Memories of the 1950s
by Phyllis Walker Counts, Class of 1955

Fall was always an exciting time of preparation to go back to Marshall College. For Dad it meant selling a cow or two to pay the yearly cost of $1,000 for tuition, books and dorm.

My good friends were mostly in the Home Economics Department. There were no men in the classes at all. The teachers were wonderfully helpful. I remember the tailoring class with Mrs. Foose. She was very patient as we learned the techniques of interfacing, interlining, padding and linings. The material for the suit was $50 but well worth it.

Mrs. Roush taught the basic foods class. One day she was having a guest. Another girl and I were helping with the lunch. The Jell-O was a little behind so we put it in the freezer for a little while. Needless to say Mrs. Roush wasn’t too pleased with the tiny particles of ice in the Jell-O.

Miss Gray taught the quantity cookery class. One holiday season the class decided to make a quantity of fruit cakes to sell. We made the cakes and placed them in several stoves for the long process of baking them at a low temperature for four hours. It wasn’t quite clear who was to remove them when finished. I had met a young fellow, Walt Counts. He and I were walking in the building and smelled them. We discovered the housekeeping staff had left and locked the cakes inside. Walt said we would just have to pick the lock. He did, and all was well. The next day someone asked who removed the cakes. Walt was then thoroughly grilled to make sure he would never do such a thing again.

During the senior year each major had to live in the Home Management House at 1650 Fifth Avenue for eight weeks. We took turns being the manager, cook assistant, cook and housekeeper. The group had to have a party, usually bridge or canasta, and invite their friends. Miss Strouss, director of the house, watched carefully that we hung the wash correctly on the line—it had to be folded exactly right—and monitored our cooking and cleaning. She told us about a spot of dirt that was somewhere in the house. If we were good housekeepers, we would clean the spot. It was the general topic of discussion, and few cleaned the spot.

Student teaching was the final activity before graduation. Miss Neely was our teacher for this activity of eight weeks. I was assigned to Moundsville High School. We had to find a place to live, make eating provisions and generally settle in as if we were really teachers. My supervising teacher at Moundsville was great. In fact, I give her much credit for my success of 26 years teaching.

The highlight before graduation was receiving an invitation to join Kappa Omicron Phi, the national Professional Home Economics Fraternity.

And my young fellow Walt? We met in 1953 and both graduated in 1955.We married the same year celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary on August 6. Our years at Marshall were very happy days. My son, Andy, and his wife, Cindy, graduated Marshall, and now our two granddaughters, Lindsey and Leslie are students.