Almost Like Home

House mother Marge Harris has cared for the men of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity since 1985.

Marge Harris

Tau Kappa Epsilon House Mother

For a fraternity house, Tau Kappa Epsilon has an unusual feeling of warmth and order about it. And Marge Harris is the reason.

Hired as the house cook in 1985, Harris has been more commonly known to students as their “house mother” for the past 20 years. The title befits the many hats she wears and the way she cares about students, like, well, like a mom.

Between daily grocery trips, paying bills, ordering supplies, and making lunches and dinners every weekday for 35 to 40 students, she is also the friendly, constant presence in the large red brick house at 846 College St.

She makes it her business to know all the students—not only their names—but also their schedules, their frames of mind, and little things, like whether they like onions and green peppers on their sandwiches.

“It’s a very good job,” Harris says. “ In ever thought I’d stay this long, but I did it because of the boys. They treat me like a mom; they always ask me for advice,” she says, adding with a knowing grin that they don’t always take it.

On campus, she has a reputation for being a terrific cook, something she is discounts with a wave of her hand. “I’m not a great cook. I just make simple, homemade things,” Harris says. “I cook like it’s my family here. It comes down to recognizing people as individuals.”

Harris, the mother of four sons and daughter, has embraced the challenge of preparing food for students from around the world, as the number of international students has grown around the TKE dinner tables.

“We really cater to international students with a wide variety on the menu. Like tonight is porkchop night,” she explained one day in February. “But I’ll make a meat-loaf, too, and other things, because I have a couple of students who don’t eat pork.”

TKE men give an impromptu cheer for Marge Harris.

The door to the TKE kitchen is literally always open, and students learn quickly that they have a friend and confidant in Harris.

“You have to listen,” Harris says. “They tell me things because they know I listen.”

On Sept. 11, 2001, when everyone was reeling from news of the terrorist attacks, a TKE resident who is a Muslim stood in the kitchen doorway and solemnly confided: “Marge, everyone hates me now.” Harris listened to his concerns and offered a sympathetic ear. She points out that she was very proud of his fraternity brothers, who helped ease the student’s concerns that day and in the days that followed.

“Everyone who lives in this house, eats in our kitchen, or deals with Marge on a daily basis will leave with memories of her and how she, in some way, shaped who they are,” says Tim Avery’05, TKE president.

Not surprisingly, as students graduate and carry on with their lives, they remember to send Harris wedding invitations, baby pictures, and notes about what they’re up to. Harris’ curio cabinet at home is filled with these mementos.

She also attends many alumni weddings, and often makes the wedding cakes for former denizens of the TKE house.

Members of the fraternity have shown their appreciation to Harris in some pretty amazing ways. When she and her husband, Paul, (who helps out in the TKE kitchen these days) celebrated their 32nd wedding anniversary, the men of TKE sent the couple to Hawaii, where they had once lived and longed to return. They also sent Marge to Israel once, because she had always wanted to see the Holy Land.

“My experiences at Beloit wouldn’t be the same without her,” says Avery. “Marge will always be my other mom.”

— Susan Kasten

Mariaelena Almanza (left) chats with Jennifer Swilley’06 and Amanda Hermes’06 (right) in one of the Wood lounges.

Mariaelena Almanza

Wood Hall and Middle College Housekeeper

Every sofa pillow is perfectly placed in the Wood Hall lounges, and the magazines are neatly arranged on the coffee tables. The kitchen sinks are empty and spotless, and the place smells clean. But as orderly as everything is, this is not a stilted atmosphere, not a place where you feel you can’t put your feet up or stretch out with a snack to study.

In fact, one flash of housekeeper Mariaelena Almanza’s friendly smile puts everyone at ease in the bustling residential building, home to roughly 80 students.

Almanza’s job involves keeping the four towers of Wood Hall neat and clean and taking care of two floors of Middle College. In nearly eight years at Beloit, she’s cheerfully fulfilled the cleaning responsibilities and then some. “I’m a housekeeper, but it involves much more than cleaning,” she says.

Once, for instance, Almanza discovered a student who was ill in a Wood hallway. She made phone calls for help, carried the student back to bed, and looked after her.

