Lona Farr '62, August 8, 2018

Kate Raneri: Alright. So today is August 8, 2018. We're here at Muhlenberg College with Dr. Lona M. Farr Voellinger, better known as Lona Farr. And we're here to interview Lona to find out her memories about being on campus when she was here, a few years ago. And, I thank you very much. I am assuming we have your permission to videotape you--

Lona Farr: Absolutely

KR:--And to record it and then post it online. So we can share widely. Thank you again for--

LF: You're very welcome. My pleasure.

KR: It is our pleasure. Absolutely. The first thing we want to do is go back to that point when you were in high school. And you can talk about your family if you want to, but what were some of the decision making, some of the factors, that went into choosing Muhlenberg. If you could just talk about that.

LF: Sure, I-- When I was in high school, my favorite subject was science, didn't 00:01:00matter which one. And I decided that I wanted to study genetics. That's what I liked the best about biology. And so as I was searching for a college, I was looking for a place where science would be a very strong factor. Muhlenberg until the year before I entered had been all male. And when I was a very little girl, about four, my mother had a cousin who lived in a house--they called it a bungalow--on Chew street. It's where the Baker Center is now. And we came up to visit that family and my father walked me around the campus and he said this is a school for boys. Was the way-- he didn't talk about them as men then, you talked about them as boys. And so Muhlenberg never even entered my mind. I was probably going to go to Ursinus College. My father's brother was on the board at 00:02:00the time and sort of understood-- I was living in Plymouth Meeting until I graduated from high school and so that was close to home.

Then one evening after dinner in the fall of 1958, excuse me, 1957, one of our neighbors walked across the street. And he had a Life magazine article with him that was about Muhlenberg going co-ed, and he asked if he could come in. He said he had a letter from Dean Benfer, who had written to all alumni and asked if they knew any young women of college age who were good students and might be interested in coming to Muhlenberg. And if they did, would they take the Life magazine article with them, and tell them about Muhlenberg. So my mother invited him in and we talked about it. And that was the first I became aware that 00:03:00Muhlenberg was even a possibility for me. So on Sunday, my family often took a drive, so we drove up to Allentown. And I looked at Muhlenberg. Very first college or university I remember seeing was Penn because we lived close to the city of Philadelphia and I had gone to the Penn Museum. This looked like a miniature Penn. It was what my vision of what a college should be. And so I looked into it; when I found out how strong the sciences were here, I decided that this was the place for me and everything else went off my radar screen, including Chestnut Hill College where I had been awarded a full scholarship. And my father, of course, had to swallow the fact that if I picked Muhlenberg he was going to have to pay the tuition, but that was fine with him. My mother was Catholic, but my father was Lutheran. And this kind of thought gave him the opportunity to introduce me to the church that he was familiar with. So that was 00:04:00how I picked Muhlenberg.

KR: That's a-- that's a new story with things I didn't know about. I knew about the Life magazine. So, tell me about what it was like coming into Muhlenberg. You know you were early, early.

LF: Well, I was also very young. I turned seventeen on the day I graduated from high school. So I was-- I had started school early and so I graduated early. And I came-- I had not even thought about the fact that I believe there were then about eight hundred men and a hundred women. That had never even entered my mind. What I was interested in was the science program. And that I really wanted a good science program because my goal at that point was to earn a PhD in genetics-- be a researcher. And I don't even remember when it first hit me that 00:05:00I was here with very few women, I think there were about fifty of us in my class, who lived in the dorm and there were commuting students.

But it-- and we were treated, if you will, as equals by the men. We went through the same hazing that the men went through. We had to do all the same things: wear the button, you could only enter the side doors of buildings, had to carry pipe cleaners with you, and matches. If you were challenged by a member of the upper class, you needed to provide those things. You might have to say the Muhlenberg Pledge or sing the Alma Mater. Anything that they told you to do, or you could be reported to the Tribunal. I kind of went out of my way to make sure I didn't get reported to the Tribunal, but I did anyway. And I--what my penalty for whatever I did, I think it was I didn't-- couldn't light this guy's 00:06:00cigarette because I was shaking so much that I couldn't hold the match still. I had to wear a sign in front of me that said, "Ask Me Who I am," and then on the back it said, "I am a Spaceman Boop-Boop." And I had to take pipe cleaners and put the top of my dink. And the only way I could get it into a chair in the classroom was to take this thing off and put it under my chair. You know, I look back on it and it was funny and I really didn't--I didn't feel traumatized at all. I think there were some women who may have been more traumatized by all that. I had four male cousins who were all within two years of me and I was so used to being picked on, as the only girl, that it didn't matter.

