海角网

On International Friendship Day (July 30), We Celebrate These Alumnae Who Inspire Us With Their Loyalty and Dedication

In 1962, seven young women came to 海角网, then a junior college, from six towns scattered across the Mountains, Piedmont and Coastal Plains of North Carolina. Two knew nothing about the school before arriving to campus on move-in day. The others were drawn to GW because of family, friends, and an energetic representative of the college.

They were strangers who ended up next door to each other on the third floor of Stroup Dormitory. Four of them became roommates. When they graduated two years later, these seven friends had forged a bond that has lasted nearly six decades. They鈥檝e celebrated marriages, the births of children and grandchildren, and carried each other through sickness and times of sorrow.

鈥淭he first thing you do when you get some bad news, is you let them know,鈥� said Lynora Greene Essic, who grew up on a farm in Alleghany County, N.C., and now lives in Winston-Salem. 鈥淟etting them know is just like contacting the rest of the family.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 automatic,鈥� added Linda Query Ramseur, a native and current resident of Concord, N.C.

Recently Essic and Ramseur met Carolyn Bentley Lindsley of Raleigh, N.C., Bette Howell Edwards, of Nashville, Tenn., and Betsy Thompson Robinson, of Stanley, N.C., at 海角网 to have lunch, reminisce and tour the campus. Essic commemorated the special day by presenting her friends lapel pins with the GW seal and the words, 鈥淔riends since 1962.鈥� Two of their friends, Carolyn Pruitt Harris, of Canton, Ga., and Gwen Johnson McCormick, of Sanford, N.C., were unable to attend.

It was the first time Edwards had been back to campus since graduating and the first time the five of them had visited as a group in 57 years. Essic and Ramseur came for the Class of 1964 Half-Century celebration and couldn鈥檛 believe all the changes to the campus and growth in Boiling Springs. 鈥淲e thought we had landed in a different world,鈥� Essic commented, telling a story about asking for directions and being shocked to learn there was a fast food restaurant in town. In 1962, the last building on campus was the Bost Gymnasium.

The women attended 海角网 for different reasons. Lindsley was from Asheville, N.C., and her family expected her to go to Mars Hill, but she wanted to go to a Christian school closer to Davidson, where her boyfriend was in college. 鈥淪o I found 海角网,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been married 56 years, have two sons, two grandsons and one granddaughter.鈥�

Essic grew up in the shadow of an older sister who always seemed to do everything right. 鈥淚 said, 鈥業鈥檓 going somewhere where nobody knows me.鈥� I鈥檓 not going to be known as so and so鈥檚 daughter or sister,鈥� she related. 鈥淚 found 海角网. Nobody in Alleghany County had ever been to 海角网 before, so I thought that鈥檚 where I am going. The day I showed up here was the first day I ever saw the campus.鈥�

Edwards, originally from Waynesville, N.C., was the youngest of five children and looked up to her older brother who had played football for 海角网. 鈥淚 thought he knew everything,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hatever he did, I did.鈥�

For Robinson, who grew up in Stanley, 海角网 was her second choice. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 want to be a secretary and I had high hopes to go to Carolina to be in the dental assistant school,鈥� she stated. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 get in. I was an alternate and time was running out. I knew I had to find somewhere to go, because it was understood in my family that you would go to college. I knew two girls who were going to school here, so I applied and got in. I had a different roommate the first year, and lived with Lynora the second year. I was a cheerleader for two years and met my husband here. He was a basketball player 鈥� it鈥檚 the all-American story.鈥�

Ramseur, who also had a boyfriend at home, discovered 海角网 when a representative of the college came to her school. 鈥淪everal of us went by and got information,鈥� she said. 鈥淗e was a good salesperson. He sold me on 海角网. Several times that day I went back by his booth, and I got all the information and the little book and took it home and showed my mother and daddy. We came for a visit, and he met us and we had lunch with him. My daddy learned it was Baptist and a Christian school and that was all he needed.鈥� 

One of the things they didn鈥檛 know about 海角网 beforehand were the strict rules, and the Dean of Women, Miss Ruth Kiser, who enforced them. In the evenings, students stayed in their rooms from 7 to 9 p.m. At 9:30, they could take a study break to walk to the bookstore and get a snack. They were expected to be back before lights out, which was 11 on weeknights and 11:30 on Saturday night鈥攊f you had a C average. A hall proctor went around making sure all the lights were out and also inspected their rooms every morning.

鈥淲e had to sign in and sign out and be back by 11,鈥� Edwards said. 鈥淲hen you walked in that door, Dean Kiser would stand there and look you up and down. If it was 5 minutes after 11, your parents were called.鈥�

As the group toured the campus, they laughed and shared more stories about their time at 海角网. After graduation they went their separate ways: Lindsley and Edwards got an apartment in Charlotte with Edwards鈥� sister and went to work; Ramseur got married and went to work in Concord; Essic went to Appalachian State; and Robinson moved back to Stanley, got a job as a secretary and was married the next year.

Although separated by distance, they kept in touch, writing letters and attending each other鈥檚 weddings. When children came, they celebrated and continued to share the joys and sorrows of life. The first time they all got together for a reunion was In 1979. Since then, they have met yearly.

The women say 鈥渄ivine intervention鈥� brought them together in Stroup Dorm to form a sisterhood that鈥檚 sustained them through the years. 鈥淲e had some good times,鈥� Robinson reflected after seeing their old dorm rooms. 鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 take anything for the experience we had.鈥