One of the things that makes Park unique is that it has never had an intercollegiate football program. It does, however, have something that distinguishes it - soccer. Every year as the leaves turn bright with color and the outdoor air becomes cooler, I remember afternoons in the bright sunshine, watching Park men in their canary and wine colored uniforms (Park now also has women's soccer) move across the field, back and forth, advancing a ball with feet and heads toward the opponent's goal defended by a goalie.
Under a photo of the 1961 Park soccer team, the 1961-62 Park Narva staff described the season this way:
"The 1961 soccer season proved to be one of the best in the history of Park College. Under the leadership of Coach Ara Zakaryan and Captain Mel Blades, the team was able to win five games, while losing only two and tying one. Outstanding players for Park were Paul Thackaberry, a senior, who led the scoring with a total of 10 goals, and John Clarke, a senior goalie, who had a total of 85 saves."
A year later the 1962-63 Narva stated: "The 1962 Park soccer team had one of its most successful seasons. Park had a 7 win, 2 loss record and was selected to represent Area 1 in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Soccer Tournament at Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana. Park took third place in the tournament and positions on the All Tournament were awarded to Sinan Kunt and Desire Assa, with honorable mention to Bill Higginbotham. High scorer this year was senior Mel Blades who broke the school record by scoring 12 goals. Team captain was Hal Henderson, a junior, coaches were Ara Zakaryan and Ed Nelson, student manager was Joel Givertz an student trainer, Dave Bromberg."
In my diaries I wrote, on Saturday, October 28, 1961: "Park beat Emporia State this afternoon in a thrilling soccer game. Emporia had beat Tabor."
On Saturday, September 22, 1962: "This afternoon Flo, Barb and I went down to watch the Air Force Academy play Park in the first home soccer game of the season. It was a good game, but we lost 5-2. Four years ago they beat Park 4-1."
Friday, November 16, 1962: "Park is playing in the national soccer tournament during Thanksgiving vacation."
Saturday, September 21, 1963: "We beat Tabor in our first soccer game of the season, our second defeat of our archrival and the first time in seven years we've beat them at home."
And on Saturday, October 5, 1963: "The delegation to the Park-Tabor soccer game in Hillsboro, Kansas, returned at 2:30 this morning. The game was thrilling, a 3-3 tie after three 5-minute overtimes." I, of course, had gone with the students who went by school bus to attend the game.
In 2016 soccer still reigns supreme at Park.
About the diary writer
- Barbara McDowell Whitt
- Kansas City, Missouri, Alexandria, Virginia, United States
- ~ About: A 1961-65 Park College Diary ~ As a high school girl and then a college coed in the first half of the 1960s, I wrote nightly entries on the pages of one-year diaries. In January 2010 I began transcribing the entries into a blog and gave each one a title. I grew up on three farms within 30 miles of Iowa City and the University of Iowa with its Iowa Writers' Workshop. As the oldest of four daughters, in my diaries I sometimes referred to my sisters as "the kids" or "the girls." We helped our parents, but we also had good, wholesome fun - a characteristic I took with me to Park. Park is 300 miles southwest of West Chester, Iowa, in Parkville, Missouri, on the Missouri River 10 miles northwest of Kansas City, Missouri, and across the river from Kansas City, Kansas. In 2000 Park College became Park University. Today Park's flagship campus is in Parkville and there are an additional 41 campus centers across the nation. Park was one of the first educational institutions in the United States to offer online learning. My last post was on May 22, 2018. I may be followed on Twitter @BarbaraMcDWhitt.
September 10, 2016: A Park College Freshman 55 Years Ago
Fifty-five years ago, on Saturday, September 9, 1961 my parents, three younger sisters and I saw Park College for the first time. Visits to college and university campuses while still in high school were not as common as they are now. Arriving from a farm in Iowa, we drove around the campus, then found a motel room in Riverside. Move-in day for Park students was on September 10.
To read what I wrote on each of those nights, I invite you to find the "Blog Archive" on the right hand side of this blog post. Scroll to read "Archive Explained" and then scroll to find September 2011.
