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Memories of my 2 1/2 years at UIC Navy Pier are filled with fondness and nostalgia. What first comes to mind is the long and narrow hallway stretching a mile from entrance to the cafeteria. It was in the cafeteria where my friends and I would gather to discuss the cover of the latest issue of Mad magazine featuring Alfred E. Newman with Jimmy Dorsey's "So Rare" playing on the juke box. Life was abundant. If I met a fellow engineering student in the halls, it was even money we would have a quick draw contest with our leg strapped slide rules. The math department was blessed with Professors Pannisi and Sholometti and to this day of tutoring math in retirement, I am grateful for the knowledge and wisdom they so willingly gave to me. I also recall my surprise at being able to score and "A" or "B" in weightlifting and gymnastics and how it changed my self image. Then there was the highjinks my partner and I had with our routine in our judo class. The gym was a huge Quonset hut that was so long the far end developed a fog on a humid day. Finally it was/is the smell of the formaldehyde as we passed the biology labs and the sight of the pre-med students carrying their cat bags that is so indelibly written into my memory. A grateful UIC'er

John K. LaGalante '61 UIUC
Navy Pier Attendee

My involvement in sports at the Pier was a very good opportunity to bond with fellow athletes and students.

I'm now a retired Organic Chemistry professor from Purdue University. My education at the Pier was excellent and I'm happy that UIC is flourishing.

Joseph Wolinsky '52 UIUC
Navy Pier Attendee

I was active in Theatre Guild while attending the Pier! Our facilities were far from luxuriant - but the productions were not hampered at all - such fun!!

I met my future husband at the Pier and have kept friendships made at that time. We all wanted a four year university - am so delighted that we have one in our fair city.

Sheila Rubin Wolinsky '52 UIUC
Navy Pier Attendee

The one thing that stands out in my memory of Navy Pier is walking. I'm sure I did not plan for my first class of the day to be near the library or the gym on the far end of the Pier but I'm sure that is the way it turned out. Also, my streetcar would always be slow at rush hour so I had to walk fast to make my class on time. No time to socialize and no one even walking the other way to give a nod or smile. However, I do remember that I wanted to get to class because the teachers were excellent and it seemed like most of them were professors or had a PhD after their name. The years I was at the Pier were 1954 and 1955. I remember joining the Alpha Lambda Delta sorority for freshman women and admiring the people who had time to play chess in the library lounge. My goal was to be a high school English teacher so I spent a lot of time in the library reading. Later I decided to be an elementary school teacher so I could teach math and science too. One of the slang sayings was "I'll send you to the moon!"

Elizabeth L. Reed Henry '57 UIUC
Navy Pier Attendee

Fall 1946 - as the ship of knowledge lifted anchor at Navy Pier, I was on a troop transport heading back home after a year in Japan. On a weekend pass before my Monday Army discharge from Fort Sheridan, I found out that the Pier was accepting late registrants. I was allowed to pick up my own high school grade transcript and started classes before the week's end.

The challenge of learning was helped by excellent instructors. One of these teachers recommended the golden rule of study: Two hours of study for every hour in class. I have used this rule successfully for both undergrad and graduate study. It worked!

A day of classes started with an hour ride on the Elston and Grand Avenue streetcars. If you avoided getting seasick, the swing and sway rides could remind you of Riverview Park or could induce naptime or 10 hours per week of study time. The walk or trot to the east end was often met with hikers or roller skaters.

Leonard C. Nero '51 UIUC
Navy Pier Attendee

I attended the Pier from 1960-1962. All I remember was the leaking roof during a heavy rain while walking to the east end. It was an experience.

Gerhard F. Kopke '64 UIUC
Navy Pier Attendee

I began studying architecture at Navy Pier in 1955. The following year our Design class visited Frank Lloyd Wright's school in Spring Green, Wis. We toured the school, spoke with his students and finally received advice from the man himself.

Later that year (I think) we were given an opportunity to attend a dinner in Chicago given by the late Mayor Richard J. Daley. The featured speaker at the dinner was again Mr. Wright, promoting his proposed mile high skyscraper for Chicago.

Those two events were the highlight of my time at Navy Pier.

Dale E. Schafernak '61 UIUC
Navy Pier Attendee

It was a great experience to teach at Navy Pier since the beginning in 1946 after my military service in World War II. I served under Dean Cavany and Dean Bailey and the undergraduate division classes were full of veterans eager to learn and anxious to get good grades to advance their education. It was a very successful undertaking in a unique college atmosphere.

