Gordy Sisson  '77

I transferred to Milton in the winter of 1974...my first day on campus was in the middle of a January blizzard!  I went to Audrey Eyler's English class and sat with less that a half-dozen people who also hadn't heard that school classes were cancelled.  An inauspicious beginning to a wonderful experience...many random memories meander through my mind regarding my time at Milton...

Sitting on the stoop of Twining Hall on a warm, sunny, spring day enjoying the rays and watching the students walk by on their way to classes...watching Star Trek in Crandall...Burdick's name being changed to "Rubdick" Hall...a dead chicken hanging in the foyer of Twining Hall...the wintry walk from the dorms to the classrooms with a bit of a slippery slope to the sidewalk by the tennis court( and seeing many people slip and fall, followed by Dr. Keeney's embrace of the slope as he hit it running and "skied" down the steep path)...Winter Fest...Twining Hall winning the "chug a container of beer" contest after Jeff W. threw up in the container, took a quick appraisal of the situation, and then slammed that down!  Saga Food Service and the mock turkey with dark and white meat all in one nice gristly slice...green mashed potatoes on St. Patrick's Day...then hopping in the car to go to Shakey's Bunch Of Lunch...or Supper...The Back Stage for drinks...Whitewater on Thursday nights...Plays in Deland (Under Milkwood, A Midsummer Night's Dream)...crisp autumn days on a campus with vintage vine-covered buildings...football games...welcome back picnics behind our campus commons...playing ping pong downstairs in its lounge area as well as in the basement of Crandall ...An International dinner including belly dancing and a Somoan pig roast...my Irish Setter running across campus (and jumping upon Dr Pautz)...The Cove...sitting upstairs in the library looking out the window at the campus talking to the cleaning lady, Jane Leach.  Certainly, people are what makes a place special and alive.  Some more come to mind...

Jeff Woerhle "streaking" on campus (he stood naked at a beer dance in the commons drinking a brew).  Zane Pautz lecturing for a complete three hour class...to the second.  Bruce Curler being a good guy. Many positive classes with Audrey Eyler and of course meeting my wife (Gwen) in her short story class.  Bald-headed Joel Cler breaking my door open and stealing food out of my refrigerator.  Some dice action and more than a bit of a pungent smelling haze emanating from the room across from mine in Twining Hall.  Listening to Kansas, Bad Company, Frampton and whatever else we had available with friends in my dorm room...Bob Opps and John Hayek playing hoops... Women's basketball...Dr. John (Keeney) dancing an Irish jig as he introduced us to Irish literature.  Thom Sobota instructing in Oral Interp. of Lit. class...Dr. Boe and her required math class.  Dr. Hable becoming Dean of Students...Charlotte taking his place. Class with Dr. Skaggs in a room surrounded by specimen jars from the turn of the century.  Larry Siker and our golf team.  Lucille Sunby in the business area of Burdick--what a great lady. Working on the school newspaper listening to WIBA with my buddy Roger. Bonnie Munrow, Gary Holquist, Marji Kenyon, Eldon Pickle, Dibble, Buck Bennet, Steve Kohl, Pam Hintz, Dan Melka,Steve Rossiter, Brian Watson, and many others... colorful characters from campus legend as well...the dancing bear, the fisherman, the cowboy, Lips, the Animal, the Goat, Hampster Elliot, Zoom-Zoom, Taco, Nubs, and Brother Collier with that deep bass voice that reverberated throughout the room whenever he greeted you!  Jerry Pickens working in the bookstore or perhaps walking around Crandall with a mud-pack on his face and his hair in a net! The many friends we had from Iran...where are they now, I wonder? People you never forget from an important time and place.

Certainly Milton College was advanced for its size and era with regard to its student composition...a multi-culturally diverse group if ever I lived among one.  However, my fondest memory of the campus doesn't involve its people....just its physical presence...it involves another winter scene...a solitary walk...the beauty of a calm winter's evening with a quiet snow comprised of large, luminescent snowflakes floating to the hill on the front lawn of our campus.  The spotlights trained upon Old Main highlighting the moment and seemingly suspending the effect...in time forever...postcard perfect!  And so was my time at Milton.  

It was a great time.

It was a great college.