KR: So tell me what was life like overall. Once you get past all this hazing--

LF: Yeah--

KR: Some of your-- you know-- fond memories of being...

LF: Well, the faculty were marvelous. And that I think tends to be a hallmark of 00:07:00Muhlenberg today. And I am so thrilled that there's still those really close personal relationships with faculty. Dr. Koehler, who was my math professor. My high school was very small. We only had one hundred eighteen in my graduating class. So the math I had had in high school was not the same level as most of my classmates. And he really helped me through that. A woman by the name of Janet Stamm, who was an English professor, who just took me in hand and just made me feel like I could do anything as long as I read the rhetoric book and did what she suggested we do. Another female professor by the name of Joanne. I don't remember her maiden name, she became Joanne Mortimer, she married my chemistry professor. And all of them just took such a personal interest and it just made 00:08:00me feel like I was not just a number. Which was exactly why I wanted to go to a small private liberal arts college. And that whatever I wanted it to do, the doors would be opened to me and they would be willing to help. And that's what I remember most. I mean, there's lots of funny stories about, you know, being involved with the students and things. But the most important thing to me were those faculty relationships that really lasted until they were all not here anymore.

KR: They're still with you though.

LF: Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah.

KR: Now from some of the research that my students have done, I have learned that there's a lot of activities that were kind of traditional like the Spring Sing and door decorating. Do you have any recollections?

LF: Yes. I-- every semester I was here I took six courses, so trying to keep up 00:09:00with my classwork was sometimes a bit challenging. So some of these activities that others seem to take great joy in, I enjoyed doing them. But sometimes I wish they weren't there right when I had all these exams and papers and things to do. And I remember my sophomore year, my roommate and I were both inundated. I was-- I did History and English. And we had papers due just when you had to participate in the singing, going to the fraternities to sing. You had to go to the rehearsals, and then you had to decorate your door. And the two of us, in protest, put newspaper on our door as a decoration and wrote a big sign that said "Bah Humbug."And then we went to a couple of the rehearsals with "Bah 00:10:00Humbug" signs on our back. That was not very much appreciated by the Dean of Women, but it-- it relieved some of the tension for us. The Spring Sing, it was the same thing. It was-- always I loved doing it. But it just always seemed to come at the end of the semester when there were so many things to do and it was like this is just not the best time for me to be doing this.

KR: Tell me about the Dean of Women. Do you remember her?

LF: Anne Nugent. She was very sweet and very nice. She did not have an easy job. The woman who she followed had gotten in a lot of trouble for-- we heard all different stories about-- she had very strict rules and regulations. And there certainly were strict rules in the dormitory. I got in trouble one night. I didn't know you couldn't be off your floor after nine o'clock, which was the freshman women's curfew. And I was down doing my laundry because I never 00:11:00seemed-- six classes and a lab-- I never seemed to be able to find time to get into this laundry room that had only two washers and two dryers during the day. So I thought it would be a really good opportunity to go at night and do it. And of course, there I was and I was found out, didn't know I was in any trouble, and I was severely reprimanded for being in the dormitory at 9:30 at night. I mean, in the laundry room in the dormitory.

KR: What were some other rules you had to abide by?

LF: Well, you weren't allowed to wear any kind of slacks. You had to wear a skirt all the time. If you were going to a gym class you could wear the regulation gym shorts but they had to come right to your knees, they couldn't be any shorter. Even when the weather was very hot, you couldn't wear shorts. You when-- fraternity weekends, you could wear pants to go to a fraternity party. 00:12:00But other than that, if you wanted to play tennis on your own, so-- you had to go to the tennis court. You had to wear a raincoat over your regulation gym shorts because that's what you had to play in. And I mean, that's what-- I thought they were very silly rules. They-- when I was a senior, they started for some reason or another a bed check. They were supposed to be in bed by midnight or something like that. And I was in a triple at the time, my roommates and I came up with a sign. We made paperclip dolls. And so when we came out of the bathroom for the last time we would paperclip our doll in bed so we wouldn't be disturbed after we went to sleep. Things like that were just silly, I thought. And now of course, the women are recognized as being adults. And that's the way I always taught my children. You know, when you're living here in high school, 00:13:00you have to follow my rules. When you go to college, you're a young adult, you have to take care of yourself. So.

KR: Some of the rules were different for men then they were for women?

