When Rosemarie Shultz Wright drove on to Hillsdale College’s campus, she didn’t recognize any of the buildings.
“I tried to use Central Hall as a reference point, but it was facing a different way than when I was here,” she said.
ShultzWright is one of 43 alumni that has tried to reorient the campus for themselves this week during Hillsdale’s annual 50 and
60year reunions. Usually, the event is held during commencement, but the Alumni Foundation decided to hold the event during convocation in order to place all focus on the returning classes, said Joyce Curby, Coordinator of Alumni Events and Programs.
During their fiveday reunion, the alumni will tour the campus and town, attend convocation, sit in on classes, and hear lectures from professors. The alumni will also have time to visit and to reminisce. And they have a lot of stories to tell.
Bob Zurofsky and Ron Zollars have come to celebrate their 60th reunion.
“Bob said he would beat me if I didn’t come,” Zollars said.
The two attended the same high school, ran track and cross country in college, and joined Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity together.
During their time at Hillsdale, the Grewcock Student Union was a converted barn and the track encircled the building.
“It looked like they took a couple of loads of cinders and made a track,” Zurofsky said. “Or maybe they just sprinkled the ashes of dead professors,” Zollars added.
Zollars was president of his fraternity and captain of the track team during his senior year. To “duck the draft,” he took the LSAT
and attend the University of Michigan for law school.
“But if I could do it all over again, I wouldn’t be a lawyer,” he said. “I was a stupid kid when I was young.”
Zurofsky married his high school sweetheart six days after his graduation. Afterward, he joined the army for two years.
The two have remained friends despite Zollar’s move to Florida.
ShultzWright and Shirley Jallad met because they both minored in Home and Family Living, which essentially was home economics.
They lived in the Ambler House, now the Health Center. Each member of the house took turns cleaning, cooking, and shopping for groceries.
The alumni wish the class of 2014 luck in their impending graduation. Ron Bator, class of 1964, reminded all students to vote. ShultzWright encouraged the class to be flexible and to learn how to roll with the punches. Jallad reminded students to give back to the college and to attend all their reunions. Zollars, on the other hand, said that he would never give advice on subjects that are “so sensitive and important.”
Instead, he said, “You have to do it your own way. But stay conservative in all that you do.”