Ernest Willner
Navy Pier Faculty Member

I was one of three women vets who started at Navy Pier. We were enrolled the first day U of I opened on Navy Pier in 1946. I was a vet from USMCNR, Marine Corps Women's Res. We all continued our studies at Champaign and graduated.

Patricia J. Irvine Whiting '49, MS '50 UIUC
Navy Pier Attendee

I loved the Pier! So many wonderful memories and lasting friendships. The spiders in the library - you could count on seeing one every day. The two cafeterias where all my PE friends hung out - the guys at the front - the girls at the back.

I was a cheerleader at all the football and basketball games. I went to schools I never heard of and "saw the Midwest."

Our PE professors/teachers were awesome. Dr. Wilma (Billie) Pesovento was our role model. She had class and taught us to be professional and ladies. (I am still in contact with her - she is 77 and lives in Florida.) Ms. Anazolone taught us how to teach elementary PE and we were goofs in her class - playing (and learning how to teach) Low Organized games. Then there was our beloved dance teacher Mrs. Claypool. We learned Modern Dance and Ballroom. I'll never forget Connie Licausi's final dance in Modern Dance. Connie didn't have any rhythm and her dance was a hoot! "Very creative" was Mrs. Claypool's comment as we laughed hysterically.

Trying to get from the far end of the Pier (where all the PE classes were) to your next class 1/8 of a mile - to the other end was always a challenge - but I was in great physical shape due to that distance.

Pauline Peterson Lussenhop '66 UIUC
Navy Pier Attendee

I recall being a student at Navy Pier when the American Medical Association held their annual convention there. As a member of Omega Beta Pi pre-med honorary fraternity, I was asked to serve as an usher at the convention in 1948.

For the past 19 years, I have been a physician member of the Illinois delegation to the AMA, thus extending my association with that organization to 57 years. I completed my pre-med training at Champaign-Urbana and, after two years in the military, I attended medial school at Howard University. I continue to practice medicine, now in my 43rd year of practice.

I so much appreciate the education I received at Navy Pier, since it started me on my career in medicine. It still is a great school.

Earl E. Fredrick Jr.
eef21@msn.com
Student 1947-1949 (Navy Pier)

My first semester at Navy Pier (Fall 1964) was the last before classes moved to the Circle (except for P.E.). I had a 45-minute walk from Maywood to the Des Plaines el in Forest Park, then another 30 minutes on the train, plus the trolley bus ride on Grand Avenue, and finally, the long walk down the hall at the Pier. English classes were on the second floor, about as far east as you could go. At the end of the day, I had to do it all over again, in reverse. The move to the Circle cut 20 minutes off that commute. It was worth the effort to save the cost of on-campus housing, and allowed me to save up enough to afford the last two years at Urbana-Champaign. But somehow, it didn't feel like I was in college those first two years.

Donald Hagstrom
argonia@yahoo.com
Alumnus 1964-1966 (Chicago), 1966-1968 (Urbana-Champaign)

Remembering back more than a half century to my days at the U of I, Navy Pier memories seem surprisingly easy to conjure up. Probably that's because attending college classes out in the lake was such an unusual experience that it does not get confused with anything that has happened to me before or since. Particularly vivid is the memory of racing from band rehearsals in the west-end south tower to my P.E. class in what's now the ballroom at the east end in the allotted 10 minutes between classes. Hmmm, I wonder if I could do that today?!

All of Chicago's interesting weather extremes were even more extreme on the pier. The lake would occasionally make an appearance in a main floor classroom. I remember it particularly while coming to audit Mr. Gabis' political science class. We all shifted our chairs as far as possible from the outside wall. (This only happened in the winter.)

In art appreciation class, which met in the north tower at the east end, I learned a smattering about architecture. The class left me with a determination to one day visit the cathedral at Chartres. It took awhile, but that dream became a reality this past March.

During those two years, 1952-1954, we students were consumed with the desire to one day have a four-year branch of the University of Illinois in Chicago. There were rallies and motorcades to Springfield. Long after the UI Circle Campus became a reality, I took advantage of it and completed my B.A. It was not until my older daughter took me to one of her art history lectures at UIC that I felt compelled to come back and attend to unfinished business. I graduated in 1978 with a major in music.

Jean (Clinton) DeHorn
jdehorn@sbcglobal.net
Alumna 1952-1954 (Chicago), 1975-1978 (Urbana-Champaign)

We used to call the University of Illinois simply "Circle." I remember the political activism and dodging the rain dripping down from the upper level walkways. It was a totally commuter school with no university-sanctioned housing.