LF: Oh. Women when-- the beginning of freshman year, women were required in the dining room-- two women were assigned to a table. One woman at the head of the table, one at the foot of the table, and eight men. And all the women had to come in appropriate dress, which was considered a skirt. And you needed to wear stockings. And the stockings needed to have a seam in them. So that they could see that you were wearing stockings. Some of us took to taking an eyebrow pencil and drawing seams on the backs of our legs in very warm weather because-- but the men didn't have to wear coats or ties or anything, they could come as they 00:14:00wanted to come. And my roommate and I were seated at a table in the dining room. This was the first semester our freshman year. And the very first day; it was my very first day here. And the waiter came with the food. And the men who were sitting at the table were from Lambda Chi fraternity. The fraternity was on social pro for some reason or another and they weren't allowed to have meals. So these guys were here, and they didn't want to be in the dining room. They went to be in the fraternity house. They grabbed all the food. So every bit of food was gone from the platters, from the bowls, everything. And my roommate and I sat there with our empty plates. And I said to one of the young men at the table, "Would you please pass the bread," thinking, at least I get some bread 00:15:00and butter to eat. And he said to the guy sitting next to him, "She said, 'Please pass the bread.'" And that guy said to the guy next to him, "She said, 'Pass the bread'" and then they started swaying back and forth. And one of the guys at the end of the table took the bread and started throwing, like football bags. And all I can remember is sitting there and saying, my father would say "Whatever you do, don't cry." So I sat there. I don't remember whether I ate, I have no idea. All I know is the meal finally ended. I went back to the dormitory, waited my line-- my turn in line to get to the phone. Called my parents and they went "Oh, how's my first day?" And I told them about this experience in the dining room. And the first thing my father said was, "And did you cry?" And I said no. And he said, "then go back tomorrow and just act like 00:16:00nothing happened." And that's what I did.

KR: Was that good advice?

LF: Absolutely. Yeah. There was a thing that went on then that they called the Muhlenberg Mock. You needed to know that somebody might mock you, and what they were looking for was for you to say something equally awful back. And you learned to do that, and I survived without any problem.

KR: So by time you got close to graduation, how had the climate changed for women?

LF: Oh, when women came we were barely tolerated. I mean, that's the way when I look back on it, I don't know whether I realized it at the time. But there were all kinds of things that were basically--today we would say discriminatory, but we didn't think about it as kinds of things in 1958. And a lot of it, I just, I think a lot of it's just laughed at. While I was here, a woman, Barbara Fretz, 00:17:00was the first woman editor of the Weekly and a very good friend of mine. There was no women's hockey team, and my roommate and I had to start the hockey team. We had the encouragement of our Phys Ed teacher. And so we went through the dormitory. She said we needed fourteen people to play. Only five of us had ever played hockey. So we were able to find fourteen women who were willing to play hockey and we started the hockey team. But nobody had thought about, you know, women should maybe have some of the opportunities-- like men had to play football in the fall, that women should be able to play field hockey--really began to be elected to the student council.

So when I came, it was a college that tolerated the few women who were here. But by the time I graduated, I felt women had pretty well integrated into the fabric of the school. And it was interesting as I look back on it to recall the kinds 00:18:00of ways in which that happened. For example, trying to get a woman elected to student council. We managed to get together with two or three of the fraternities and agree to support their candidate for student council if they would support a woman. And it was interesting.

KR: So what was the reaction to this? From the school and the community to the women's hockey team?

LF: I remember a couple of the faculty, I mean, both-- more male than female used to come out and watch us play. And Dr. Chatfield, he was supportive of the hockey team long after I left. I mean, I don't think anybody paid much attention to us. I mean, we paid attention because we went undefeated the whole four years we were here. The first year we were a club team. Which meant we weren't on the 00:19:00schedule, we played other colleges. But in those four years, we had two ties and the rest of our games were all undefeated. So we felt wonderful about ourselves because for a long time we were the most winning sport-team in the history of the college. It's only been recently that somebody won-- had a better win-loss than we did.

KR: Women's basketball has been pretty good.

LF: Yeah. Oh, I know it has been but I don't remember. I didn't play basketball and I did not play tennis because I was so busy with my classes [inaudible]. And I think I mentioned to you, before we started, that I also worked in the dining room. That was interesting because one of my jobs was keeping the milk. They went away from the sit down meals after the first semester and then it was cafeteria style. And one of my jobs was to pour milk on the line, as people came 00:20:00through the cafeteria line. They would give us a whole case of empty glasses and then you've filled them with milk. And these guys we'd come through, particularly the football players, and take--drink a half a cup of milk or half a glass of milk and put it back in the carrier. And I'd have to grab it and pull it out so the next person didn't get the milk. And I don't think they would have done that if it had been a man standing there.

Susan Falciani Maldonado: Can you talk a little bit about the Bernheim House, because that must have just begun.

