Tribute to the Class of ’41 and 1941 Hall

The class notes and editor’s letter in the February issue regarding the farewell to the Class of 1941 brought to mind a part of the class’s legacy which I greatly enjoyed for three years: 1941 Hall. Along with a number of other classes from the 1920s through the 1940s, 1941’s members donated a dormitory in what became known as New New Quad.  In my years on campus, they were the newest dorms, and by their design, they were distinctive residences for those undergrads lucky enough to draw into them. The dorms featured six singles on a hall with two shared bathrooms at the end, which collectively created what became, with the right mix of hallmates, a suite but with your own personal space. For a kid from a large family, my three years in 1941 Hall was the first time I ever had a room to myself, and I loved it.

Despite the waffled ceilings which, from time to time, led to nightmares of being pressed in a waffle iron, the rooms offered large windows, and for those of us lucky enough to be on the south side, a great view across Poe and Pardee fields, down toward the lake, and beyond.  

When New New Quad was torn down for the new dorms of Butler College, I was crushed, and I wondered how the surviving class members must’ve felt. I regret that our major reunions were not on the same five-year cycle, so I never got to thank those good folks for what they had created for us all. So here’s a salute to the Class of 1941 for helping me and so many others enjoy our time on campus.