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In 1946 Navy Pier opened it doors in October, not February! Your February date will preclude man from coming into Chicago in the winter. Who could forget the long walk from the East end cafeteria to do gym-PE in the armory, beyond the west end entrance. There were no lockers, so coasts were worn or carried. Water waves splashing against the building like Tennysons poem "Break, break, break on the cold grey stones at sea". The exceptional camaraderie among the students, among the faculty and between the 2 groups made for a very cohesive Navy Pier population.

Who could forget the wonderful dances put on the bye dance committee under the guidance of Ruth Leitch, Dean of Women. The music of the time included "The Old Lamp Lighter", King Cole's "Christmas Song", Buddy Clark's "Linda" and Sarah Vaughn songs. How about that 1st student congress headed by my brother tom Kempner as president. As much as anything, the friendships formed there were forever!

Dorothy Kempner Nopar
Navy Pier Attendee

• $50 was the tuition

• Got my only undergrad "A" in weightlifting (being on the 1st football team had nothing to do with it).

• If you tied your shoe in class, when you sat up you were 3 weeks behind.

• 10 minutes was plenty of time to go from the men's gym to the classes at the east end of the Pier.

Ethan Janove
Navy Pier Attendee

I ran track& Field 1961-63 at Navy Pier; hurdles under Coach Jim Nolan, I wasn't too good though. Also ran Cross Country. Did some assistant equipment manager (AKA towel/water boy) for foot ball squad under coach Fordham. Graduated to filming games for later "post game review" but it seems I took too many shots of the cheerleaders and some on else go the filming job. I Had a good time stat "Harvard on the Rocks". The brisk 5/8 mile walk from the gym on the west end to the English classes on 2nd floor. At the east end by the ballroom on the Pier. Then went to Urbana in '64 when circle campus opened.

Jim Tysiak BSE '66
Navy Pier Attendee

There are many recollections I have of Navy Pier and questions? The first is a question for which I have never received and answer and that is why was student in architecture who had the most classroom equipment to carry- our classrooms were at the far end of Navy Pier, while the LAS students classes were at the West(nearer) end of Navy.

I remember when in a classroom o the North side of Navy Pier and Lake Michigan became very mean the break walls could not hold back its intensity and waves would pound the old steel slind door and water from them would run across the classroom floor as we sat there as if nothing was unusual.

Robert Koch
Navy Pier Attendee

It was without fail that my first class would be gym and the next class would be at the far end of the building by the ballroom. We would have to shower and then run down the middle in the freezing weather to make the next class on time.

Martin Levy '52-'54
Navy Pier Attendee

I vividly remember when I had a class at the beginning of the Pier, and a Track and Field class at the end of the Pier. There was only minutes to make the dash, providing a good workout before gym class, arriving breathless to participate in Track and Field.

I also remember the loading and unloading of ships from all over and the music of the languages sounding on the water front. I fondly remember my 2 years on the Pier.

Edie Davis (formerly Darey)
Navy Pier Attendee

At Navy Pier, 1960-62, during my first year when I was pre-med, I poured hydrochloric acid all over my skirt. Then, Once, I went up to a cruise liner from Japan, and, for a while, could not find my way out. My two years at navy Pier were unforgettable, full of magic and new discoveries.

Roxolana Burachynskyi
Navy Pier Attendee

I will never forget rushing to classes from one end of the Pier to the other, then dangling my feet over the sides at lunch time, while munching on the best shrimp in the world from Al's Fishery. I was very active and became Captain of the Cheerleaders and was photographed with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis when they appeared at a gym meet. I also ran for Miss Illinois at Navy Pier and was a runner up. I loved the Pier and all the great dances and activities!

Barbara Mangel Nemiroff Pfeifer
Navy Pier Attendee

• Sitting on the rocks in Dr. Love's class to read Emily Dickinson

• Having 10 minutes to run from accounting class at front of the building to gym class at the far end.

Lynn Murby
Navy Pier Attendee

I attended U of I at Navy Pier from 1950 to 1952, starting as a "wet-behind-the-ears" freshman just out of high school and thrown in with older, mature, World War II veterans. They were there with a purpose and aggressive intent on getting an educations and provided tough competition in the classroom. I viewed Navy Pier as probably the most unusual location for a University in light of its surroundings-jutting almost a mile out into Lake Michigan.

I remember spending many a pleasant hour sitting at the end of the pier near the library, reading and watching the ships entering and leaving the Chicago River, sail boats in the lake, and listening to the waves lapping against the structure.