LF: It was the second year. Everything my class did was the second year. And the women who think-- I think had the more challenging time were the ones who were here for the first year. They had sort of smoothed the path for us. But they-- it was a group of women who had applied to be resident assistants in the dorm 00:21:00their senior year. And the junior year was kind of-- we were all together in Bernheim. And then they did a lot of training about what you would need to know to be a resident assistant when you went back into the dormitory senior year. And it was a very cohesive group. I think maybe there were fifteen; it wasn't many of us that were there. And because we were so many-- so few women to start with, it was a really wonderful way to spend a year in a kind of home-like environment. We had our own kitchen in the basement. That-- mostly what I remember about it was the closeness of the women who were living there.

KR: Any particular stories about the Bernheim House itself?

LF: You had to be careful when you went downstairs, sort of like after eleven o'clock when the security guard came around, that you were dressed presentably. 00:22:00To-- because-- you would think about this man coming in and he liked to chat. I remember one time going down in a pair of very shorty pajamas and running back upstairs because--his name was Mr. Fenstermacher--Mr. Fenstermacher had arrived. I don't really remember anything in particular.

SFM: It had been a Dean's residence, I think prior to them--?

LF: That was the Treasurer's House. We-- I think that really was a crush for women's housing at that point. When I started, we had--women occupied the second floor of what was then called West Hall and half of the third floor. And then they converted-- there were some rooms on the first floor as well. It was a very 00:23:00close-knit group because it was so small. You noticed on my button where it said Lona Farr and then "Cookie" was written in the middle of it. "Lona" is such an unusual name. My father's name was Lon, L-O-N. I was born on his birthday. So my mother put an "a" on the end of it, but nobody had ever seen it. Nobody had ever heard it. People were always calling me "Lorna," "Luna," all kinds of things, everything but "Lona." And my two roommates and a couple other women who are still close friends:Ruth Terry Miller, Amy Hawman Rynsel, and Becky Gorton-- Becky Lense Gorton--decided I need a new name; I needed a nickname. I remember gathering in one of their rooms, I think it was Ruth's one night and they decided to find me a new name and they came up with the name "Cookie." And even 00:24:00on the roster of the Women's hockey team, my name was listed under the "C's" like I was a "Cookie" without even a last name. It just became the way I was named, it was like nom de plume or something. But there was another woman who entered the year I was a senior and she was also called Cookie, married name is Blood. And so then it wasn't so unique anymore.

But my mother hated it because she had named me for my father, because I was born on his birthday. And I promised her when I graduated, I would never use it again. And I haven't. The first time my children heard it was we had--our home where I raised my family was what's now Hillel--Hillel House. And I used to host 00:25:00a cocktail party before our alumni class dinner, the five-year reunions. And when my classmates came for our twenty-fifth, and they heard my classmates calling me Cookie, they said, "Who's Cookie? I-- we've never heard of her." They didn't even know about this. I really did drop it. But that was a part of my life here at Muhlenberg. Felt like I was kind of a different person when I was in that role.

KR: Well, we'll not use Cookie here.

LF: No, don't, no, my mother rolls in her grave [laughs].

KR: The reason why I was asking about the Bernheim House is there's been lots of stories about ghosts-- it was actually Oscar Bernheim himself.

LF: Yeah...Berheim himself, yeah...

KR: Have you heard?

LF: He was-- he was the Treasurer. I was not one of the ones who really felt like he was present. And that doesn't mean it wasn't. So. But that was not a big 00:26:00thing for me. Our house on Chew Street we were sure we had a ghost in that house. It isn't like I don't believe in ghosts. I just never felt Oscar Bernheim's presence, maybe other people did.

SFM: Well, I want to ask about that, because I am also putting together a ghost tour for Orientation. That will be a new stop.

LF: Oh, okay. Well, I can tell you about Dr. Ritter--was what we used to call him. But you don't want to hear about that right now, that doesn't relate to Muhlenberg.

SFM: Can I ask about housemothers? And did they continue your whole time here?

LF: Yes. The whole time we were here. We had two of them in Brown Hall. One, they were both very, very nice. They were both very concerned. I remember one time I probably had the flu but I didn't want to skip a class. I really hated to 00:27:00miss class. And I was running out to my three o'clock in the afternoon history class. Mrs. Heinemann, who was one of them, and she couldn't have been five feet tall. I bet she was more like four foot ten but she held herself erect. She had been German. She was quite sure what the rules were. She was the one who had reprimanded me for using the washing machine after hours. I wasn't aware of that and she stopped me and she said, "You don't look good." And I said, "Oh, Mrs. Heinemann, I have to get to class." And she said, "Well, you're coming to my apartment first and I'm going to take your temperature." And I think my temperature was like one hundred and three or something. And she said, "You are not going to class, you are going to the health center and you're going to see the doctor, and don't come back here without a note." So I didn't go to my class 00:28:00and I went and got the note. But her solicitousness and concern-- and she made sure that I got enough to eat and drink, and not have to go out to the dining room to get something to eat. And that I really did take care of myself for the three days that it took to get better. And that was always-- that was very memorable to me, it was very special to have somebody care that much. The other one was Mrs.Estlemen, and she was very sweet. I really don't remember a lot about her. The one that I always had the connection with was Mrs.Heinemann.

