This was the simple description of Albright College in the college catalog in the fall of 1945, when I entered as a freshman.

However, Albright College was and is so much more than this simple message conveys. Albright College was our home, a place where we grew as individuals, yet learned to come together as one. It was a place where lives were enriched and memories were made. And it was a place where we were encouraged to look at things from many perspectives.

The faculty and staff made this possible. Students who came from all over Pennsylvania, New Jersey and beyond, as well as those who called Reading and Berks County home, represented all walks of life. Only a few came from the multicultural backgrounds that today make up Albright’s diverse enrollment.

The core of our studies centered in classrooms, labs and the library. But there were music organizations, sports, activities and programs for our leisure time as well.

We remember the strong, effective leadership of Dr. [Harry] Masters and those “special teas” held by Mrs. [Veerah] Masters in their home on Palm Street. Our beloved Professor Milton Geil’s words of life-long advice from introductory psychology class – “Recognizing one’s problem is 80 percent of its solution” – stuck with us long after graduation day. And I can still taste the food in the College Dining Hall prepared in that special Van Driel tradition.

There was Maple Lane… hamburgers at the SUB in Krause Hall…and the home economics baby living in Sherman (now Pushman) Cottage. The child rearing classes actually housed a real, live infant to learn how to care for a baby.

Great athletic teams played to large crowds for the “Red and White.” We walked to Northwest Junior High for [Albright] basketball games (before the Bollman Center was built). There were fraternities and sororities, Sports Night, Stunt Night, the Ivy Ball and May Day.

Post-World War II thrift times called for creativity, so we made May Pole dancers’ outfits out of gym suits covered with crepe paper streamers. (On one occasion they began to unwind during action. Oh my!)

I’ll never forget when a surprise explosion at a nearby gas company had Dr. Morgan Heller and his organic chemistry students thinking it was in the chem lab, or Dr. Marcus Green’s biology students dissecting frogs and cats. And then there was the free coffee and tea for students every Friday afternoon in Selwyn Hall.

I remember Y retreats at the Blue Mountain Camp near Hamburg…the “Angel Factory” in Teel Hall…noontime devotions in Sylvan Chapel… “Miss B” checking the attendance seating chart in chapel… tugs of war across Sylvan Lake… “Button, Frosh” …and most of all, meeting Kenny Good ’47 in my freshman year and sharing our love of Albright with fellow alumni throughout these past 58 years.

My days as a student were filled with so many memories. Fortunately, they didn’t stop there. I had the unique privilege of working in the alumni relations office at two different times, and had the opportunity to make and share so many more memories with Albrightians throughout the years.

The faces, the styles, the music and even many of the rules have changed over the course of time. In the 40s, it was not only a different time at Albright, but also a different time in the world as well. But as I’ve remained connected to the College and met and talked with Albright alumni from decades both past and present, one thing is clear…the feelings behind the memories live on in each Albrightian year after year.

– Mary Fry Good ’49
served as executive secretary
of the Alumni Association from
1954 to 1960 and as director
of alumni relations from
1991 to 1997.