The school was unusual in that it consisted of two long hallways the length of the pier that one had to try to negotiate every hour with a multitude of other students to get from one class to another in only 10 minutes-sometimes nearly impossible when one had the next class at the opposite end of the pier.

I remember when there were stormy day's waves crashing against the pier and coating every available surface with ice in the winter. Once, one storm was so fierce that waves broke through a wall in a locker area flooding the floors.

Then there was the gym situated in a very large building off to the right of the pier, a structure left over from the War. It could hold numerous gym classes at a time. It was so big that four times around the outside of the building was about a mile. So the basic gym classes used that area for its students to do the mile run. Those that wanted to cheat would try to cut through the middle of the building but were usually caught-the instructors were no dummies. The biggest challenge was to have to run the course in the dead of winter when the very cold winds bore down on the area and the student resorted to wearing scarves and gloves with their sweat suits. I remember at least one time when we had to negotiate two or three foot high snow drifts during run- a very unpleasant experience.

And lastly, I remember the professors, who were in many instances, some of the best teachers that I ever had in my college experience.

Robert Schrott
Navy Pier Attendee

I had long since left Navy Pier in 1953 and graduated from the University of Illinois, Urbana in 1955 and was working at the Quaker Oats company at the Merchandise Mart in 1956. I began dating a Dorothy G. who lived in about the 900 block of Green street. This was a nice middle class Italian neighborhood and I'm sure many of the families that coud, sent their children to Navy Pier for an education that they could only dream of for themselves.

One night we ahd a long discussion on what her family was going to be able to do as the city was sending out evictgion notices throughout the area for a new "project" to be built in the neighborhood. They had lived in these two flats since the turn of the century with their families and extended families and their whole way of life was about to change. Where would they go and would they be near old friends and relavtives was their main concern.

Yes, progress was being made with huge expressways and the famous "Spaghetti Junction" plus that new UIC campus being built nearby, but as we now celebrate our 60 years of existence as a major university, one has to wonder whatever happenend to all those citizens on whose property we now tramp from class to class that once called this spot "home"!

Thomas Baranski
Navy Pier Attendee

Among my memories are the following:

• Having the opportunity on several occasions to tour freighters (anywhere from bow to stern).

• The yearly monarch butterfly migration-sitting by the water while hundred of butterflies alighted on you.

• The day a bird's egg dropped from somewhere up in the library ceiling onto the book. I was reading.

• The day we were sitting in class when the entire pier seemed to rock and the insulation fell down from the ceiling of the classroom onto the instructor and front rows of students due to a freighter hitting the pier!

• Meeting a fellow biology student who got me a job at the Field Museum in the Herpetology Dept. which helped lead to my career in Biology Education.

• The opportunity to meet, mingle and become friends with people from many backgrounds.

• Taking a P.E. class in which we golfed on grass mats and missing the mat and hitting the cement and celebrating for a day!

JoAnne Barry Edwards '60-'62
Navy Pier Attendee

I attended the University of Illinois at Chicago at Navy Pier from September 1947 until June 1949, when I transferred to U of I at Champaign-Urbana. I remember waking from the end of the line of the Grand Avenue Structure to get to my classes at the Pier, especially on cold Chicago winter mornings, when the ice slabs were in the lake. I remember the long hall and the classrooms and labs 9I was a chemistry major) with windows looking out on the lake. Playing bridge at lunch time and during long breaks between classes with my friends an classmates in the student lounge. I am now 76 years old and I can't remember all that happened 56-58 years ago. But it was an incredible experience to start my college under graduate classes at Navy Pier. I would not have been able to attend college (or at least the University of Illinois) if Navy pier had not opened. I even remember some of my professors-Dr. Meloy for freshman chemistry, Fran Tuchmaun for the 2 years of German I took, and Dr. Gilberstein for my year of Organic Chemistry. I wish you the best at the 50th Anniversary of Navy Pier!

Virgil E. Matthews '47-'49
Navy Pier Attendee

I was part of the first class at Navy Pier in the fall of 1946, shortly after my military discharge. The experience was both unusual and memorable. I was the sports editor of the Pier Illini and remember being sent to cover the Rose Bowl game victory starring Buddy Young. After a full year I transferred to the University of Missouri to pursue a journalism degree. Later, after a year on the Chicago Sun-Times I changed careers to fife and estate planning sales. Currently I also serve as Honorary Consul General of the Republic of Rwanda as well as being on the international board of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund.

