chapter 8:
Traditions
was the Class of 1983 and I was the Class of 2011. Hearing her talk about Longwood and how it was a special place for her intrigued me enough to check it out and apply for the same day decision. I got in immediately and burst into tears and couldn’t stop crying. I knew Longwood was where I was meant to be; I didn’t even apply anywhere else. My mom lived on fifth floor Curry her freshman year, and where did I end up freshman year? Of course, fifth floor Curry in the suite right across the hall from where hers was! We have wonderful pictures in front of the same signs and, after color wars with our friends. We both still have wonderful friends from our time there. Hearing her stories and experiences and being able to walk around campus together are things I will never forget! Longwood was such a special place to me and mom separately, but it is also something we share too, and I am so grateful for that. I hope the family tradition can continue.
supposedly instrumental in the procurement of Longwood House for the college. My cousin, Brenda Beck, was a graduate of Longwood in the early ’70s. And there were several other cousins on my father’s side who attended and graduated throughout the middle of the century. (Sally Hill is one I recall for sure.) My uncle, Harry Hill Sandidge Jr. (son of Nellie Bristow Sandidge), served on the Board of Visitors as did my great aunt (Maria Starke). My father and mother, Forrest Brent and Jeanne Sandidge, served on the Parents Advisory Council for several years. Uncle Hill attended the campus school in the ’30s. Daddy served as an adjunct professor, supervising student teachers in Chesterfield Co. (and Henrico?) in the late ’80s, early ’90s. I was a member of Longwood Players, Alpha Psi Omega and served on Dorm Council and Honor Council. I was a Colleague and Orientation Leader and a photographer for a short while for the college newspaper. My great-grandparents, grandmother and one uncle are all buried in Westwood Cemetery. My family’s roots are deep in Farmville and we love it there. My dream is to someday own the family home on Second St. (The little yellow gingerbread house across from the old rugby field!) I even married a fellow from Farmville with whom I had two children. He was my college sweetheart, Rob Lane (1981 grad), and though we are no longer married we remain close friends. Dr. Charles Lane (Science Department head for awhile and professor of earth sciences) and his wife, Anna Ruth Lane, both lived in Farmville until their passing. Rob’s and my middle son, Taylor, attended Longwood for two years as well. We love Longwood and Farmville! Attending Longwood was some of the best years of my life and I still treasure the relationships I made there.
Margie Haynes Horvath ’70
I entered Longwood as a freshman in the fall of 1966 and lived in Main Cunningham. Main Cunningham actually was not a freshman dorm, but since the freshmen dorms were too full I and one other freshman were put there. I remember having a 10 p.m. curfew on weeknights and everyone else in MC had 11 p.m. curfews. And, we had bed checks as freshmen too. Miss Whitt was our housemother. I remember having room checks too if the room was not clean enough, you could be grounded for the weekend. Some of the rules seem very strict when one thinks of how things changed quickly over the years at Longwood. However, not as strict as when my mother, Marjorie McAlister Haynes, attended Farmville State Teachers College in 1938 and 1939. My mom got grounded for night riding with a male – even though the male was her cousin! Also, when Mom was there gentlemen callers presented their calling cards.
Lissa Sandidge Ballard ‘82
I graduated in 1982 with a degree in elementary education. My sister, Martha Sandidge Thwaites, graduated in 1984 with a degree in biology. My grandmother graduated in the early 1900s from the State Female Normal School (Nellie B. Sandidge nee Nellie Bristow) as did my great aunt, Maria B. Starke nee Maria Bristow pronounced Muh-rIa). My great-grandfather, Robert Carter Bristow, was the Bristow for whom the Bristow building was named as he was in charge of physical services at Longwood for a number of years and was longwood university
E n d n o t e s 1 - The college did not teach the German language at that time, and it appears that the name refers to a less wellknown meaning of the term German, which can also refer to an elaborate social dance similar to a cotillion. 2 - The Virginian, 1957, 112. 3 - Couture, 160. 4 - Jane Bloodworth, “May Day ’73” The End of a Tradition?” The Rotunda, May 2, 1973, 1. 5 - Jane Bloodworth, “May Day ’73” The End of a Tradition?” The Rotunda, 48, No. 25, May 2, 1973. 6 - The Rotunda, September 21, 1976. 7 - Susan Wooldridge, “All the Way from FANGS, to Chi, Longwood’s Had Its ‘Secret Societies,’” The Rotunda, December 5, 1973.
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the first 175 years