A friend just brought over several planks of wood from "31-1", one of the classrooms at Evangel University. I should have
walked those halls one more time before they tore them down.
Progress.
Of course I’ve waited for this moment. Waited for these Evangel barracks to
be replaced with a beautiful new Academic building. Waited for ‘my department’
to move out of the WWII era and into the new millennium.
And yet, that faded wood in my garage holds so many memories. I close my eyes and remember. I see the dusty wooden floors covered with backpacks and students reading or napping before their next
class. The open windows framing cloudy blue skies that caused a person to dream
of tomorrow. The large bulletin boards where professors would post the latest
test scores. The students crowding around those boards, searching for their
grade. Hoping, Praying, Cheering, Moaning. And the smell… I can remember the
smell. But I can not describe it. I’m afraid most of my memories are like that.
Fading. Indescribable.
I close my eyes and see that place. An old World War II barrack. It was built in 1941, meant
to be a temporary Army hospital. When I was a
student, the word temporary seemed silly. The building had been there for
decades. It would remain for a decade longer. Temporary. Suddenly I realize how
quickly time passes. How temporary things really are. But the gifts I received
in that place remain. They are eternal.
Forgive me if I’ve gotten too sappy about some planks of wood in my garage. Memories will do that to a person.
Okay, you know I’m a little off the wall when I start crying over your post. But it is so true. I feel very similar to how comforting the Bible and Missions department were. The feel and smell of the radiators in the winter and the scorching heat of fall with wasps flying around your head!
Then of course, I was also in the old art department, with its decades of dust and smells and old furniture that was great to hang out on! Though I know the new buildings don’t change the teaching, they do change the atmosphere, the history, the down in the trenches feel that came from the barracks! It is hard for me to go back now, everything is so different. It is not the Evangel I fell in love with just a few years ago.
Comment by Hillery — 6/1/2005 @ 9:09 am
**Moment of silence for the barracks**
I can’t believe they aren’t keeping even one, just for posterity. I’m all for progress, but those barracks are the fabric of the education of thousands of pre-Y2K students.
The worst thing ever was having a 3:00 class in the Bible dept. after having lunch at the Joust on Pasta Day, especially on a warm day…. A sure fire method for catching up on your Z’s.
And then there are the long hours spent working on the yearbook in building 28. Ah, the memories.
I don’t even know where I am when I stand on that campus anymore. Very sad.
“Those were the days. . . .”
Comment by Judi — 6/1/2005 @ 9:30 am
“The feel and smell of the radiators in the winter and the scorching heat of fall with wasps flying around your head!”
Exactly the words I was looking for! The radiators. And the early Fall heat. I never knew a place could be so hot and humid until I sat in speech class at the end of building 32.
Comment by Amy — 6/1/2005 @ 9:39 am