Yesterday, September 9, 2016 was the 36th birthday for the younger of my husband's and my two daughters. Today she is moving from an apartment to her first house, both near Zona Rosa in the Northland area of Platte County. She sometimes drives through Parkville on her way home from teaching in Kansas City and thinks of her mom as she passes Mackay.
In January 2015 Kenneth R. Klamm began a Facebook group called Parkville Missouri History. Parkville and Park have a true town and gown relationship, and Kenneth has graciously admitted me to the group and has liked contributions pertaining to A 1961-65 Park College Diary.
Today, in honor of the 55th anniversary of my first 21 days at Park and in Parkville and Kansas City, I have chosen to share the titles I gave my 1961 diary entries when I compiled them as blog posts in 2011.
We See Park College for the First Time -
Saturday, September 9, 1961
Park Days and Nights are Underway -
Sunday, September 10, 1961
Park is a Wonderful College -
Monday, September 11, 1961
The PCCs Give a Roman Party -
Tuesday, September 12, 1961
We Buy Bedspreads in Kansas City -
Wednesday, September 13, 1961
We Register for Classes and Find Books -
Thursday, September 14, 1961
College Classes Sound Enjoyable -
Friday, September 15, 1961
The Social Clubs Choose Their New Pledges -
Saturday, September 16, 1961
A Date for Frosh Court -
Sunday, September 17, 1961
Dag Hammarskjold Dies in African Plane Crash -
Monday, September 18, 1961
Park's 87th Opening Convocation is Impressive -
Tuesday, September 19, 1961
Hell Week Has Begun -
Wednesday, September 20, 1961
Awakened at 4:00 for Hell Week -
Thursday, September 21, 1961
Planning a Freshman Skit for Frosh Court -
Friday, September 22, 1961
Hell Week is Over and Frosh Court is a Success -
Saturday, September 23, 1961
Mid-Prairie Yearbook Came Yesterday -
Sunday, September 24, 1961
A Day of Successes -
Monday, September 25, 1961
An Individual Microscope for Biology Lab -
Tuesday, September 26, 1961
Will Dress for Dinner on Tuesdays -
Wednesday, September 27, 1961
Liking the Way French Class is Taught -
Thursday, September 28, 1961
A Visit to the Campus Infirmary -
Friday, September 29, 1961
Our Dorm Room will be Colonial Style -
Saturday, September 30, 1961
To read what I wrote on each of those nights, I invite you to find the "Blog Archive" on the right hand side of this blog post. Scroll to read "Archive Explained" and then scroll to find September 2011.
July 31, 2016: Memories of Iowa and Park - Kennedy and Johnson
Like the hopefully first woman president of the United States, Hillary Clinton, I grew up with Republican parents - she in the Park Ridge suburb of Chicago and I on farms in southeastern Iowa. Prior to the November 9, 1960 presidential election between John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon, I showed my "neutrality" when I finished a required high school paper assigned by my Seminar in American Government teacher. The assigned topic given to the honors students in the senior year class was "Major Campaign Issues of the Candidates for President." I ended mine with "May the best man win." At home, however, I was influenced by my parents and their Republican leanings and wrote the following in my diary:
"Boo! Kennedy is the next president. At least he didn't win by a landslide. It hasn't been so close in seventy some years. Kennedy leads by only about 3/10 of a percent in popular votes, and at noon they thought Nixon might end up with the most popular votes! Used to describe Kennedy's win were hair's breadth, photo finish, razor edge." Although I had become 18 on November 5, 1960, four days prior to the November 9, 1960 election, Iowa did not allow 18-year-olds to vote until 1971.
Also like Hillary Clinton, I changed my political affiliation from Republican to Democratic while I was in college. On November 22, 1963 I wrote in my diary: "President Kennedy was assassinated today in Dallas. He died at 1:00, less than an hour after Lee Harvey Oswald fired shots at him and the governor of Texas as they and their wives rode in a parade route in the presidential limousine. It is so hard to believe that he is dead and that something this awful could actually happen. The governor is in serious condition. They apprehended Oswald almost immediately. He used a telescopic lens on a high powered rifle from the sixth floor of an office building. Johnson was sworn in on the plane flying him, Mrs. Kennedy and the president's body back to Washington.The chapel was full at a meditation service tonight. From 12:30 when we first 'heard' and turned our radios on, we have variously shared this disbelief."