And they were very strict about the hours that we had to keep. And, freshman year, nine o'clock was curfew during the week. We all had a midnight curfew on the weekends. I found very quickly that I liked to date men from Lehigh and a 00:29:00little bit from Lafayette, because this was such a small campus and everybody knew everybody else's business. And if you want it to be a little bit more private about what you were doing, it was better to be going to Lehigh or Lafayette. And so if you were going there for a fraternity party, trying to get back by midnight was not always easy. If there was a party on a campus fraternity, one of the six fraternities on campus, they extended those special party weekends till one o'clock. And you would see everybody in cars up the driveway and all over the place. So waiting for Mrs. Heinemann to come out on the porch at about five of whatever the curfew was. Make sure everybody-- you had to sign in, you had to sign out. So she knew who was out and about. I 00:30:00understand there were women who used to climb out windows and go through doors and do all kinds of things. I never-- they were the rules, I tried to follow them. We didn't like them all but followed them.

KR: You survived.

LF: Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, I had rules at home when I was a kid, so it is not a big deal. What I found very frustrating was the nine o'clock and then ten o'clock curfew. So as freshmen, it was nine o'clock, ten o'clock sophomore year. Because I studied in the library and the library was open until eleven and you couldn't even get a special pass. I asked for a pass so I could be at the library and that was just-- I mean, I can understand how you're going to prove you were in the library or what you were doing in the library was studying. But I found trying to study in a room with three women in it was extremely difficult for me. I often got up at five o'clock in the morning and went to one of the lounges where I could have quiet.

But those-- they were minor things. I just loved my four years here. It was so hard to leave. And I so enjoy coming back and I loved the years that I was able to serve the College in a variety of different ways. Because it was the most important thing that happened in my life other than being born and having wonderful parents. Muhlenberg just made that difference. As not only was I a student here, I then got very involved in the Alumni Association. I then worked at the College in public relations and alumni director. Then served on the Board of Trustees for twenty-eight years. Our son graduated from Muhlenberg in 1994. So this has just been a whole lifetime full of marvelous experiences that I'm continuing to have.

KR: An extension of your natural family.

LF: Yeah. Yeah. And when I think you know, I almost missed coming here except 00:32:00for this alum who I had no idea who he was. I don't remember his name. I don't know that I even knew him before he showed up at our front door with this magazine, which was a life changing moment.

KR: Absolutely. I have one question that I think I may have told you about, and the responses have been across-the-board interesting and some of them hilarious. Imagine that you are in a situation where you are in front of the entire student body that's here, in the fall. And you are going to stand up there and say one thing. Just one thing. One bit of advice based on your knowledge and love of Muhlenberg, that students in their future-- what would you like them to know?

LF: Enjoy every single moment that you have of the years here at Muhlenberg. And take advantage of everything that Muhlenberg has to offer because it changed my life, and it may change yours as well.

KR: Thank you,very much. [Inaudible]. This one question--you get such profound answers because they come from a place deep inside.

LF: Yeah, absolutely. I-- I've read John Fowles who writes books that have alternate endings. And I've thought if I were to write my life's story and pretend that I had gone to Chestnut Hill College because I got the scholarship or I had gone to Ursinus, you know, uh, how would that have changed my life. And 00:34:00it's not even something I can imagine.

KR: So did you marry somebody from Lehigh?

LF: No, I married-- I married a member of the class and he's-- I married him-- I met him my first day of Muhlenberg. As I say, I could answer questions forever. He-- all the Fs, the Gs, I think the Hs, we were all put together in freshman advising groups by alphabet. Ok. So the Fs and Gs, we were all together. And on one side of me was a man whose name is Ted Gurniak. He has been my accountant for forty years or more. And on the other side was a man by the name of Malcolm Gross. He-- I married him, I-- after his freshman year at Villanova Law school. 00:35:00He went on to become a lawyer. We were married for ten years. We had three children. He and our son-- now who's a member of the firm is-- have been my lawyers. So I like to say I met my accountant and my attorney on the first day at Muhlenberg, how likely is that? And how many people has that happened to? And-- that's why there's so much, there's so rich in what Muhlenberg has meant to me. And I ran into Ted Gurniak at the gym the other day. Staying in the community has made a big difference. The people who leave Allentown--was not my intent when I came here, but I did fall in love with Allentown when I came here.

