An Alum’s Impression on Then and Now

By Barry C. Smith (BS67 MA68)

Due to travel arrangements and other commitments, one of my very best friends, Ron Cameron (BS66), and I did our own smaller and more personalized homecoming one weekend before the official 2009 Homecoming, deciding it was time for an archaeological dig back into our personal histories at ENMU. I had not been back since graduation (BS67 MA68), while Ron had only been back a couple of times since the 60s, the most recent being ten years ago.

The campus has changed so unbelievably that we had trouble finding things we saw daily in the old days. Many of the more active buildings in the 60s have now partially become museums, for example my old dorm, Lea Hall. With all buildings on campus now having the same type of exterior brick, the campus has a much more unified, dignified appearance than in the old days when the buildings had a variety of exteriors.

The place where we had sock hops was located on tennis courts behind Roosevelt Hall, which now houses only grass. In the old days we had a rocking good time hanging out there where someone had a record player and a stack of records with a lot of dancing and observing going on.

The present Jack Williamson Liberal Arts Building was known simply as the L A building. The inside of this building has been noticeably modified. The place where our old professors used to have their offices is no more.

In the old days the grounds were a bit more scraggly than the neat appearance they have today and the crisscross sidewalks are a new and very attractive addition as well. Along with the newer buildings and improved landscaping, is the ever present friendliness, both on campus and off, which remains as strong as ever. Our alumni office went out of their way to make us feel most welcome, and we are very grateful.

The square downtown now contains only one business that was there in the old days, Woody’s Jewelry. Danny Woodward, owner, spent some extremely cordial time with us sharing some of what has happened in the intervening years, and the friendliness of Portales came roaring back like a freight train. Ron had purchased his first watch there about 50 years earlier, $14 as he recalled, which was so much money then that he bought it on “lay-away.”

The underpass into Clovis is now an overpass, and there were no businesses along Mabry Drive which were left from the old days—not even one.

As we spent two days prowling about, we felt a bit like personal archaeologists visiting our youthful past. Now as two old geezers, we reflected on our youth during such a dynamic period of personal growth, hopes and dreams at ENMU in preparation for after-school life itself.

As adults realizing how small things appear in childhood, we gazed about the various dorms and off-campus places which seemed far smaller than before. That was a different time back then— the uproarious 60s and all that went with it. Now gazing back on so many of those memories while growing up, the nostalgia and recollections are overwhelming. We wouldn’t take a million bucks for these fond memories of Eastern and our two days of revisiting them. The wonderful youth and innocence of the old school days will live forever in our minds. Thank you Eastern.