Sylvia Reivytis Olson
Student 1968-1972

I remember winter at the Pier. Ropes were strung from the parking lot to the entrance to keep students from being blown away, and the surf froze and rattled when it landed while we participated in ROTC drills at the end of the Pier.

Harry M. Goern
harry.m.goern@verizon.net
Student 1952-1953 (Navy Pier) and 1953-1956 (Urbana-Champaign)

I attended Navy Pier from the spring semester of 1959 through the fall semester of 1960-61. I have so many wonderful memories, that it's difficult to choose which ones to share.

Here are a few: excellent professors, including Dr. Nicholson of the History Department; the noise of the pile-drivers when the adjacent water treatment plant was being built; the arrival of the first ship following the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway; collecting samples right from the Pier for one of the biology courses I took, in which we were studying algae; and taking breaks outside at the east end of the Pier. I should not fail to mention the name of another great teacher (and baseball coach), Dr. Hartoch of the German Department. I could go on forever. These are all unforgettable experiences for which I am very thankful.

Charles (Charlie) Matz
cfmatz@aol.com
Student 1959-1961 (Navy Pier) and 1962-1966 (Urbana-Champaign)

In the fall of 1956, I was a cub reporter at Pier Illini, a very good student newspaper that had won many awards. I was assigned to write a feature on Norma Lee Browning, a Tribune reporter who was to speak at what then was called a 'convocation.' I interviewed her by phone and wrote a pretty good story. A pre-journalism student, I voraciously read the Chicago Daily News and Sun-Times, of course, even though I was a full-time student. I skipped the Tribune, partly because I couldn't stand its political philosophy, which was then staunch Republican, and I admitted to Browning in the interview that I didn't read her paper. During the speech, Browning told the story of this inept reporter from the student newspaper — a so-called journalism student who didn't read all four Chicago papers. I sank lower and lower into my seat as she told the tale. Later, I wrote an explanation for the paper and handed it to George Wilhite, who was the editor. George, as he was prone to do sometimes, turned beet red and then crumpled the story into tiny pieces. Forty years later, I still remember this as one of my most embarrassing moments. I went on to interview many famous people during my career as a journalist and public relations professional, but few gave me as much trouble as Browning.

Norm Bezane
norm@mauicommunicators.com
Student 1956-1958

I have so many fond memories of my two years at the Pier. 1) Getting off the Grand Avenue bus during the winter and having that awful wind from the lake literally hit you in the face. 2) Superb teachers! I received the best education at the Pier that anyone could have received. The faculty was wonderful. I was well prepared for classes at Urbana-Champaign and later, grad school at Wisconsin. 3) I remember with fondness the truly ugly, yet charming, atmosphere of the campus. I kind of resented the fact that only the maintenance staff could ride bikes there! When your first class at the east end of the Pier was over and you only had ten minutes to get to the west end of the Pier, it was a challenge! 4) I remember the camaraderie among the students. It was an unforgettable experience. I consider myself very fortunate that, as a 16-year-old freshman, I was at the Pier — my father would not allow me to 'go away' to school. I thank him to this day for those first two years at the Pier.

While 'Harvard on the Rocks' was a familiar nickname, 'the Pier' unites all of those who were privileged to walk its hallowed, though drafty, halls.

Thanks for allowing us the memories. Visiting Navy Pier today as an entertainment venue is so neat, especially in the section devoted to Pier history. I enjoy talking to people there as I wax poetic about my days as a student in that truly incredible place.

I am a retired high school principal these days, but even after 38 years, my memories of the Pier have never left me.

Lynda N. Byrd
elbeebloom@aol.com
Student 1958-1960 (Navy Pier) and 1960-1962 (Urbana-Champaign); graduated in 1962

I used to hitchhike from the south side of Chicago to Navy Pier each day without trouble. I worked after school, met my girlfriend after work and did homework while sitting on the Pier with fried shrimp and a quart of beer (cost about $3 then). I've been married to that girlfriend for 54 years now.

A friend of mine had a sailboat, and he would tie it up to the side of the Pier. During free time, we would sail the harbor. We'd climb in the windows of the next class right from the boat.

One thing the Pier did was keep you fit — we ran the length of the Pier a number of times a day to meet our class schedules. I had to transfer to the main campus for the last two years, and I graduated in 1951 with a degree in accounting. I'm glad I had the experience of Navy Pier first.