Over the next three days students were free to watch the aftermath and the accompanying proceedings on a large black and white television that had been set up in the campus lecture hall. A smaller set in the student center was also in constant use.
President Lyndon B. Johnson was overwhelmingly elected for his own full term on November 3, 1964, two days prior to my 22nd birthday. I voted for him in my first election. My diary entry that night included "I'm glad to report that Johnson is winning the election by quite a large majority. I guess Hughes won in Iowa - poor Hultman."
Like Hillary Rodham Clinton, I've remained a Democrat.
Barbara McDowell
A 1961-65 Park College Diary
Park College, Parkville, MO
became Park University on January 1, 2000
now is the flagship campus with a
nationwide network of 40 campus centers and
was one of the first institutions to offer online learning
A 1961-65 Park College Diary writer became Barbara Whitt
on June 17, 1972 (the day of the Watergate Break-In)
am now on Twitter
@BarbaraMcDWhitt
"Boo! Kennedy is the next president. At least he didn't win by a landslide. It hasn't been so close in seventy some years. Kennedy leads by only about 3/10 of a percent in popular votes, and at noon they thought Nixon might end up with the most popular votes! Used to describe Kennedy's win were hair's breadth, photo finish, razor edge." Although I had become 18 on November 5, 1960, four days prior to the November 9, 1960 election, Iowa did not allow 18-year-olds to vote until 1971.
Also like Hillary Clinton, I changed my political affiliation from Republican to Democratic while I was in college. On November 22, 1963 I wrote in my diary: "President Kennedy was assassinated today in Dallas. He died at 1:00, less than an hour after Lee Harvey Oswald fired shots at him and the governor of Texas as they and their wives rode in a parade route in the presidential limousine. It is so hard to believe that he is dead and that something this awful could actually happen. The governor is in serious condition. They apprehended Oswald almost immediately. He used a telescopic lens on a high powered rifle from the sixth floor of an office building. Johnson was sworn in on the plane flying him, Mrs. Kennedy and the president's body back to Washington.The chapel was full at a meditation service tonight. From 12:30 when we first 'heard' and turned our radios on, we have variously shared this disbelief."
Over the next three days students were free to watch the aftermath and the accompanying proceedings on a large black and white television that had been set up in the campus lecture hall. A smaller set in the student center was also in constant use.
President Lyndon B. Johnson was overwhelmingly elected for his own full term on November 3, 1964, two days prior to my 22nd birthday. I voted for him in my first election. My diary entry that night included "I'm glad to report that Johnson is winning the election by quite a large majority. I guess Hughes won in Iowa - poor Hultman."
Like Hillary Rodham Clinton, I've remained a Democrat.
Barbara McDowell
A 1961-65 Park College Diary
Park College, Parkville, MO
became Park University on January 1, 2000
now is the flagship campus with a
nationwide network of 40 campus centers and
was one of the first institutions to offer online learning
A 1961-65 Park College Diary writer became Barbara Whitt
on June 17, 1972 (the day of the Watergate Break-In)
am now on Twitter
@BarbaraMcDWhitt
June 28, 2016: Memories of Park - Hearing the Mackay Chimes
On the last day of the September 2014 Park University Alumni Weekend, I stepped out of Thompson Commons just as the Mackay Hall chimes began to play "Hail, Hail Park College" (updated to "Hail, Alma Mater" after Park became Park University in 2000). Still known by the first version for many of us, there is, for all graduates of Park, something endearing about the "strong as an oak tree, thy name shall never fail," and "to thee, alma mater, hail, Park, hail" that we always cherish in our hearts.
