 192

Chapter 7 "Everybody was going"

Into the Army, Navy, and Marines

Maurice Wann 201

William Hufferd 204

Harold Michael 207

Bob Mitchell 212

Erwin Michalk 215

Charlie Sanchelli 219

Bogdon Mareachen 223

Robert Sparks 229

John F. W. Koch 232

Jim McCarty 235

Bill Popplewell 238

Jim French 243

Chapter 8 "Look at all those free people"

The African-American experience

Sally Papenguth Bell 247

Winifred Parker White 248

Frieda Parker Jefferson 252

L. Orlando Starks 259

Chapter 9 "It was a fantastic time"

From radar through space

Bill Rose 264

Warren Opitz 268

Frank Holt 272

Joseph Eng 276

Chapter 10 "Like riding a roller coaster down"

The night the bleachers collapsed

Bill Creson 280

John DeCamp 280

Mary Lou Kull Hopkins 281

Fred Hopkins 281

Chapter 11 "We had a great wrestling team"

Hoosier hysteria goes to the mat

Arnold Plaza 285

Joe Patacsil 287

Waldemar VanCott 289

Chapter 12 "I never did go home"

Students from faraway places

Tsung Wei Sze 293

Pedro Castillo 296

Chapter 13 "Now it's your turn"

From college to Korea

Herbert Spoelstra 300

Bill Creson 302

Saul Meyer 307

Bob Stauber 309

Thomas J. Hahn 311

Lew Wood 315

Virgil Grissom: As told by Norman Grissom and Bill Head 317

Bill Keefe 329

Richard Freeman 332

Chapter 14 "They could do anything they wanted to"

College, careers, children, and careers

Eleanor Scheidler McNamara 339

Katie Dittrich McMillin 342

Patricia Bagley Ross 346

Barbara Sutton Thoennes 350

Mary Titus Houston 353

Marilyn Garrett Zack 355

Chapter 15 "Back home again in Indiana"

Memories of more Purdue athletes

William Darley 359

Lou Karras 360

Dan Wawrzyniak 370

Abe Gibron 372

Appendix 379

Purdue University, West Lafayette Campus 1949 380

Purdue University, West Lafayette Campus 1995 381

Index 383