Glenn L. Felner
Navy Pier Attendee

• The most interesting fact is that Mr. Fienstein, who taught me Calculus back at "The Pier" in 1950, currently lives not more than a block from my home in Wilmette.

• I will never forget the Quonset Building used as the Gymnasium.

• There wee two Chemistry lab instructors who were rather young ladies. This occurred back in 1950 man young World War II veterans were at "The Pier" under the G.I. Bill. There was one veteran in my Chemisty class who was having a difficult time in school and was failing Chemisty. The veteran started dating one of the lab instructors, and over a period of time things begand to improve for the vetŠ..His final grade in Chemistry that semester was a "C" go figure!!!

Leroy A. Bender
Navy Pier Attendee

The joy of always having gym class following a class at the far east end of the pier. The class following gym class was at least midway or further east in the pier.

Anthony Pietramale
Navy Pier Attendee

After 3-4 bus, "EL", Bus Connections, I'd slip, slide, skate into Navy Pier on cold winter days. Follow this with a 9:00am class in the "Women's Gym" on the eastern end. Then a 10:00am class back west, across and into the Men's Gym! I was working on a 5min. mile! Cheerleader, down to Urbana, Cheering in the "Big Stadium", seeing chief Illini for the first time-wow! Switching classrooms when waves would crash thru windows, followed by hissing steam pipes, wrapped in asbestos, heating rooms up to ? degrees. Morning newspapers (at least two), bride games, parties from N-S sides, and protests to get a Chicago campus. I loved it- knew I was a warrior for better education for Vets and kids like myself, from lower middle-class, one-working-parent families. A way to better ourselves. Who wanted corn fields? Chicago could give us what we needed-schooling, jobs, cultural events. No, we could not afford Northwestern or toe U of Chicago but our Professors were top notch and committed to "The Pier". You know, I believe we received an intangible edge on our downstate friends and it ahs proved to be a blessing!

Shirley Jackson Helber
Navy Pier Attendee

Like many students, I worked. I attended "The Pier" M,W, & F and worked T, Thu, & Sat. I lived at home. It was a great place, but really didn't get the college experience until I went to Champaign. I remember most, the PE class, bowling and bait casting. Fall semester was casting first, while the weather was good enough to cast into Lake Michigan and bowling when the weather turned. Spring semester they bowled first and cased when the weather got good.

Robert C. Lane
Navy Pier Attendee

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 used as the university of Illinois gymnasium.

When I was a senior at 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, bit 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 form the entrance! I got to know that hallway very well of the next 2.5 years! They didn't have any desks available for the testing, so we were issued 9"x12" lap boards, along with the placement test! 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 nice 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 herd 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 al 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 E. Anderson, BSCE '58
Navy Pier Attendee

We were all close to each other. I have the fondest memories of meeting in the cafeteria and melting down after class by playing pinochle. You could always find a friendly face. We weren't spread out all over like the universities we all later attended. The best of time were at the Pier!!

Mary Lou Sally
Navy Pier Attendee

What a shock to see myself on the reverse side of this page. I am in the middle. Went on to letter in cheerleading and became captain. I can remember moving chairs to the front of the classrooms because waves would seep through windows and doors in the rear during storms, flooding the classrooms. I enjoyed "Giant Gym Nite" on Friday in the Men's Gym (Quonset Hut) left from the military. We shared the building with Traffic court which was on the South side in the front until they moved. We had the largest campus in the world Lake Michigan. I can remember a classmate finishing up a term paper sitting outside the Girl's Gym (now Grand Ballroom) and having a huge wind come up and papers flying off into the water at the east end. This was before computers and she had to start all over again. I remember Earth Kitt and many other “new” stars entertaining us in front lounge. Johnny Ray sang “Cry” and then kissed me. I remember being in the Quad Council which put the idea of a four year school in minds of public officials.

Marlene Crocker Rosin
Navy Pier Attendee

I attended the "Pier" starting in 1946 and stayed for 2 years and then transferred to the Champaign-Urbana campus graduating in 1951 with a degree in Civil Engineering. Just out of high school, my friends and I were shocked with all the homework. The majority of my classmates were returning veterans of World War II. In one lecture class with man students, the professor said "when I was overseasŠ.in Bermuda"- the outburst of laughter from the veterans was overwhelming! It was a different time.

William J. Flathau
Navy Pier Attendee

• The long walks to the architectural department.

• The playing of the Tennessee Waltz on the lunchroom jukebox.

