It was late summer of 1968. I arrived in Hagerstown, Maryland, on a rainy day that matched my mood. You see, I was going to live away from home for the first time in my life, and I was sort of scared and nervous. I would be attending Maryland Medical Secretarial School for the next 14 months.
Fortunately, I would have a roommate who had graduated from high school with me - someone from home. Her name was Carole. She arrived in Hagerstown shortly after I did, and we made our little dorm room as homey as possible. It was a difficult job what with cement block walls and all, but we did the best we could with what we had.
And we were so glad to be in the “new part” of Dagmar Hall. The “old part” of Dagmar was an old hotel (emphasis on old). I mean you couldn't just get on the elevator and press a button. No ma’am. It required an elevator operator. When you got to the eighth floor, you could look all the way down through the center of the stairs to the first floor. (Pictures of Dagmar Hall taken in 1987 are at the end of this post.)
Oh, and there was another part of Dagmar called “the annex.” That part had been added sometime before the “new part” where Carole and I lived. But I digress.
After a few months, Carole and I thought maybe we should save some money by moving to the old part of Dagmar. I can’t remember all the details, but we moved in with another girl, Debbie. Oh my, it turned out to be a wonderful move. The three of us had so much fun.
There are a few more things I must share about our days at Dagmar Hall. After we moved to the old part, we no longer had a full bath. It was a half bath with a claw foot tub (I told you it was old, didn't I). We had to go down the hall for the rest of the facilities, sort of an indoor outhouse.
Then there was study time between 5:00 and 7:00 p.m., as in don’t you dare leave your room or have a radio turned on and do not talk to each other. You must study, study, study. Yes, we had someone who checked on us, a “dorm mother” who walked the halls to be sure we were not violating our study time.
After 7:00, it was OK to talk and play the radio again; but at 10:00 p.m., it was lights out and radios off. No late night studying allowed - that required lights. And no leaving your room. If you got caught, you got grounded. Yes, the dorm mother walked the halls at night checking.
The first dorm mother we had walked the halls. Then she left, and the next dorm mother was not as smart. She took the elevator, which was not only old, it was noisy. That worked to our advantage. We could hear her coming and sneak back to our room or turn lights out or do whatever we needed to do to avoid being grounded.
It’s hard to believe, isn't it. I mean if that happened today, the school and/or the dorm mother would probably get sued for invasion of privacy or abuse of personal rights or something. But I digress again - back to the story.
My roommates and I graduated; and as often happens, we lost track of each other. But last Friday my husband took a phone call while I was out. It was from Carole. She had decided to try to find me, and she found me through an internet search that took her to my blog! Not only that, but Debbie had previously found Carole, so now I have Debbie’s e-mail and will be contacting her.
It did, indeed, seem like I received some time in a bottle, time from days past, that was poured out by Carole who took the time to look for me and phone me. We talked on the phone for a long time yesterday. It was so good to hear her voice, good to learn I could also contact Debbie.
Time is strange. It seems like so long ago when we were living at Dagmar Hall. And yet, as Carole and I talked, it seemed like just yesterday that we were young women sharing a dorm room. Thank you, dear Carole, for taking the time to search for me and contact me.
My husband and I visited Hagerstown in 1987. When we went to the front desk at Dagmar Hall, we were told it was now a hotel for truckers. Do you see the air conditioning units in each window. Believe me, there were no air conditioning units when it was a girls' dormitory 21 years before!
Blessings,
Wanita
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7 comments:
That was quite a story and I really enjoyed reading it. I graduated from college in Winona Lake, Indiana in 1967. My dorm room was in an old hotel. I remember the black wallpaper with big pink flowers.
Good times!
Blessings,
Cheryl
That is such an unexpected blessing, isn't it? Oh what fun you'll have remembering those sweet days.
Smiles,
Lea
I am so thankful to hear of good stories about the internet, I hope you have a wonderful reunion with your dear friends. Your dorm reminds me of my old high school, I remember it had a bomb shelter, I feel old :). I enjoyed your wonderful memories.
Have a blessed day Wanita!
Kathi :)
Wanita...ditto to Kathi's sentiment about being thankful to hear of pleasant stories here. I won't even watch television news programs anymore. Now I fill my heart with warm stories, like the one you just told.
Maureen
Hi to all of Wanita's new friends ... I'm Carole, her old one. Wanita, Debbie and I shared so many great experiences ... it was wonderful to revisit the "fun" times. We really did work hard but I look back so fondly upon those days. I remember when maintenance got off the elevator and hollered "MAN ON THE FLOOR" ... and doors slammed all down the hallway. And when the elderly elevator lady was "highjacked" to the top floor by some male pranksters - she never missed a beat and brought them back down. Packing our sack lunch at breakfast time with BonTon chips (hey, one sandwich only!) It's good to have someone with the same memories; it's good to remember to giggle; it's good to feel the sunshine of a life's season radiate to the present - I wish you warmth.
I was a "Dagmar" girl a year later and this brought back many memories! I was in the old section, first floor, in a little room right beside the elevator. The only phone on the floor was just outside our door. Hard to imagine life without a cell phone! Thanks for sharing.
I also was a Dagmar girl in 1969-1970. Remember that long walk to classes every day, wasn't it about 10 blocks or more?...signing out on the book if we wanted to leave the dorm in the evenings after 7:00..the roaches in the bathrooms...(we used to turn on the lights quickly and see how many we could count running up the walls)...those uniforms we had to wear - awful! I was in old dorm, room 104, across from that loud elevator. We had the garage across the street where all the guys hung out. We did manage to have fun !
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