Freshmen

In my last blog I tried to describe the trauma of getting started in my first quarter of college. For a poor little girl from the "sticks" I think I adjusted very well to my new life. Three people had a major influence at the time. I had met another Mormon student at a church conference who was in her last year and was in my major, home economics. My big sister had not mentioned helping me with the new experience of registering for classes, so when Lavina dropped by to welcome me and ask if she could help me, I was most grateful. She had been assigned to Ellen Buffkin from Tabor City who was rooming with her cousin, Christine Strickland, who had no big sister, it seemed. She offered to help all three of us.

You figured out what classes you wanted, and patiently waited in a line in front of the professor's chair at a long table. If the class was full, it was back to study the catalog. Chris was also in my major, and there were enough other required classes outside the major that Lavina put the three of us in many of the same classes. Consequently, we soon discovered we were spending most of our class time together and eating in the dining hall together.

The Belle of Hobsville, my accidental roommate, spent all of her time with a high school friend.

They had decided that although they were best friends, it was best to room with a stranger, have more adventure, meet more people. Marvis Hobbs never figured on meeting someone like me. She and several other girls on the hall had a hand at my hair, but nothing affected the tight frizz. Her morning squeel when she first popped her eyes open was a little hard for me to get used to, but I didn't mind that she never wanted to be seen with me. I had Chris and Ellen who both dressed better than I, but they accepted me. Marvis, the only child of the president of the bank in Hobsville, had ordered her college wardrobe from Seventeen magazine, and they took up almost all of our closet space.

One day I returned from my last class to find Marvis and all her belongings were gone. I raced downstairs to the dean's office to discover that her friend's roommate had left school to get married and Marvis had asked to change rooms, since they spent all their time together anyway. Miss Morton was shocked that she had not even left me a note.

Naturally I felt terrible! When Chris and Ellen came by for me to go to dinner. they found me sitting on my bed crying. They were very sympathetic, and before the evening was over they returned to my room to say they had discovered a three girl room in the hall with only two girls, and they were willing to take my room The three of us moved in together, and we lived happily ever after.

It was quite a while before I saw Marvis on campus. She had heard about my move, but had no apology still. We completely lost touch before we both graduated. When I went back to the 50th anniversary in 2001, I noticed that her name was in the program, and I went over to her table to speak to her. I said,"You probably don't remember me, but we were roommates for a couple of weeks our freshman year." She had been teaching business in high school for many years.

When I went back to our table, I saw that she was turning to find my bio in the very back, and was reading it with her mouth open. I said to Ted, "If she had been nicer to me, I would have invited her to visit us in some of the exciting places we have lived, like London, Madrid or China." She finished reading about my exciting life and educational accomplishments and came right over to our table to congratulate me and meet my neat husband. It was a good feeling.