College Chums

After graduating from Harlan High School I began a new phase of my life by going to Eastern Kentucky State College in Richmond, Ky. One of my best friends came also and was my room mate for one quarter. My mother made matching bedspreads for us to use and also curtains for our room. The material she used was red with white dots, or perhaps it was the other way around white with red dots. I really have forgotten but we both liked them and when Betty left after one quarter she wanted to take her bedspread back to Harlan. Betty missed her boy friend there and she later did marry him. I was her maid of honor and the picture shows us out in her back yard after the wedding. She became Mrs. Warren Hensley and now lives in Knoxville, Ky.

There were other friends from our home area in Harlan Kentucky. The second picture shows us on the stairs of one of the buildings with those best friends. The top girl is Dottie Ellison. An only child of a nurse and an engineer. Dottie was cheerful and full of life. She floated around like a butterfly and was always into something interesting. Over 20 years ago I heard that she had passed on. I do not remember when she left our college as I left for a sojourn in Texas before graduating. I think she must have left while I was away for that year.

The second young lady on the stairs is Bonnie Ayers. She was one of five girls in her family. As her name indicates she was Scottish . I think she had wise parents as they saw that all five of their girls went to college. I think her father was a wise man for when she left home he told Bonnie to be sure to write a letter each week to her mother, and she did. I later learned that Bonnie had gone to Arizona and became a lawyer. I admired her for her independence and my first child was named for this Bonnie.


The next young lady is Betty McSpadden who lived a few blocks from me in Harlan. I recently had the pleasure of speaking to her by telephone. She lives in a retirement home there under the watchful eye of her loving daughter. Over the years we kept in touch and I have two pictures of her three girls at different ages. It was so nice to talk to her. Her voice sounded just the same as I remembered. It would be really nice to drive up to visit with her in person.

At the bottom of the stairs is me, holding onto Betty as though I were about to fall. We all had such good times together. During the years we were there our country was in the midst of World War II and very few boys were on campus. So, dating was not a big concern. I had a boy friend who was in Berea College about 25 miles from Richmond and we visited some but mostly it was classes and girl friends and studying. All of that changed during my last year there as the soldiers were returning from their military duties and our campus began to take on a different character.

Living in a college dorm is one experience I wish all girls could have. You forge friendships which last a life time. Though you may move to different parts of the country or the world, those friends always will live in your heart and memory. You are college chums forever.