Thomas Fussell
Student 1947-1949 (Navy Pier) and 1950-1951 (Urbana-Champaign)

I remember ... being in class October 1946 with the men (mostly WWII GIs), who outnumbered the women 10 to one ... meeting students from all socio-economic groups, thanks also to the GI Bill ... having classes on the north side of the building with several inches of Lake Michigan on the floor during a storm ... sitting on the Pier's edge between classes ... having my modern dance class outside on the deck ... having the whole experience seem like a two-year educational, fun cruise.

Lois O'Brien Venzke
wa9zkq@wowway.com
Student 1946-1947

I attended Navy Pier from 1949 to 1952, not because it took me longer than the two-year school that it was, but because I was in a three-year pre-med program. In my second year, I met Shirley Moscovitz in the cafeteria near the end of the Pier. Our relationship blossomed, and we married four years later after she graduated from Urbana-Champaign and I continued to attend the Illinois Medical School in Chicago (the only one then). We were photographed dancing in 1951 and were in the center of the Alumni invitation picture for the 40th Anniversary of Circle Campus.

Fond memories are present relative to taking a compulsory P.E. class in the old armory at the front of the Pier and showering, dressing and making a class at the other end on the second floor — a half-mile away. On the way, I passed several areas with a drinking fountain and doors labeled 'men,' 'women 'and 'janitors.' We always thought we had three sexes going to the school. The water, heating and utility pipes ran along the ceiling. Imagine, to our surprise, visiting the new Chicago campus, walking into the buildings and seeing that the same d„cor was maintained.

The Pier consisted of two long buildings with the school using one and the city using the other. Various conventions were held there, but our favorite was the restaurant association's, as there were always good things to eat for hungry students. At one time, marches were organized to try and get a four-year school authorized. I guess it took a long time for that to happen.

The first football team was organized and played without a lot of student support, and I don't know if we had a basketball team. We did have a very good gymnastics team. In 1948, they won the AAU Championship. The all-around gymnast and the prime tumbler were both on the Olympic team. Coach Frey was great and the schedule included matches against four-year schools (including Urbana-Champaign). The coach eventually left and went to UC-Berkley where his teams won a record number of NCAA meets. I was proud to be on the team during my third year.

Although 'Harvard on the Rocks' didn't have a quadrangle and grassy slopes, it provided an experience and an education that might not have been possible for some of the students who could not afford to live away from home. My final musing is about returning to Chicago in 1985 for my son's graduation from medical school. A luncheon was held on a boat docked along the Pier. I pointed to the shore area and said that some of my wonderful experiences occurred at the gym that once was there, and then I pointed to the other end and said, 'That was where your mother and I met.'

Earl Feiwell
efeiwell@earthlink.net
Student 1949-1952 (Navy Pier)

I was among the last students to attend the U of I at the Pier. Because of my financial status, I couldn't transfer to the downstate campus until I had exhausted all of my course options at the Pier, and my civil engineering major allowed me to take a lot of courses there.

My memories of the school are quite hazy at this time. As everyone else who lived through the unique experience of attending school there, I remember the very long walks along the narrow hall that led to our classrooms. I recall that it appeared to look like my movie visions of a submarine. I attended summer school there one year and remember well how hot it was at times.

Beyond all of that, I also remember that the instructors were, on the whole, very good, and the standards were tough. It was, as you probably know, often referred to as 'Harvard on the Rocks.' Only the tough survived.

Albert Kondo
alkon@hal-pc.org
Student 1961-1964

I have fond memories of being a student at the University of Illinois at Navy Pier. Most vividly, I remember studying while sitting on the floor between the rows of lockers. There was camaraderie, and I always saw familiar faces as I walked down the long corridor to my classes. The education I received at Navy Pier was excellent.

Susan M. Babler Powers
Student 1961-1965

I was one of the fortunate students to attend the U of I at Navy Pier, and I still enjoy many fond memories. While a student, I worked in the chemistry stores with a man named Fred Gatto. He was a swell guy, full of the dickens and lots of fun. Fred loved fishing more than anything, except maybe drinking beer. He had students tend to the needs of the teachers and chemistry laboratories, as well as the other chemistry students, while he would go fishing. He'd fish for hours off the back end of the chemistry stores and then give away the fish to his assistant stores manager.

I remember cutting short the time for a written test and running out of class to see the ships coming in from the St. Lawrence Seaway for the first time; having trucks and trains come down the middle of the Pier's only road, tooting their horns at us; and running the 7/8 mile from the middle of the Pier to the Lake Short Drive side for a gym class and being too damn tired to do exercises. I also still maintain a friendship with a close friend I had at the Pier. Those years were full of experiences that none of us Pierites will ever forget. Long live the U of I at Navy Pier!