She giggles when she remembers another time when she found herself sidestepping a student’s pet iguana in the corridor after it escaped from underneath a door. (First, Almanza confesses, she let out a healthy scream before gathering her composure and coming to appreciate the beauty of the colorful serpent, which was returned to its aquarium.)

Not long ago, she and a student even danced the salsa around one of the kitchen/lounge areas, because the music was just too good to resist.

“This job is just like normal life,” she says. “There’s a little bit of everything.”

Her openness and ready smile endear her to many students, whom she talks to everyday, either in person or by way of a “whiteboard” located in the lower level of Wood. Sometimes they exchange messages and jokes on the board, and recently, students used it to wish Almanza a “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

Sometimes the friendships run a little deeper. Several years ago, a student-resident of Wood from the Dominican Republic asked Almanza to attend Commencement as her family representative. The student’s mother had died, and her father and brother were unable to make the trip to Beloit. Almanza attended in their place, and she says she and the student “hugged and cried a lot” that day.

Almanza loves working for the College, and it shows. She says she especially appreciates the chances she has to get to know students from many different countries and cultures.

“I work in a building with students from many cultures, and I get to see the way they live compared to Mexico and the United States.”

Wood Hall is perhaps even more diverse than other residence halls because it is home to a number of special interest houses. Black Students United, the Interfaith House, the Beloit Science Fiction and Fantasy Association, German House, and the Kappa Gamma Lambda sorority are all located there.

“This is like a small world: There is a lot to learn here, and it’s a lot of fun,” says Almanza. “I’ve been in situations where students are happy or they’re frustrated, and I share that with them, too.”

“Maria is great,” says Amanda Hermes’06 of Green Lake, Wis., who lives in Wood. “She has so much patience with us.”

Originally from Guanajuato, Mexico, Almanza can also relate to students who speak their own native language and English, and live in Beloit but call another country home.

She shows special empathy for international students who can’t join their families during holiday breaks. “I always try to let them know they’re not alone,” she says. “Sometimes we are like mothers to students. I do everything I can to make students comfortable, happy, and safe,” she says with a bright smile.

— Susan Kasten

Ray Thomas meets students through his work with Physical Plant.

Ray Thomas

Maintenance

“I feel like the old school teacher,” says Ray Thomas, who has just arrived on campus for the 4 p.m.-to-midnight shift in the physical plant.

“I have a great rapport with students, and when they return, they want to tell me what they’re doing with their lives. I tell them they’re going to have to come and find me, since I can’t go out and find each of them.”

A big part of Thomas’ shift has to do with heat and light. “We have a great staff, but when I arrive here, there are usually lights out and heat that won’t come on.” At this moment, his radio squawks with a student complaint about lack of heat.

“I know this guy,” he explains, “and I can’t convince him to turn off his space heater. As long as his space heater is on, his heat will never function correctly.”

Thomas works solo during the late afternoon and evening shift. Daily, he deals with emergencies and crises—with a little humor thrown in.

“When the fraternity and sorority houses are overflowing with students at a Friday night party, the smoking tends to set off the smoke alarms,” he says. “So I respond to check the situation and make my way to the basement to shut off the alarms. I try to offer advice as I work my way through the crowd as quickly as possible. Then I find that couches and chairs have been stuffed down the basement stairs to make room for dancing. Once I’ve climbed over those, I can usually deal with the smoke alarm.”

A resident assistant called him a few nights ago, asking for help and requesting that Thomas bring along pliers and wax. It turned out that a student who wears a permanent tooth retainer had broken one of the wires, and it was causing discomfort in her cheek.

“I showed up with lineman’s pliers that were not going to work,” Thomas says. “I had to go find small pliers; I did the dental work, and went on to fix someone’s bike. Dad’s not here, so I’m everyone’s uncle ... It’s a good job.”

“It’s the kind of personal attention and small town attitude that attracted the students here. When they find out it’s for real, they stay,” he adds.

