a | Cli oy "Le @ LU q P y L By Ann Taylor Mumford Class of °45 ciation for the miracle of the human body; H. Aldous ife on a college campus, according to the movies that played at the Egyptian or the Orpheum theater during the 1930s, included a lot of singing and dancing with some romance taking place in the back seat of a convertible. As a teenager with an overworked imagination, I believed all of it. And my fantasies were supported by articles and pictures published in the Ogden Standard-Examiner. When I finally got to college, a great change had taken place at Weber. It was the fall of 1943 and the comics had renamed Weber “Dixon’s School for Girls.” World War II had snatched away nearly all the male students and greatly depleted the ranks of instructors. Left intact were seven social clubs, all female. There are many teachers | remember fondly from those years: Orson Whitney Young who instilled my first appre- Dixon, president of Weber, who also taught some sociology classes and accepted students just as they were; Walter Buss, who was a little crazy but it was a lovely craziness (I looked at rocks differently forever after); Mr. Espey who left for active service and was missed by the English department; Lydia Tanner who was past retirement age but her skills in the Home Economics department were desperately needed, so she continued teaching. Classes were small, usually 20 to 25 students, and the instructors generally got well enough acquainted that they could call the students by name. The first year I attended Weber, I shared a basement apartment with three girls I had known a long time. Tuition was $35 per quarter. Since there were no other social outlets, our clubs be- came the main focus of our Weber State University Ogden, UT ADDRESS 84408-3701 CORRECTION REQUESTED attention. Each club presented an assembly and the competition was fierce. Like all college freshmen, we started preparing our assembly a few days before it was to be given. The night before, we held a dress rehearsal on the stage in the Moench Building, then began making scenery. At midnight, the custodian told us to be out of the building in five minutes. We pleaded for an extra half hour, promised to turn off the lights and lock the door behind us. He left, believing us. We finished at 5 a.m. The big dance of the sophomore year was aptly named the Polygamist Prance. It was girls choice. It did not matter if the boy you decided to ask had already been asked, he had to accept all invitations. I shared my date with three other girls. One very popular young man had so many dates he had to get a flatbed truck and fill it with folding chairs. He drove carefully to the parking Ann T. Mumford lot with all his ladies in their formals. The girls took turns dancing with their man. I danced every fourth dance. I believe those with the truck driver date danced only once during the evening. Graduation was held in the Moench auditorium on June 2, 1945. We wore formals, the formals we had not worn to dances. There were four male graduates and about 200 female graduates. Wartime Weber College had little in common with peacetime Weber College but in the history of our school our experience was unique. At the very least we carried on traditions and preserved Weber for the day “Johnny Came Marching Home.” US POSTAGE PAID Non-Profit Permit No. 151 Ogden, Utah