Photos and Memories from 100 Years as a Cornerstone of Campus
For generations, students have passed through Stoddard Hall’s doors, leaving behind stories, traditions, and memories that continue to shape the heart of campus. Below are some of those stories gathered from Blackburn alums that appeared in the Oral History Book.
“I lived in the basement of Stoddard. You had to be a certain kind of person to live there, for example, having pipes as your ceiling, and I loved every minute of it. We had a tremendous camaraderie of 13 girls and one shower. Cheerleading was my passion; Stoddard’s house mother/women’s athletic director said that when she saw me crossing the bridge to Stoddard, the day that I moved onto campus, she knew I was going to be a cheerleader!”
Pamela “Pam” (Stalcup) Wargo ‘68
“We had family meals several times a week, chapel, and things like that were very traditional, and that gave me a real sense of community. I was a Stoddard Third South Girl for quite a few years. We had a very close relationship with our group. We did a lot of things like intramurals, and had opportunities to grow academically and practically together. We were blessed to have professors who bridged the gap between generations. My roommate stood up for me at my wedding. We still do things together. It was very foundational, and I credit Blackburn College for all of that.”
Donna R. (Muschewske) Baker ‘70
“The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of Blackburn College is the fact that we all ate together in the basement of Stoddard Hall. It was wonderful, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I’m so happy that I went to B.C. because it has really influenced the rest of my life, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
Martha “Jean” (Boyd) Wieland ‘36
“The den was in the basement of Stoddard Hall, and was the place where you could go get a Coke or something like that and meet up with your friends. I enjoyed that everybody got along.”
Patricia A. (Brown) Gill ‘56
“In 1968, there were a lot of rules for women only at Blackburn College. You had to wear a dress to dinner, and you had to be back in the dorm within certain hours. There were room inspections where you would get a messy room warning if your room wasn’t as tidy as they wanted. I’d say we changed all that. We protested by wearing jeans to dinner. What were they going to do? Not feed us all? Things changed from there. Stoddard was all-female at the time, and now the college is coed. I think we had a hand in that. I was the president of the Stoddard House Council, and I think that was just one of our focuses to get some things changed to kind of reflect the times.”
Elaine Y. (Crowe) Zielinski ‘72
Betty L. (Swartz) Jordan ‘71
“We also had intramural sports, and I remember the ‘Basement Girls’ were a team, the Stoddard Spiders, for basketball, hockey, and things like that. I just loved it so much because there were so many good things that happened there.”
“I lived on the third floor of Stoddard Hall and met a bunch of girls on my end of the building. We became friends. We called ourselves a family. There were about seven of us, and we are still friends. For years, we would write each other a letter at Christmas, letting everyone know what we had been up to that year and how many kids we had. We did that for many, many years. In the last few years, many of us have been unable to write or type, so we give each other phone calls. Over the years, we got together at various places, including St. Louis and other parts of Missouri. We would get together for a weekend and bring our husbands along. We have been pretty close for all those years from ’51 to now. We just all fell together and had a wonderful time.”
Doris A. (Kunde) Peirce ‘53
“We had two seniors who lived in each wing of Stoddard Hall; they were our caretakers. They were there if we had any trouble with classes or questions. We could go and talk to them about anything, and that was very nice. I always felt cared for in that respect, too. I learned a lot in those four years, not just educationally, but about being a person and how to treat other people.”
Mary Ann (Last) Leonard ‘60
“I went to Blackburn College because it was recommended by a friend of my mother. It was also affordable. I didn’t study. I majored in friendship. I lived in Stoddard Hall, third floor, south. There were ten of us in total who lived up there on the third floor, south. We became very, very good friends, and we have stayed friends all these years. We have had reunions of our own. We all got married and have all had kids. Of course, we’ve lost some during those times, but we still write to and call each other. Those were the best relationships of my life. They were my best friends.”
Carolyn “Lyn” J. (Grimm) Forney ‘53
“In my freshman year, B.C. was really pretty small with 500 students, but that year, they had a huge incoming freshmen class. We were probably the largest class that had been there for a while, so we lived in ‘triples.’ I lived on the third floor in Stoddard Hall, and they put a bunk bed into a double room so that you could have three people in a room. That was a unique and interesting experience. Three girls in a space made for two!”
Dr. Linda K. (Tarr) Rogers ‘69