Here's how the chimes sound, referred to here as the carillon, with a photo of the Mackay clock tower where they're located:
Here's how the chimes sound, referred to here as the carillon, with a photo of the Mackay clock tower where they're located:
https://www.facebook.com/parkuniversity/videos/10153507357647349/
Here are the words:
http://advancing.park.edu/file/alma_mater.pdf
Here are the words:
http://advancing.park.edu/file/alma_mater.pdf
And here it is being sung in the Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel:
Much as I loved the campus chimes, a search of my 1961-65 diary entries yielded only eight times when I actually mentioned them:
Tuesday, January 2, 1962 [after being in Iowa for Christmas vacation]: I was the fifth one to check in at Hawley. We had just arrived in [Vivien's and] my room when I heard the chimes. They hadn't been working in the first three months we'd been here. It was so nice to hear them - now it is college.
Wednesday, January 3, 1962: I love the chimes - if every 15 minutes isn't too often.
Thursday, January 4, 1962: This has been one of my favorite college days - we've been having such spring-like weather, and I still marvel at the beauty of those chimes sounding against the hills.
Saturday, February 3, 1962: Marge and I went over to sit on Mackay steps tonight and watched the sunset and listened to the chimes.
Friday, February 16, 1962: The chimes have been playing more often recently. We've even had Park's alma mater played.
Saturday, March 24, 1962: Poor Mackay's chimes have been off the beam tonight. [And then I didn't mention them again until 1963:]
Monday, November 11, 1963: The chimes are fixed again! [Note: They would not have been out of order since March 24, 1962.] [And once more:]
Monday, November 11, 1963: The chimes are fixed again! [Note: They would not have been out of order since March 24, 1962.] [And once more:]
Monday, April 5, 1965: Yay - the chimes are working again. [That was the night before those of us in the department of education took our written comps, prior to our graduation day on Sunday, April 25.]
May 30, 2016: Memories of Park - Hawley Hall as Home Base
By December 1961 I had settled into life in Hawley Hall, my first home away from home. We called our housemother "Mom." Dorothy (Dot) Hawkins ran a tight ship, but she also was cordial and knew her "girls" well, individually and as a group. Each evening at dinner the Park housemothers shared a table in a corner of the cafeteria on the top floor of the nearby Thompson Commons.
There were three floors in Hawley. Each floor had two counselors (now called R.A.s or resident assistants). There was one room with five sinks and five toilets, and, across the hall, three showers and a tub. There was one landline phone per floor. The only problem with Vivien's and my room with a view was that it was near the phone in the middle of the floor. We frequently answered it.
I've selected excerpts from three entries in my 1961 diary that give a glimpse into my life in Hawley and at Park:
Sunday, December 3, 1961: Dearing's party tonight was fabulous. Their "escorts" lit a torch from Hawley's fireplace, and John Hislop carried it over to Dearing's fireplace. Flo and I were right behind the torch bearer. It was like the Olympic Games. We had carol singing and several of us decorated the tree while others danced. Nayman (from Kenya) enjoyed helping with the first American Christmas tree he had ever seen decorated.
Wednesday, December 6, 1961: Tonight we were called down to the lounge for a wonderful Christmas surprise - a new little blond spinet piano. The thing was, Marge, Janet and I got back from dinner just in time to catch workers moving in the surprise and a music company truck parked by the side door.
Sunday, December 10, 1961: Nancy Huebner and I went to the J.R. Christmas party at 9:00. I wanted to hear President Morrill give Dickens' Christmas Carol, but we got there too late. It's now 11:00. I'm going to stay dressed to hear the Madrigal Singers carol at Hawley.
There were three floors in Hawley. Each floor had two counselors (now called R.A.s or resident assistants). There was one room with five sinks and five toilets, and, across the hall, three showers and a tub. There was one landline phone per floor. The only problem with Vivien's and my room with a view was that it was near the phone in the middle of the floor. We frequently answered it.
I've selected excerpts from three entries in my 1961 diary that give a glimpse into my life in Hawley and at Park:
Sunday, December 3, 1961: Dearing's party tonight was fabulous. Their "escorts" lit a torch from Hawley's fireplace, and John Hislop carried it over to Dearing's fireplace. Flo and I were right behind the torch bearer. It was like the Olympic Games. We had carol singing and several of us decorated the tree while others danced. Nayman (from Kenya) enjoyed helping with the first American Christmas tree he had ever seen decorated.
