Amherst College 1946-1949
I returned to Amherst in the fall of 1949 as a sophomore and lived in
Pratt Dorm with my new roommate Dave Steel. A good 90% of the students
were veterans so were somewhat older than the regular sophomores. When
I got back I thought I would try out for football since my Dad had always
wanted a football player in the family. However I was not really into
tackling and being blocked so I decided to stick to diving. I made the
swimming team that year and while there was one or two other divers I
was better them both which was not really saying much. I won my share
of meets however and in my junior year I placed fourth in the New England
Meet. This did not include big schools like Harvard, Yale and such but
more of the smaller schools whom we swam all year. My senior year I was
chosen as captain of the team and had a reasonably good record of wins.
The ‘New Englands’ were held at Amherst that year and during
the qualifiers for the finals I didn’t dive very well and was told
I didn’t make the final 6 qualifiers. I was sick about this because
my folks were coming from Cleveland to se the meet and it appeared I wouldn’t
be participating. I was walking out of the Pool Building feeling very
sorry for myself when one of the team came running out yelling ”they
made a mistake and you did qualify”. So the next day I did participate
and though I only placed 5th at least I was in the finals for Mom and
Dad.
My sophomore year I joined Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity. Dad had belonged
to this club at Western Reserve so he was pleased. My roommate Dave Steel
also pledged Deke and since there was room at the house olive we moved
there as roommates. All social and school activities revolved around the
fraternities. At Amherst it was a perfect situation since all who wanted
to join a fraternity were pledged so unless they wanted to be apart the
entire college was members. I thoroughly enjoyed my three years in the
Deke House.
The parties the friendships, the singing, and even the studying
together created a true spirit of the college. For example, we had meetings
every Tuesday night and after the meeting we all went up to the front
porch and sang the Deke Songs and some college songs. Sounds very corny
but it was college spirit at its best. When the school went Co-Ed in the
70s fraternities were disbanded at the college’s insistence and
I believe a great deal of the college life was changed. These were carefree
times for all of us and even though we were all veterans we enjoyed the
freedom and lack of worry that the war had caused. Everything was o.k.
and we could relax, we could be crazy and have a good time. We studied
and made sure we got our grades ok but we were living the good life. One
silly example which I have told a number of times involved our initiation
into Deke. It is admittedly corny but you really have had to go through
it to appreciate it.
The night we were to get our pin the pledges were all gathered on the
third floor. We had a dumb waiter which went to the basement and as our
name was called we got in the elevator and went to the basement. There
gathered together were the members and a number of graduate Dekes who
came for the initiation. One of them was about to put the pin on me when
suddenly one of the members yelled “stop- This man does not deserve
to wear the Deke Pin. He has been disrespectful and has not shown the
character of those we wish as members. If you grant him membershi0 I am
leaving the fraternity.” The rest of the members played their parts
well and co9nsoled me and said “Tom go back to your dorm and we
will straighten this out. My accuser was Connie Reiman and I really didn’t
know what to think. I was led upstairs where everyone else was gathered
and they could see that something was wrong and all played their part
well. ‘They told me to go back to Pratt Dorm so I walked down the
hill and at the bottom out jumped Connie from behind a bush and congratulated
me for becoming a Deke. You would think all would know this was faked
but at the time it worked for every pledge and we as members the next
few years did the same to every pledge class thereafter. AS I say real
corny but it was a relaxed and fun time of our lives.
I was not an exceptional student at college. I got satisfactory grades
but was in no way an honor student. I graduated in 1949 with a B average
which was better than average but not outstanding. Since I was a medic
in the Navy I thought I might study medicine but when I was told I would
have to take Physics and advanced chemistry I changed my m9ind. I had
had bad experiences with those subjects as a freshman and did not want
to go through that again. I probably should have done it but at the time
it did not seem like a good idea. I therefore majored in economics and
political science both of which I really enjoyed.
I graduated in June of 1949 and returned to Cleveland. At this time we
were in sort of a recession and jobs were not easy to find but I finally
was hired by the Cleveland Trust Co. in the Personnel Loan Department.
It was a lousy job and paid very poorly but at least I was working. I
then entered Cleveland Marshall Law School and went o night law school
for the next four years. In September of 1950 my Dad, who had started
a Mortgage Loan Business called and asked if I wanted to join him and
his partner at the firm. Although the pay wasn’t much better I jumped
at the chance and started a career in the Mortgage business that lasted
48 years. We’ll return to business later but now let’s talk
about family.