SPRING 2009

Lasting Impressions

By Aimee Madden

The year they graduated from Shorter College, Herbert Hoover was president and the first Academy Awards were presented in Hollywood. The Great Depression was still months away, and World War II years after that.

This spring, alumnae Eleanor Orr Blalock and Lois Strange Smith will celebrate their 101st birthdays and mark the 80th anniversary of their graduation from Shorter College. Though time has slowed their steps, the centenarians both still reflect fondly upon their days on the Hill. Their stories, as recounted by now-senior citizen daughters, speak of the enduring nature of being “a Shorter girl.”

Eleanor Orr Blalock (’29)

It was said as if stating fact – as nonchalant as mentioning the sky being blue or the grass being green. When asked why her mother – along with her grandmother, great-grandmother and aunts – chose to attend Shorter College, Emma Huff replied with a slight Southern inflection: “Well, it was simply because all nice girls went to Shorter.”

And maybe it was true: that all nice girls did go to Shorter. Flipping through the 1928 and 1929 editions of The Argo, one can see the young women, clad in the latest fashions with hair meticulously bobbed and pearls proudly displayed, peering out from the yellowed pages. With their sweet smiles and pin curls, the girls certainly convey graciousness and refinery, but they weren’t without a sense of spunk – evident in the clever quips and quotes scattered throughout the yearbook. Emma’s mother, Eleanor Orr Blalock (’29), was one of those bright-eyed women who took their first steps into the journey of adulthood on top of the Hill.

Travel back to Rome in the roaring 20s, when authors like Faulkner and Fitzgerald dominated the literary scene and flappers in tight-fitting feather caps ruled over dance crazes like the Charleston and the Shimmy. But Eleanor and her classmates had their own experiences. “I remember mother telling me that they would occasionally gather in someone’s residence hall room and make fudge. It was a special treat for them. They would somehow do it using a coffeemaker. I don’t know how good it would have tasted, but I’m sure they had fun,” Emma chuckled.

“And I guess you could call mother a flapper, those women that would wear the loose-fitting dresses and stockings. I distinctly remember her saying that they all wore silk stockings. I think there was a military school or a boy’s school in Rome, and she said they would go out on dates every weekend – mainly juniors and seniors – and dance all night. They were always chaperoned, of course, by someone’s mamma.” Even though more than 80 years have passed since Eleanor entered through Shorter’s gates, Emma says her mother still reminisces about her college days. “Mother told me that she’d had a nice young ladyhood. She always put it like that – a nice ladyhood. I thought that sounded so pleasant,” Emma said. “Throughout her life, she’s kept up with her friends from Shorter. They would send each other long letters about their lives and what their children were doing.” Eleanor graduated from Shorter in 1929 with a bachelor’s degree in expression and, in April 2009, will celebrate her 101th birthday.

While at Shorter, Eleanor was involved in several clubs and activities. She belonged to the Polymnian Society and Epsilon Delta. She served as president of the Why Knot Club and was a member of the Do Nothings and Owl Club. The 1929 Argo was published under her supervision as editor-in-chief; in fact, the ’28 issue of The Argo housed inside High Acres’ library belongs to Eleanor, her handwritten name on the inside cover remains as proof. She didn’t limit her writing abilities to just the yearbook; in 1928, she was the associate editor of the campus newspaper, The Periscope.

But her mother’s account of life at Shorter isn’t the only one that Emma has heard throughout the years. Her grandmother, Emma Belle Zellers, also attended Shorter and was president of her class. Emma Huff’s two aunts (her mother’s sisters) also attended Shorter College, along with her paternal great-grandmother. “Their days at Shorter were something that I remember them talking about often,” Emma recalls. “Great-grandmother wore either her Polymnian or Eunomian Club pin – I don’t remember which one – throughout her entire life, and she didn’t die young. She wore that pin until she died at age 91.” Emma doesn’t recall the exact years in which her great-grandmother or grandmother attended, but by simple math one can determine it was sometime during the infancy of Shorter College.

After graduation, Eleanor went back to her hometown of Newnan and put the skills she acquired at Shorter to use. She taught elocution privately and helped young men and women with proper pronunciation. Soon after, Eleanor went to work as secretary of the state’s Democratic Executive Committee, an impressive responsibility considering women had won the right to vote only few years earlier in 1920. She married when she was 29 and still lives in Newnan today. “She’s in good health and lives in her own home,” Emma said. “I know though, from hearing her talk, that mother loved Shorter. I have no doubt that she loved it very much.”

Lois Strange Smith (’29)

Lois Strange takes several nervous steps onto the stage. The year is 1929; the place, Shorter College. It’s evident that Lois has taken great care in choosing her wardrobe for the evening – a pale peach dress (pictured at right) with an off-the-shoulder neckline and asymmetrical hem – considered the height of fashion.

Hand-painted flowers add to the dress’ vintage charm, and like all in-vogue Shorter ladies, her hair is styled in a short and wavy face-framing bob. It’s her senior piano recital, and though she has played more than a half dozen recitals during her career at Shorter, this one is different – this is the first time she has taken the stage alone.

On a visit back to the Shorter campus in early 2000, some 80 years after Lois Strange Smith first set foot on the Hill, she recalled the nervousness she felt during that recital. She remembered how her friends shared her anxiety and showed it by chewing on the edges of their programs. During this journey back to Shorter with her youngest daughter, Roberta, she was quick to point out the building that housed the college’s pianos – she remembers them well as she practiced eight hours a day.

In the 20s, Shorter was an all-girls school and considered “dressy,” according to Lois. Everyone wore the latest fashions, she recalled, and the students were required to wear gloves, as well as hats, for any off-campus activity. Automobiles were few and far between on the Hill; students who wanted to leave the campus were required to sign out before they boarded a street car that would take them to town. “The conductor was named Mr. Carson,” Lois recalled to her daughter. “All of the girls liked him.” Once downtown, no trip was complete without a quick stop into the ice cream parlor, Lois said. During her trip back to Shorter, Lois pointed out her residence hall, where she lived in a two-bedroom suite that had both a living room and a bathroom. Going into town for meals was unheard of back then; Shorter’s young ladies were required to dress formally for their on-campus dinner.

After the evening meal, Lois explained that the campus’ two social organizations – the Eunomians and the Polymnians – would meet for their weekly gatherings. Lois was a proud member of the Polymnian Club but was also active in Shorter athletics and played intramural sports. The young women had competitive swimming, track, field hockey, tennis and other “ladylike” sports, Lois recalled.

Lois obviously enjoyed her time at Shorter and remembers many friendships that were kindled on the Hill. In her late 80s, she could still recall from memory the names of her closest companions – Frankie Lu Warnock, Althea Deloach, Emmie Colclough, Helen Dye and Louise Lietch.

After college, Lois taught music and English in the Florida public school system for several years and, in 1935, married W. Robert Smith. They raised two daughters together while living in Ocala, Fla.

Lois will celebrate her 101th birthday this May, and though that peach-colored dress has long since faded with the passage of time, her memories of Shorter remain as fresh and sharp as the day they were created.