Barbershop quartets, pop quizzes and sleeping professors: memories from the Class of 1964

March 20, 2014

In May, members of the Class of 1964 will officially join the 50 Year Club when they celebrate their
50th class reunion
. In preparation for their reunion, a few alumni took a stroll down memory lane and shared some of their favorite memories from their time at Chapman.

Christine (Williams) Baker ’64:

“A special memory of mine is singing in a women’s barbershop quartet with Margaret Swann, Linda Irvin, and Christ Hatfield. What fun we had singing our supper for different groups at Knott’s Berry Farm’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant and the Disneyland Hotel. What delicious dinners. Just stepping back on campus recently flooded my mind with more memories: watching Dr. Ron Huntington play the organ at different functions in the auditorium, working in the library on the second floor of the administration building, and watching President Davis eating tacos with a knife and fork.”

Ann (Wallace) Fisher ’64:

“The classroom of Dr. Kurt Bergel was an intimidating place, as Dr. Bergel had the habit of calling on students out of the blue (and in what I remember as a commanding voice) for answers to questions which he would pose. I remember wishing to be invisible in my seat….perhaps he wouldn’t know that I was there so as to not call on me!

“Miss Wallace, please point out Constantinople to the class!” As I approached the world map in front of the class, I had no earthly idea just where Constantinople was. Even though I had heard of it and had read about it in history books, I had NO idea where it would be on that map. But as I approached the map, “c-o-n-s-t-a-n-t-i-n-o-p-l-e” jumped out at me as if in blinking fluorescent letters. I returned to my seat, relieved and victorious, and praying that that successful answer would mean that I wasn’t called on again for a very long time!

The geography gods had certainly smiled on me that day!”

Larry Sawyer ’64:

“I had an afternoon history class with James Utter. One day, Professor Utter walked into the Student Union after lunch, laid out on a couch and took a nap. He was still sleeping soundly at class time, so we made a semi-circle of chairs around the couch and waited. He woke up, propped his head up on his hand, asked if everyone was in attendance, and proceeded with his lecture while still lying on the couch.”