KR: You know, Malcolm Gross was on staff here, was teaching.

LF: He--oh yeah. Oh, I see him all the time. Yeah. Yeah. And Jack still does in the media. He teaches Constitutional Law, they co-teach that class. Jack just did a wonderful lecture or talk at Rotary, downtown, on the history of the First Amendment, which is really interesting.

SFM: I think he, Jack, led with Kelly--Kelly got him to come and talk about copyright in the Library [inaudible] [Lona Farr: mmhm] a couple of years ago.

LF: The First Amendment law has been their specialty. And I really, I mean, this is something I-- I-- if you had asked me the question, I might have answered it, but I changed majors three times while I was here. And that was because of the relationships I had with the faculty. The first year, this Dr. Stamm, who was my English professor, she actually said to me, "Why are you a science major?" And 00:37:00by that time I was a little bit fed up because I thought I was going to study biology and I was in a freshman chemistry class with guys who all wanted to go to medical school. And it's-- so much of it was just memorization which I've come-- came to learn from a doctor who treated me but became a friend, who said, "what you have to learn in college is how to memorize. Because once you get to medical school, you will either succeed or fail based on your ability to memorize. Memorize every muscle, every nerve, every bone." Okay. So that was why we did all this memorization in the chemistry class, which I just hated. And when I asked Dr. Werner why, he said "Because I said so." So when Dr. Stamm said to me, "why aren't you an English major? You write so well, you really know how 00:38:00to tell stories and things." I decided, okay, I'll be an English major cause I really don't like all that memorizing stuff. That wasn't what my vision was --wasn't the kind of science I had in high school where we had lots of labs and stuff and did creative things. So I became an English major and while I was a sophomore, I studied there.

Dr. Victor Johnson was the American history professor. And he said to me, "Why are you studying English? You know, you can use your English, but you should be a History major. You might want to think about going to law school." So then I decided, okay, but instead of being an English professor, I will study History and go to law school. And when I went to see Dr. Swain, who was the head of the History Department at the time before my senior year start date--you had to meet with your advisor and say, what are you going to do after I graduated--I said I was thinking about going to law school. And he told me I would take up a place 00:39:00from a man in a law school classroom, and that I should instead be a teacher, even though I had never taken an Education course. So he took my schedule where I had only four classes for the first time because you had to write a major historiography paper-- was kind of like a master's thesis. I think you still have to do that here to be a graduate in history. And I had left myself time to do research and some of my first sources were over at Lehigh-- I had found a guy who would drive me over there. I don't know what he was doing, didn't matter. And so all of a sudden that time for going to the Lehigh library was lost because I had to take these Education classes. And then Dr. Swain called the Dean at West Chester and signed me up to student-teach in the summer. I wanted to go down the shore with my friends and waitress in Ocean City like everybody else 00:40:00was, and I instead spent the summer after my senior year getting my teaching certificate. And I don't regret that I taught. But you know that's something-- I mean you couldn't imagine today somebody saying you'll take up a place from a man in any kind of a classroom. And my father, who didn't care what I did, as long as I got a terminal degree-- and so he said, "Well, if you're not going to-- Well, if you're not going to be a genetic researcher. Now you're not going to be--now you're going to be an English major, then you need to get a PhD and teach." And that was fine. And then what I said, "Well, I'm a history major. I'm going to go to law school." Then I had to have a story for him because if I had ever told my father what Dr. Swain said to me, he would have been here in a minute to say, "How dare you tell my daughter she can't do something." And I 00:41:00didn't let that-- that would have been extremely embarrassing. So instead, I became a teacher and--that our oldest daughter is a lawyer, so she did it even though I didn't. I loved the law, I mean, it's just the logic of it is just wonderful to me.

KR: The fathers in some of these stories, as we talk to different women who-- some of the first women coming in, the fathers were so-- such advocates for their daughters. I don't hear those stories now, of course things are a lot different.

LF: Right. Well, my mother was too. My mother was a very strong professional woman. She was the Executive Secretary to the President at Philco Corporation. Which then was one of the major appliance companies in the country. And what-- 00:42:00according to what she said, she kept all the books for the company. Nobody got to see the President if they didn't go through her. So basically, if you want to see the President you had to talk to me and get permission. And so she then took off while we were-- my brother and I were growing up, but then she went back to work. And she ended up being the director of a cable TV station, was owned by a woman and-- a daughter and a father in Pittsburgh.They were the second cable TV station in the country after Service Electric was one. And she had all men reporting to her. So she was very strong and really felt, you know, women can do anything too. So I had both of them kind of advocating you decide what you want to do and we'll support you in doing it. So. And my father was so insistent that I have a terminal degree. And so after Jack, our son, started here at Muhlenberg 00:43:00in 1990-- in January '91, I went back and got my-- started my PhD. So I got my PhD in American history with an emphasis on the history of immigration.