“I defend the students a lot out in the community,” he says. “I grew up here, and I’m always interested in what drew these intelligent, interesting students here. What’s their story? Some of these kids never leave. I have long wondered who it was in Ypsilanti, Mich., that convinced DeVon Wilson’90, now director of the College’s Educational Development Program, to come to Beloit—and then never want to leave.”

Thomas’ experiences with students cover the full spectrum. “I have the tragedies, like the night the girl from Brazil broke her neck diving into the swimming pool, and we all had to get in the pool to stabilize her until the paramedics arrived.”

Then there was the night he went back to his truck to get some equipment, only to find himself in the middle of a sorority bell run. (This Beloit tradition involves running from one’s residence, touching the bell behind Morse-Ingersoll, and getting back without being seen—all with a minimum of clothing.)

“I just heard the women scream, ‘It’s Ray!,’ as I dove back into my truck, and they dove into the bushes. Since I couldn’t get into the building, I hid in the van until they finally retreated to their sorority house.”

Suddenly, Thomas’ radio comes alive. Somebody’s grandmother’s high school ring is down the drain, and they are crying uncle. He’s off responding once again.

— Ron Nief

Bill Behling says Beloit feels like home..."like a comfortable pair of shoes or jeans."

Bill Behling

a.k.a. “The Food Dude”
Director of Food Service

Bill Behling, better known as “the Food Dude,” started dishing out daily meals for more than 1,000 Beloit students and faculty before many current first-year students were born. For someone who had never before lived in one area for more than three years, that says a lot about the place he now calls home.

When he got to Beloit, he says, he just knew it was right. “Like a comfortable pair of shoes or jeans, it just felt good from day one.” A big part of his love for the school simply has to do with the students. “The kids here are unique, honest, and a little bit off-the-wall. Being silly is good … It’s a bit of a romp.”

Lining his office walls are shelves of funny hats and wigs, parts of costumes that Behling dons every now and then, just for kicks. Glancing at them, he laughs, “It’s just part of being one of the characters in the surrogate family here … I want to be that strange uncle.”

That “uncle” certainly remembers his Beloit family at times like Thanksgiving. For students on campus over the holiday, he prepares their choice of a traditional turkey or vegetarian dinner with all the fixings and later takes them out to a movie. “Sometimes being at school at Thanksgiving is about being stuck,” Behling says. “I want to make everything as home-style as possible.”

Behling has been known to create food motifs over the years, including “Breakfast in Bed” and “Blazing Saddles Beans Buffet,” with costumes and décor thrown into the mix. Whatever Behling brings to the table, the students know it’s all in good fun.

“Our philosophy here is that we serve a little bit of food and a whole lot of relationships.” He regularly hands out candy and ice cream sandwiches, belts out songs, and generally lifts everyone’s spirits.

As director of food service, Behling does have a real job, which is hard to tell at first, because he seems to be having such a good time. He supervises all food services on campus, including in Commons, D.K.’s, the Java Joint, and the C-Haus, and he takes care of catering for events and summer conferences. He leads an army of staff, including five managers, 22 full-time workers, and what he refers to as “thousands” of student workers. “Probably 75 percent of the students here work in food service at some point,” he says, “which is why we don’t have a lot of food fights. Someone you know is always working here.”

When alumni who were former food service workers come to visit, they sometimes slip back into the kitchen and take over their old duties. One alumnus, Peter Kraemer’89, (and Behling’s first student manager of D.K.’s) came back after graduating from the Culinary Institute of America to become head chef at Commons. “They all come home,” Behling says.

“I’ll never forget my first day here,” he says. “I was serving on the buffet line in Commons, and a guy wearing a moustache, wire-rimmed glasses, and a sundress came up to the salad bar. He looked like he had walked straight off the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover. I was curious, so I walked over to him and started wiping down the tables, looking busy. Without looking up, I asked him, ‘Frat joke?’ and he said, ‘No, it's hot, and I’ve never worn a dress before. I just wondered what it’s like.’ And that was it!” Behling laughs, eyes twinkling, thoroughly amused.

