Howard Atkinson

With fondness, I remember Nelson Pion, one of my accounting instructors, who took a personal interest, not only my education, but also my future career endeavors.  He encouraged me to apply for a position at one on the "Big 8" acccounting firms.  He said that I should strive to become a CPA, which would serve me well throughout my business career.  I took his advice and became a staff auditor at Ernst & Ernst (now Ernst & Young), and ultimately became a Partner.  Without Nelson's belief in me, and his encouragement and advice, I don't think I would have ever experienced such a very rewarding career.   

Carol Burke (Sendak)

I had a wonderful law professor whose lessons have stayed with me since my days at UMass.  He taught more than the law - he taught a way of thinking.  I have tried to find his name in the years since but have been unsucessful.

Helen Cassoli (O'Donnell)

Hi Carol,

I was very excited to see that you have logged into the website!  A long time since Brooks Dorm years.

To find the name of the law professor, why not email Elizabeth McCaffrey, our Alumni Office partner for Reunon. edmccaffrey@umass.edu  She might be able to get you a faculty list from the mid '60's. Or, maybe she can link you to a research librarian at the library, who could assist you.  
 

Hope you are coming to reunion in June.  It would be FUN to see you again.

Helen O"D

Carole O'Malley (Gaunt)

carole o'malley gauntbefore i get to the academics, i have been remembering how we all shared the jfk assasination trauma. friday afternoon november 22, 1963 sometime before 2 i was leaving bartlett hall and walking in front of the library when i saw students and staff hurrying by and i overheard that kennedy had been shot. at that time we did not know he was dead. i went to my next class and learned that he was dead and that the university was cancelling all classes and would resume after thanksgiving vacation. i don't remember any hysteria on campus but shock, silence, and disbelief and although none of us said it...fear. i have no idea how i returned to springfield. there was a mass exodus at van meter as everyone scrambled for rides.

jfk's death hammered us particularly hard because, like us, he called massachusetts "home."

please share your memories of that unforgettable afternoon.

i'll get to the academics later.

A. Joseph Ross

I was the news announcer on WMUA the afternoon that JFK was assassinated.  The station didn't sign on in those days until 4:30 PM, so I had a little chance to get used tot the news before going on the air.  It was a day that is hard to forget.

Robert Snyder

I was a freshman (Oh I guess we all were) on my way to give a speech advocating letting Red China into the United Nations.  It was an argumentative speech, 5 minutes, with the class offering a 1 minute rebuttal.  I had given a fraternity brother, Rusty Swartz, questions to ask , the answers to which I already knew.  But I was still scared to death.  The speech was put together by some seniors on my floor in Wheeler House. (What did I know about Red China?) On my way to class I met a girl from my neighborhood running excitedly to the Student Union shouting "they shot Kennedy"!  Class was cancelled and I didn't have to give the speech that day. But they made up the class at the end of the semester and I eventually had to give it.  Whenever the day Kennedy was shot is mentionned, that is what I remember.

MaryKathleen MacLeod (Fritts)

I remember that day.  I came back from the library and went into Leach before going for lunch and saw Marianne crying and I asked what was wrong and she said the president was shot.  I told her that wasn't funny.  Just because she didn't like him was no reason to say such a thing.  She said no, no it really happened and that all classes were cancelled and everyone was going home.  I was supposed to have an oral Spanish exam that night and she said it would be done after Thanksgiving.  I thought it was a reprieve so I could practice more but it didn't help in case anyone was wondering.  We all went home and watched the funeral on tv and unfortunately I DIDN'T STUDY. Luckily I passed Spanish!  Just one of many memories of U. Mass.

William Troupe

My law professor Harry Allen was an inspiration for me to start Law school in Boston. Great guy and made the topic so interesting and fun. 

I recall the afternoon of the death of President Kennedy. Just got back to Hills South after a late lunch and heard it on the radio. (no TVs back then)  Then the crazy rush to find a ride back to Quincy and the blur of the next few days with the funeral and the shooting of Oswald.  Crazy time but the country held it together and moved on. 

Carole O'Malley (Gaunt)

Robert Stanfield...flattop haircut, horn rimmed glasses, George Gobelish, may have even worn tweed jackets. Professor Stanfield taught sociology in one of those huge lecture halls. I have no idea why I took sociology...I don't even think it counted as one of those cursed fulfillments needed for graduation. As an Irish Catholic, though, I may have grown up pegging people, social groups, etc. so it was a bit of a gut and almost entertaining.

Freshman year first semester I also had Government 25...how do I remember this... with a reading list of The Last Hurrah (Boston's Mayor Curley), All the Kings Men (Huey Long...I stay at the hotel in New Orleans where he was assassinated...the bullet is somewhere in the wall), and Advise and Consent. Not so much of the latter these days.

Second semester I signed up for Government 26, a Monday morning class in which we were subjected to the complex forms of government in Europe. One winter night, The Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan show. The next morning classmates were buzzing about the Brits appearance. (More interesting than Parliament.) In that class, I sat next to a not very prescient senior who, I think, was planning a career in standup in the Boston area. Classmates were talking about the Beatles and this senior definitively said, "They're just a flash in the pan. They'll never make it." Let's hope he did better with his comedy than his musical predictions. 

Other names I remember Pierce speech, Rykebush English, Gordon, Ware, Thompson and DePillis history.

I did sign up for skiing at Mount Tom for a phys ed class...this was senior year when I may have been feeling flush...and a modern dance class where I posed as a chimney.

I regret my never engaging in conversation with a professor. I could at least have grubbed for a grade. 

Janet Nolan

My favorite all-time prof was Milton Cantor who taught American history. Altogether, I took three courses with him--two surveys and an upper level "American Thought and Culture." He gave me a B+ in that course, but wrote "You are the shadow of the Janet Nolan you are going to be." on the exam. I still have that blue book. I think Carole and I may have been in the same European Government class. I remember learning about how the Politburo worked. Kremlin watching was very much on evey one's minds in the 60s.

Social life at Umass, especially for we girls, was still highly restrictive. When we were freshmen, we had to sign out if we were leaving the dorm after seven, and be in by 10:30 on weeknights and either 11:30 or midnight on Saturday, if I remember correctly. If you didn't have a date on a Saturday, you hid in your room. 

Fashions changed while we were at Umass, too. It was kneesocks and strarched button-downs with skirts and sweaters that matched when we got there. By our senior year, it was mini-skirts and huge earrings. 

Carole O'Malley (Gaunt)

MCNM....hmm.   MCWCB....,anticipation.,,do you remember?

William Troupe

I vividly recall Prof. Stanfield and his Sociology lectures. Very thought provoking.  He would head over to the hatch after class (I think it was in Draper or Goesman) and would sit around chatting with his students, most of us smoking and drinking coffee. Cripes , I can remmember smoking in class and having teachers doing the same. Boy have things changed.  I was out at campus last week for lunch with some of my old fraternity brothers. Signs all over "UMass is a non smoking area."  Good!