And I think my dissertation is in the library. I'd appreciate it if you'd look and see that it actually got there because I wasn't quite sure with the library staff that was here at that time, whether they actually did that or not. I think it would be very important for that to be here because my dissertation topic was a comparison of the philanthropic patterns of behaviour of people of German heritage and people of Puerto Rican heritage in Berks, Lehigh, and Northampton County.

KR: Fascinating. Amazing.

LF: Fortunately, I had the most wonder-- I mean I've just had wonderful faculty from my undergraduate to my masters degree, which is from Temple, to my PhD. And 00:44:00I had a chair who knew how I was enjoying every bit of research that I did, including interviews with sixty people and all kinds of analysis-- of analysis of a huge Gallup survey. And I just loved every minute of it. But he said when I finished proposing my dissertation topic, he said to me, "Before you leave today, I want you to tell me the year and the month and what you're going to defend your dissertation." So I did quick math in my head, and I said September of 1995. And September 9th, 1995, I defended my dissertation without a few blips-- I broke my pelvis. That's part of the reason why I have this back problem. While I was working on my dissertation and I just-- I was in a wheelchair for three months and I got out of the wheelchair and I broke my hand. 00:45:00But yeah, it was just this determination that I think I learned from my parents. You just set your goals, set your path. But it was also supported by everything that happened to me while I was here.

KR: So was there ever any subsequent conversation with Dr. Swain?

LF: Dr. Swain was in the early stages of dementia, and I would never have had that conversation with him. As important as he was because he was Chair of the History Department, and when I think back on it, maybe they were trying to recruit women to be in different majors. I don't know. Because, I mean, there's this almost breathless chasing after me, I felt, you know, to become a history major. And then as I said, I took six courses every semester. And three of my classes my junior and senior year when I was a history major were with him. And 00:46:00so I wouldn't have confronted him. And not only that, when I graduated, women trying to get a teaching job--teaching history--it was virtually impossible. Somewhere in my file I have a letter from one of the school districts, down suburban Philadelphia, because my husband was going to law school, telling me that they coordinated their history and physical education programs. And because I could not coach either basketball or football, they regretted that they could not offer me a job. So I had to teach elementary school because I couldn't get a job teaching in high school because I couldn't be a basketball or football coach. So I called Dr. Swain because I felt like he had put me in this position, otherwise I would have been on my way to law school. And I said, can you help me? And he said call me back at nine o'clock tomorrow morning and I did. And his 00:47:00wife offered me a job teaching fourth grade at the Swain School. So, that was my first teaching job. And then I taught elementary school and I was very good at it. I really liked it. I mean I shouldn't toot my own horn in that way, but I know I was good at it, and I loved it. But I always had in the back of my mind that I have to get this terminal degree. And then I did teach-- joined the adjunct faculty at Moravian and at Alvernia and down at Villanova. Villanova really became a challenge; the drive down there to teach at night as an adjunct was just tough, and I took advantage of that degree. And now as we're moving, the only-- I have a few special books I've picked out, but one of them is complete works of William Shakespeare. And there was a faculty member here who was one of my faculty when I was an English major, Dr. Ralph Graber; he was the 00:48:00best grammarian ever. I mean, I learned grammar and punctuation, it still sticks in my head the way he taught it. And he wanted me, after I graduated, to come and be an instructor in the English department and pursue my masters and PhD at Lehigh. But with Mal teaching at Villanova--I mean going to school at Villanova-- I couldn't fathom how I was going to manage that. We had one car. He needed the car to drive to school. And I-- it just didn't seem to make any logical sense. I think he said he had two copies, they're 1922 editions of the complete works of Shakespeare and each one of the plays is in its own little individual book. Whenever-- we go to the Shakespeare Festival-- I'm on their board at Desales and I still pull those books out and read them. I think it was 00:49:00kind of a bribe, like I'll give you these books, you sure you won't reconsider? But it just wasn't practical. It would have been interesting. As I say, I often think about, you know, Robert Frost and which path we take where, and end up.

SFM: Was there a steady increase in female faculty members?