He remembers another alumna who helped him realize he was in the right place. Behling was in the TV lounge of Pearsons Hall during Presidential Scholars weekend, which was full of nervous parents and prospective students. A Lionel Ritchie song was playing. Suddenly, a student he knew walked in, put down her books, and started to dance like no one was there. When the song ended, she picked up her books and walked out, leaving Behling even more appreciative of the individuality of Beloit students.

When it comes to food, Behling says he hopes for one thing. “I just want someone to say ‘it’s not that bad.’ To me, that’s the equivalent of a five-star restaurant rating.”

At a restaurant, however, one would miss out on experiencing Behling’s favorite phenomenon in Commons: what side of the room students sit on.

“I want to make T-shirts that say, ‘What side are you on ?’ ” He laughs. “The smokers, the jocks, the frats, the academics. You’re considered to be either on the “cool” side or the “not cool” side, but both sides are really the cool side.” That sums up Behling’s take on the students at Beloit. To him, everyone is cool.

— Tina Ramirez’04

College painter Everett Henry was commended with a Presidential Medal in 2000.

Everett Henry

College Painter

Everett Henry may not get to work out in the Sports Center as often as he would like, but the former Harlem Globetrotter still gets there occasionally to shoot some hoops.

“When I have a lucky night and make a few shots, the students come over and start watching and say, ‘Who is this guy?’”

The answer is contained in a citation Henry received with the Presidential Medal for service to the College a few years ago:

“A humble and modest man, he has become a Beloit symbol of caring and dedication.”

Henry has been making friends with students at the Sports Center, in the residence halls, and around campus for more than four decades. He is a master craftsman who has devoted his career to making Beloit beautiful. The most senior member of the College staff who is still active, he’s one of the most recognizable figures on campus, in his spotless white painter’s pants and painter’s cap. He is, after all, the College painter.

“Occasionally, I’ll turn around on the ladder and find a former student standing there who’s come back to say hello. Sometimes they’re kids that worked with me in the summer and that I taught how to paint; others are students who just appreciated the fact that the College made an effort to make their home more attractive for four years,” he says.

When Henry received the Presidential Medal, he got a lot of letters and phone calls from students he had known. “I’m glad they remember me. I’ve had a lot of great conversations with the kids. They’re all quite personal and usually have to do with home life and their relationships. My past experiences mean less as I grow older, but it is life and experience that they like to discuss.”

Henry joined the College staff in 1962, although he began working on campus in the summers when he was in eighth grade. He was the star of his Beloit Memorial High School basketball team and went on to play with the Globetrotters in an era when there were no African-American players in the NBA.

Throughout the Beloit College basketball season, he can be seen at every game, urging on his Bucs with the same dedication he gives to enhancing campus buildings.

“Students see this as their home, and they appreciate the fact that we make the rooms and halls and indoors and outdoors all look nice. I’m grounded in the lessons that my parents and that playing sports taught me—do it right and do your best. The students recognize and appreciate it. They want a home-like and happy environment. ”

Now finished painting for the day, Henry goes on to his next project—removing wallpaper. You get the feeling he would rather be having a conversation with students right now as he whispers, “I hate taking down wallpaper.”

— Ron Nief

Teresa Almaraz (left) with Camarina Barajas, her second cousin. Both women are native Spanish speakers, who enjoy conversing with students.

Camarina Barajas

Commons

When she’s scheduled to work mornings in Commons, Camarina Barajas is the first person there at 5:45 a.m. The building is empty and dark when she arrives. As board operations manager, it takes her about an hour-and-a-half to get a busy operation organized to serve food to about 1,000 students.

Sometimes, even in those quiet early morning hours, a hungry student or two will tap at the door, looking for something to eat. And although the building is supposed to be closed, Barajas never turns them away. She makes sure they get some cereal or fruit, something to tide them over until breakfast.

Impromptu conversations with students are frequent and relatively easy for Barajas now, compared to when she first came to Beloit eight years ago. Originally from Zacatecas, Mexico, she could barely speak or understand English, and interacting with people was unnerving. “When I started here, I was scared to talk to people,” she says.

But language, once a defining barrier, has become an open path to making friends.

Today, Barajas strolls through the Commons dining area during the busy lunch hour, sometimes greeting students by name in English and sometimes switching to Spanish to speak with co-workers and students she knows are studying her native language.