Wednesday, December 6, 1961: Tonight we were called down to the lounge for a wonderful Christmas surprise - a new little blond spinet piano. The thing was, Marge, Janet and I got back from dinner just in time to catch workers moving in the surprise and a music company truck parked by the side door.
Sunday, December 10, 1961: Nancy Huebner and I went to the J.R. Christmas party at 9:00. I wanted to hear President Morrill give Dickens' Christmas Carol, but we got there too late. It's now 11:00. I'm going to stay dressed to hear the Madrigal Singers carol at Hawley.
April 28, 2016 - Memories of Park: Move-In Day 1961
I came of age on three farms near West Chester, Iowa, a town of 100 in southeastern Iowa, 30 miles from Iowa City with its University of Iowa. It must have been a shock for my mother who had grown up as the older daughter of an architect and art teacher in Lakewood, Ohio (suburban Cleveland) when she first saw West Chester with my father, who like her, had graduated from Berea College in Berea, Kentucky, where they met. On September 9, 1961 when I left home to attend Park College I had not visited the campus, but I had liked what I read about it in Lovejoy's College Guide and in the content of the most recent catalog. My parents also had influenced my decision to apply to Park. As the oldest of four daughters (with no brothers) I was persuaded to give Park a portion of my life.
The day before my family's departure to take me to Parkville, I packed up what I thought I would want to have with me while sharing a Hawley Hall room with Vivien Nix from Tahlequah, Oklahoma. My mom and sisters helped transfer my belongings from my small upstairs room of our tenant farmer farmhouse to the trunk of our Chevrolet Impala. When it became apparent that not everything would fit in the trunk we made the decision to put my trunk filled with winter clothes onto the back seat. On departure morning two of my sisters got in on one side of the trunk, and another sister and I took the other side.
On move-in day at Hawley Hall on September 10, my father made the comment that our housemother had a daughter in the dormitory because he had heard someone say "Mom." He didn't realize that 98 other girls and I would also be calling her Mom or Mom Hawkins. After my family left to return home I put my fall clothes in a closet and half of a shared built-in chest of drawers. I set about meeting other girls and was waiting for Vivien Nix, the only child of a professor at Northeastern State University, when she arrived with her parents. Viv Nix was one of the 50 finalists in a national United Presbyterian College Scholarship contest, a contest which I had entered but heard nil. We became friends and I went to Tahlequah to be a bridal attendant for her marriage to Charles Armentrout, another member of our class, on December 28, 1963.
March 14, 2016: To Do a Park Search, Enter Your Word Choice
The right hand sidebar of A 1961-65 Park College Diary has been designed to make the blog [and therefore my diary] more usable by Park graduates and friends who may be new to the world of blogging.
In the sidebar I include information about the blog and about myself as its creator.
In the upper left hand corner you will see a search bar. It has a small white B (for Blogger) on an orange background on one side and a small magnifying glass on the other.
You can enter something of interest to you. Some (but not all) of the pages where that word or name appeared in my diary will appear on your page.
This morning there was a beautiful photo of Falling Springs in a Facebook group blog called Parkville Missouri History that Kenneth R Klamm started in January 2015. I have signed up to receive Facebook notices when a new post appears.
The photo caused me to go to my blog and do a search for Falling Springs. I was amazed at how many times I wrote about it and Alfalfa Point while I was at Park.
In the sidebar I include information about the blog and about myself as its creator.
In the upper left hand corner you will see a search bar. It has a small white B (for Blogger) on an orange background on one side and a small magnifying glass on the other.
You can enter something of interest to you. Some (but not all) of the pages where that word or name appeared in my diary will appear on your page.
This morning there was a beautiful photo of Falling Springs in a Facebook group blog called Parkville Missouri History that Kenneth R Klamm started in January 2015. I have signed up to receive Facebook notices when a new post appears.
The photo caused me to go to my blog and do a search for Falling Springs. I was amazed at how many times I wrote about it and Alfalfa Point while I was at Park.
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