College Memories

Rooming at the Quadrangle were a couple of transfer students from Fort Dodge Junior College. Though I had not known them well then (both were headed toward the business school at Iowa) I spent a fair amount of my leisure time with them. James Cross and Robert Lloyd, I wonder what happened to them. I completely lost contact with the, once I finished at Iowa.

The second year I roomed with Robert, first at the Quadrangle until the military took over the buildings and later on in a private home on Iowa Avenue. After Pearl Harbor, the navy took over the Quadrangle on which it had some prior claim and the residents all had to locate other lodgings.

My second year at Iowa was easier for me financially as I secured work at the power plant running water analyses. Actually I had lined up a summer job between my two years at Iowa, working at the hospital run by the university — I think it would have provided me with room and board during the school year without any further work. But my mother talked me into spending that summer at home on the farm.

When I applied for work at the power plant, the school employment was a little unhappy that I had backed out of the summer job but in the end it was overlooked. I was paid by the hour and I guess I averaged $25/month or so. For me it was more than ample to eat on and I think it covered my room rent and it covered incidental needs.

During the two years I was at Iowa I continued to attend church regularly — the church I attended was at some distance on the other side of the river from the Quadrangle, so it was a long hike for me. In addition to the Sunday morning service, I usually attended a youth meeting on Sunday evenings. This, plus te contacts with my acquaintances from FDJC constituted for the most part my social contacts.

During my first year at Iowa, purchase (as a student) of tickets for athletic events, plays, etc. was optional and so I did not go to them. The second year there was an added charge to the tuition for these that was mandatory and I guess I went to most of these events although I have little recollection of any of them.

During my two years at Iowa the campus seemed quite open, with large vistas between the buildings, particularly on the west side of the river. Indeed between the Quadrangle and the athletic facilities (fieldhouse, stadium, etc.) there was a broad, totally unoccupied field.

Ensuing years have brought a mushrooming of hospital buildings on the west side, near the Quadrangle. The whole area now seems quite cluttered to me, on the few ties I have been back since my graduation. There is less of this feel on the east side with the spacing around the old capitol and the four adjoining buildings has been largely preserved. But here the business section seems much more congested and even rundown than when I was a student. While I was at Iowa the enrollment was 7,000; I suppose it is double that now.