To learn English, she studied for three years during her off-hours at Even Start, a local program that teaches English as a Second Language. She credits her co-workers and students with helping her put those studies into practice and with assisting her as she prepared to take the exams for U.S. citizenship.

“She brought her books in, and she was driven,” says Bill Behling, her boss and the director of food service.

In fact, she did so well on a preliminary citizenship test that she was not required to take the final set of exams. But after so much hard work, she insisted on taking the tests anyway, and earned a perfect score.

Barajas first started working in Commons’ dish room, then made her way to cooking on the grill, then to the front desk, and last year, was promoted to her current post, which makes her a ubiquitous presence in the main dining area.

“Camarina is such an excellent person, and it comes across to students, especially those who speak or are studying Spanish,” says Behling. “I wish I had 100 more of her. With the staff who work in Commons, it’s not so much about food, it’s about relationships. The staff become surrogate grandmothers or uncles or sisters or brothers to students,” he adds.

It’s a role that depends on language, and one that Barajas treasures. “I enjoy working with Beloit students,” she says. “They’re always happy. They’re such nice kids.”

— Susan Kasten

Teresa Almaraz

Morse Library Housekeeper

Like Barajas, Teresa Almaraz is a native Spanish speaker, and originally hails from Zacatecas, Mexico.

After nearly 10 years as a housekeeper at Beloit, she knows the nooks and crannies of many College buildings and has the cleaning down to an efficient routine in Morse library.

While vacuuming, dusting, scrubbing, and gathering up lost gloves, ID cards, scarves, CD players, and other stray items left behind in study areas, Almaraz maintains a friendly smile and a caring attitude about the people she encounters.

“She really cares about people,” says Linda Jones, Morse Library secretary. “If someone has been out sick, she always asks about them. And we just have a lot of fun kidding back and forth.”

“She is unfailingly cheerful, always sharing a comment or two,” adds College Archivist Fred Burwell’86. “She is a very hard worker and takes pride in doing the work well.”

Almaraz has also made friends with students on campus through her ability to speak Spanish and her commitment to improving her English.

Tina Ramirez’04, who worked in housekeeping last year, said Almaraz encouraged her to practice speaking Spanish with her. Ramirez says she was impressed that Almaraz always remembered the details she shared about her family.

Almaraz, who speaks better English than she gives herself credit for, says she hasn’t had a chance to take formal classes in English, but instead learned her adopted language “on the street.” These days, during her morning breaks, she meets with fellow housekeeper Maria de Rosio Infante and first-year student Glenda Reed of Alameda, Calif. The three women speak English and Spanish and talk about everything, from movies and culture to their families.

“For me, it’s really nice to get to know these women,” says Reed, explaining that aside from the language, she enjoys interacting with them because they have kids, go to work, and have different day-to-day experiences than Reed’s other friends.

Associate Professor of Spanish Sylvia Lopez sends students to Almaraz and others on the staff and in the community so they can practice the language and learn more about Latino cultures. “Students here make it very clear that they want to use the language outside the classroom,” says Lopez. “It’s important to take what they’re learning linguistically and apply it, but getting to know people in the community also helps with cultural understanding. That is, by interacting with people like Teresa, students develop their communicative skills and intercultural understanding. They learn the value of being part of a diverse population.”

Almaraz is an active member of St. Peter’s Catholic Church in South Beloit, a congregation with many Hispanic members. She has invited Reed to join her for Spanish mass, pot-luck suppers, and dances that attract church members. “People are really welcoming and friendly, and the food is always good,” says Reed. “It’s neat being able to spend a couple of hours in the community, speaking Spanish and having fun.”

For Almaraz, working at Beloit is also a family affair. She is the mother of Maria Almaraz, who—when she graduated in 1996—made her mother beam with pride. The younger Almaraz is now a bilingual teacher.

“I think what I like the most about Beloit is the environment,” Almaraz reflects. “We work in harmony here, and everyone is involved. It’s not the same in other places,” she says. “We are working for the future here.”

— Susan Kasten

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Susan Kasten - Editor, Beloit College Magazine