Dr. Joseph Ksiazek
Student 1959-1962

Like many students, the Pier was my only option for a college education financially, and, looking back, it was a wonderful experience. I lived on the far southwest side of Chicago, and through wind, rain, sleet and snow I made the early morning trip by bus — el bus — every day.

I played on the football team for two years and remember suiting up in the old armory locker room every day and riding to practice at Grant Park. Since there were no scholarships, every man on the team was there because he loved to play for the fun of it. We played some four-year schools and didn't do too badly, either.

One of my design professors, Bob Nichols, was probably the best instructor I ran across throughout my four years of undergrad and one-year postgrad education.

Happy 60th, Navy Pier.

Gerald Mate
jm8@sbcglobal.net
Student 1959-1961

I was at Navy Pier from Sept. '58 thru Jan. '60 as the Pier was readied for the St. Lawrence Seaway ships. I remember taking chemestry with the workmen talking outside our classroom windows. I remember taking physics with the professor being drowned out by the pile drivers-sss-boom-sss-boom. I remember taking the bus and the El and trudging through the snow in the winter. I remember sitting on the edge of the Pier and studying with my feet hanging over Lake Michigan. I remember the warmth and closeness of the students as we walked through the hall to our classes on our special branch of the University of Illinois. Go Illini !

Irwin Tuckman
ietuckman@worldnet.att.net
Student 1958 -1965

It appeared that there were three sexual genders attending U of I at Navy Pier. That impression came from the name plates on the doors of the three adjacent doors that commonly were present at restroom locations. One was labeled Men, another Women and the other Janitors.

A comment that I still hear from some Pier alumna who had the "Cold War" on their minds in the late 50's: It was the only university that could be torpedoed.

David Magana
Student 1957 - 1959

Do I remember the Old Navy Pier in Chicago? You bet I do!

The first time I saw Navy Pier was in 1942, when I was only about 6 years old. Dad took me down to see the display of military might which they had on display - probably a "Buy War Bonds" drive. I was impressed with the military vehicles and don't remember much about the pier. They also had a huge aircraft hangar at the north end which was later was used as the University of Illinois gymnasium.

When I was a senior in Morgan Park High school, and it was time to think about College, I learned that there was a relatively inexpensive branch of the University of Illinois right in Chicago! It meant a 15 mile (1.5 hour) commute on the CTA from the southern suburb of Morgan Park/Beverly Hills, but it was do-able. My first University experience was in 1953 when I went to take the placement/aptitude tests in the big auditorium, which was located at the far end of the pier, 5/8 mile from the entrance! I got to know that hallway very well over the next 2.5 years! They didn't have any desks available for the testing, so we were issued 9" x 12" lap boards, along with the placement tests! The auditorium ceiling was painted pastel blue with "clouds". There was plenty of natural light, which was good, because there was not very much of the man-made kind. On cloudy or foggy days the effect was somewhat dismal. Anyway, the University accepted me, and I was glad. Speaking of cloudy, foggy days, the foghorns were a dismal accompaniment to the boring classes!

As I said, this was a University with only ONE hallway! It may have been 15 or 20 feet wide, but with all 3,000 students charging through it every hour, it got very congested - particularly in front of the bookstore! In the nicer weather, I made better time by ducking outside on the roadway which ran the length of the Pier.

I also remember that the City of Chicago rented out the upper level to trade shows throughout the year. As the displays were moved in and out, the steel-wheeled trucks and loaders would rumble overhead as I sat in Rhetoric or Calculus class. You could hear those things coming from four bays away, and there was just an 8" concrete ceiling/floor between us. I never heard of any thing crashing down, but it sounded like they would. On occasion, a bright young college man would put on a suit coat and go upstairs to act like one of the exhibitors or one of the official registrants - particularly for the annual restaurant and food exposition with all the free samples!

As I walked down that hall day after day to the Library (also at the far end), I heard concrete test cylinders being broken in the Civil Engineering Laboratory. I changed my major as a result. I had originally declared an Electrical Engineering Major, but these noises sounded too interesting to pass up; besides, I could see and hold concrete. It wasn't one of those invisible little electrons, where you "scratch the dog's ear in New York and he wags his tail in Los Angeles" - and then only if you have corrected for the power factor and hysteresis! Actually, Civil Engineering can become esoteric, but it made sense to me at the time. I really enjoyed my Professor, Retired Col. Edward A. Coe. He was a real gentleman, with a sense of humor and ability to inspire the young men in Civil Engineering.

Allan Eugene Anderson, P.E
alsue1076@stowetel.com
1953-1956 (Pier) 1956-1958 (Champaign)