50 Years of Beloit and Vicinity

Great reading about the 50th anniversary of the Beloit and Vicinity Exhibition ("The Place to Show," Spring 2007). I was president of the Art League of Beloit in 1958 and spent untold hours, along with Verne Shaffer’50, in preparation for that first show. It was a lot of fun and very rewarding.

To this day, we have hanging in our Texas home an incredible, nearly abstract watercolor done by Lois Mitter that we purchased as a “Purchase Prize.” Every time we look at it, we think of that first show. Glad to see the exhibition is surviving so well.

Rich Witmer’52
Point Venture, Texas

Phi Psi House Reminiscence

Congratulations on another very interesting and well-thought-out issue. The articles covered a wide variety of subjects and provided a wide-angle view of Beloit.

Phi Kappa Psi house, circa 1950

Regarding the Phi Psi house photo on page 3 (spring 2007 issue): It is likely to have been taken in late 1954 or spring 1955. My recollection is based upon the following: I entered Beloit as a freshman in September 1952. I pledged Phi Psi in the 1953 fraternity “rush” when the house was off-campus. It moved in 1954 when the campus building was finished. In the picture, my room was on the second floor in the very left-hand corner of the brick portion of the building. Tom McCausland’56 and, I believe, King Kovac’56 lived in the room with the dormer window farther to the left.

During my last two years, I had a radio and 33 rpm player combination in my room that could be heard inside and outside, so it became something of a gathering place. I also installed a regular-sized refrigerator behind a drapery in my closet.

One weekend, then Dean of Men John Gwin was showing the Phi Psi house to a group of parents and extolling the virtues of the College. Apparently, he had heard about my refrigerator. This day, he knocked on my door and asked whether it would be all right to show my room and ask how I felt about Beloit. In those days (and hopefully today) the dean was considered almost omnipotent. Luckily, I had been studying, so the music was soft. After some pleasantries and questions about how I liked being a student at Beloit, Dean Gwin told the parents he wanted to show them how much Beloit believed in students creating their own world while at Beloit. He swept the curtain aside and said they even allowed students to have a refrigerator in their room if they wanted. Then, he opened the refrigerator door.

The parents seemed pleased to see the refrigerator, and it seemed that it did mean something to them. I was pleased that the only things inside it that day were bottles of Pepsi-Cola and some peaches.

R. Dirk Van Horne’56
Littleton, N.C.

Remembering Bill Behling

I was sorrier than I can say to read of Bill Behling’s death in the spring 2007 issue of Beloit College Magazine. I had the great pleasure of working closely with Bill’s wife, Chris, throughout my time at Beloit and had many opportunities to appreciate Bill’s great kindness, generosity, and humor.

I think one of the finest qualities of a Beloit education is how much of it happens outside the classroom. Bill was a great teacher; I learned a great deal from him and from Chris about the kind of person I want to be and how to start becoming that person. My life was much enriched by them both, and I know that I am just one of many who were touched by this good man. It is a loss to our community indeed.

Megan Bartlett’92
Charlotte, N.C.