LF: Well, they brought female faculty in when women came. And as I say, particularly Dr. Stamm and then Dr. Mortimer. Dr. Mortimer was a friend almost till she died. She lived in our neighborhood. I used to walk by her house. She would walk her dogs and sometimes my husband and I would walk our dogs with her. Although that wasn't always happy. It was better when our dogs died and hers were still living, so we wouldn't have these dogs. Because we had three and she had two, they wanted it to play. So those women faculty were very important. It 00:50:00was a special time to be here, but I didn't realize it when I was going through it. Just with life, you know.

KR: Well, you were a pioneer.

LF: But I didn't see it that way. No. It was just a choice I had made and I knew why I made the choice. And it seemed even when I wasn't studying genetics, that I loved all my English classes. I loved all my history classes. If I could have kept going here for another five years, I probably would have been--, as there was so much I wanted to study and I loved the religion courses-- they were required, but they-- I learned things that today I still find myself calling on that knowledge of Eastern religions and things that I learned-- philosophy. I 00:51:00mean, all the requirements to me were a very important part of making me the full and rounded person I am.

KR: That is what the school tries to do--to this day.

LF: Yeah. Yeah.

LF: As I say, I could sit here all day and talk to you.

KR: The only thing that we need to do next, and thank you so much for this--these lovely stories.

LF: This is--Well, I love to talk about the stories and if there's ever a time, you know, you want somebody to come and talk to the students or just have them ask me questions, I'll be happy to do that.

KR: Especially the female students and they're just like, Oh my goodness, they just can't--

LF: Well, it's like-- it's like when I read about Victorian times, it's like Victorian times probably to them. And the idea that you were locked into a dormitory [laughs].

KR: That's right but you were--it's like you were precious merchandise so to speak.

LF: Yes. Yeah. And that was all this in loco parentis, you know, and they said we had to understand that. That our parents had turned us over to their care. And where my parents had given me this idea that you're now an adult. And what really struck me as somewhat hypocritical was we were always-- I was always Miss Farr to any member of the administration, to any faculty. You were never called by your first name, you're all Miss or Mrs. or Mr. But at the same time, the actions spoke that we were like children. And that was really a contradictory 00:53:00thing. And I think if there was anything that I never really fully was able to appreciate was that they were-- they treated us in one-way-- hand like adults, but in others--and not the men, just the women.

KR: They used to treat the men like that though, Benfer and his wife used to live [inaudible].

LF: Oh, yeah. That was freshmen and they thought they had to teach them how to behave as proper young gentlemen. I'm sure people told you about the panty raids. I mean I had all my underwear taken and hung up over in Martin Luther.

KR: How did they get it in the first place?

LF: Well, they broke into the dormitory or-- somebody said one of the young women let them in. I don't really know. But I was down the hall--going from my 00:54:00room--I was in somebody else's room, you know, visiting or something. I mean, who knows. And they came in and any door that was unlocked-- I hadn't locked my door, nobody locked their doors. I mean, you weren't worried somebody's going to steal something. So once you were locked in the dormitory-- you locked your door when you went out to class during the day--but at night when you were locked in there, it was like being locked in the castle, you know, you couldn't go out without going past the sentries. So never thought about it. And all of a sudden somebody yelled, "Men in the dorm! Men in the dorm!" And somebody else was yelling "Panty raid!" But by the time I got to my door, they had already come--I have my top dresser drawer, does every woman put her underwear in our top dresser drawer? I mean, they were just-- they went through and took all the underwear out of our top dresser drawers. And it all had to be marked with your name on it. So they all know who it was [laughs].

KR: There's one person who talks about that quite frequently. One male alum. Yeah. I think he's still living [inaudible] for the panty raid.

LF: He enjoyed it so much.

KR: Must have. Must have been something.

LF: Then-- I mean after they ran through and we all went back to our rooms. I mean, we opened the windows, and we were yelling. And that I think that night as I took my underwear was the night with the missile where they rode the missile down this--yeah. But I mean, once you felt like you were not in their way, then when we were egging them on it was-- it became great fun. And I did-- the 00:56:00Student Council ordered the men to give the underwear back, but they didn't right away. And so they-- I had to ask my mother how much she had paid and they gave me the money to buy new underwear.

KR: Oh my gosh. Now that's part of the story I have never heard.

LF: Yeah. I actually got reimbursed for my underwear. Maybe not everybody had their name in-- I mean my mother put my name in everything.

KR: Everything.

LF: Everything. Yes.

KR: Did she sew it in or write it in?

LF: I don't remember. All I know is that my name was there. And the guy who took my underwear, he didn't graduate, so I can still picture him but I don't remember his name. But when he gave it back to me, I think it was the end of the year, he gave it back to me and he said how much he enjoyed having it draped on his venetian blinds [laughs].

KR: Now there's a memory for you [everybody laughs]. Alright. Oh my goodness.