Homecoming 2003
Moundbuilders in Paradise

The Hill erupted in tropical colors for Homecoming 2003 as Moundbuilders in Paradise brought hundreds of alumni back to Southwestern. The performing arts were celebrated with special performances and revues, and ever-expanding Homecoming crowds packed nearly every event. Alumni joined the A Cappella Choir (above) in the traditional rendition of "Beautiful Saviour"

Ugly Man Josh Melcher, Ottawa, and Homecoming Queen Tara Williamson, Dodge City, reigning over the weekend

President Dick Merriman honoring outstanding alumni and friends

Anything Goes cast members parading

Christy Administration Building bedecked in banners

Moundbuilder Memories

The contest rules specified no boundaries on the type of memories to be shared in the Moundbuilder Memories contest—they could be “happy, silly, poignant, scholarly, or even sad,” the rules specified. Entries spanned all of these emotions, but all shared deep emotion for the writers’ alma mater.

First Place
I was fortunate to be at Southwestern College when Holland Hall was a girl’s dorm. It was a small dorm, so we girls all had a wonderful, close relationship.

All of the students at that time had to eat in the basement of Smith Hall. This meant that we girls of Holland Hall had to get dressed and walk two blocks every morning IF we wanted breakfast. The boys had is much worse, for they had to walk clear across campus in order to eat!

Our dorm girls were really jealous when they started building the new boys’ dorm, Broadhurst. Not only was it next door to Smith Hall (and the cafeteria), but it looked like a wonderful place to live – the boys’ rooms were going to be so big, and each two rooms had a bathroom just for them! (Our first floor had a group bathroom for eighteen girls. The room had a row of sinks, 3 stools – with no private walls around them – and 2 showers. There was no privacy there! We all thought those private bathrooms would have been heaven

The day the boys moved in, we all walked by looking longingly at the beautiful new building…. until we realized that there was something really wrong! The builders had put the special bathroom windows in backwards, and the boys couldn’t see out, but we could see in!!!

The next morning all eighteen of us walked to breakfast VERY slowly, and such a sight as we beheld! By noon though someone had told the boys, and we noticed that all the windows were covered with a variety of blankets, sheets, and curtains. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted!

Nanon Clare ’55
Garden City, Kansas

Second Place
Introduction
When this story occurred in 1977, I was older than most students on campus. I had a beard and long shaggy hair. My iron foundry work clothes were quite shabby and rather dirty. I was very surprised that Dr. Wimmer would take the time to speak to me. He was my advisor for my whole time at Southwestern. I will always be grateful for his encouragement, guidance, and example. He had a lot of character, and some would say he was a character. I always thought of him as a great man. Even if I don’t win this it is a privilege to honor Dr. Wimmer. He is one of the many to whom I owe a debt for making me the person I am today. I have a Ph.D. in information science. I am a professor in the College of Business at Dallas Baptist University. I only hope that I am half as good a professor as Dr. Wimmer.

I lived in Wellington and was working in an iron foundry. My wife persuaded me to go back to college to finish my degree. The closest college was Southwestern. I made arrangements to come in late to work one day and drove to Winfield, dressed for work. I was very nervous. It had been a number of years since I had been on a college campus. I prayed the whole trip that God would guide me. When I arrived on campus I didn’t know where to go. I saw a sign that read “Registrars Office.” I decided to start there. “I’m so glad you’re here! ” she exclaimed. “We’ve been waiting for you.”

I thought it was a sign from God! Then I heard her say, “The air conditioner has been out for two days! Where have you been?”

I explained that I wasn’t there to fix anything. I was there to enroll for classes. She didn’t believe me and kept directing me towards the air conditioner. A tall ungainly man with a large nose had been observing us. He walked over and introduced himself as Dr. Wimmer. He said that he could see that I was serious. He agreed to help me get into Southwestern if I would major in biology. He was head of the department and their enrollment was down. I readily agreed. Dr. Wimmer was truly heaven sent.

Dr. Dale B. Sims ’80
Grand Prairie, Texas

Third Place
It was tough to meet Southwestern College expenses back in the ’30s. Dr. Charles Burt, who taught biology, augmented his salary by selling specimens such as snakes, insects, etc., to a biological supply house and my brother, Paul Boles, noticed that Dr. Burt paid 10 cents each for crab lice. Paul knew a fellow student who supported an active colony of the critters and talked him into picking them off and putting them in an alcohol-filled bottle. Four crab lice would pay for an evening out (10 cent bus ride, 10 cent hamburger, 5 cent coke, 15 cent ticket to show.) This was a good arrangement with the student for a long time until he finally got tired of scratching and applied an insecticide.

Southwestern College is unique in several ways, one of which is having a student help pay his way to school by selling crab lice.

Robert J. Boles ’38
Emporia, Kansas