• The architectural students combo playing in the lunchroom-especially their ditty "Put Out Your Can".

• Riding the "L" to the Loop and then taking the street car to the Pier.

• Running on the cross-country team

• Going to the Armory for physical education.

• Getting my beautiful nose beat on in the boxing class.

• The long hike to Minsky's

• The wonderful hard working classmates

• The outstanding professors.

• Without a single doubt my tow years at Navy Pier under the instruction of those outstanding professors did a great deal to form my future life.

• I'm in debt to whoever decided to establish and administer the Navy Pier brand of the University of Illinois.

• I loved my two years and Navy Pier.

James W. Liddell
Navy Pier Attendee

I can't think of a more appropriate setting to study architecture than the historic landmark Buildings located at the East End of Navy Pier. These buildings, which include the Terminal Building, the Shelter Building and the Grand Ballroom, were the recreation component of the original Pier. Also Municipal Pier Number Two, as the Pier was originally named, was a direct decedent of Daniel Burnhams' 1909 Plan of Chicago.

Although some of us may not have fully appreciated the historic significance of the location of the Architecture Department when we were students at Navy Pier, the tow drafting rooms had a commanding view of Chicago's Lakefront and skyline that was an inspiration to us all.

When I became a student at the newly created two-year undergraduate branch of the University of Illinois, know to the students as Harvard on the Rocks, the new university had an older and more serious student body as the result of the many returning veterans taking advantage of the GI Bill. The school of Architecture had an excellent faculty that included practicing architects from the Chicago area. World renowned architects such as August Peret, the French pioneer in the use of reinforced concrete, and a number of distinguished American architects, including Frank Lloyd Wright, gave lectures and critiqued our student design work.

At that time the School of Architecture was still associated with the lecole des Beaux Arts Instituted of Design (BAID) in Pais and our design projects were submitted, in competition with other universities, for BAID judgment. Awards were given for the best designs and the drawings came back with ink stamps indicating he drawing had received an award. It didn't take long for some of our creative students to realize that the BAID stamps resembled the heal print of a show and they proceeded to stamp their own drawing liberally. There was a great deal of camaraderie and fun along with the hard work and many lasting friendships were formed. A number of the architects who were students at the Pier still get together annually to compare notes and to renew their friendships.

The configuration of Navy Pier, approximately 280 feet wide and projecting five eights of a mile into Lake Michigan, may not have been ideal for a university and many of the classes were held in temporary facilities built when the Pier was a Naval Training Facility. If you had a class in the old Navy Gym that was located on the Headlands West of the Pier and your next class was at eh Far East End, you had to be a track star to get to your next class on time.

In spite of it's shortcomings. The Pier provided a good undergraduate education for many Chicagoans at a time when most colleges were over crowded and student housing at Champaign-Urbana was not available.

During my lengthy career as an architect in the public sector, Navy Pier has continued to play an important par in my professional life. I had the opportunity to restore Navy Pier's historic East End Buildings in 1976 as a City of Chicago Bi-Centennial project. Late I assisted the newly created Metropolitan Pier and Exhibition Authority (MPEA) in the development of a Concept Plan for the redevelopment of Navy Pier as an multi-use recreation, entertainment and exhibition complex. Finally, I became the General manager of the new Navy Pier and served in that capacity during its redevelopment and initial years of operation. Today Navy Pier is on of Chicago's greatest attractions with over eight million visitors annually.

I will always be grateful for the educational opportunities I received as a student at the University of Illinois. It was a great honor to be elected to the Navy Pier Hall of Fame in 1981 by the Alumni Association and I am looking forward to celebrating the 60th anniversary of the U of I opening its first undergraduate branch in Chicago at Navy Pier.

Jerome Bulter, BS Architecture '52
Navy Pier Attendee 48-50

• The long walk from the Physical Ed building (former armory) the class on the other side.

• The smell of dead fish

• The "famous" speech for incoming freshman on what would likely happen to the people sitting on your left and right.

• The coming down on a beautiful day near the beginning of summer seeing the beach, stopping to sit and never making it to class on the other end of the pier.

• Learning the back stroke in a canoe while taking an outside recreation course.

Dr. Steven B. Nasatir
Navy Pier Attendee

I was a student at the University of Illinois- Navy Pier fron 1958 to 1960. It was a very interesting time. There were seventeen year olds and GI's from the Korean War, each wanting a quality education.

"Harvard on the Rocks"ŠWhat a beautiful sight each day as we got off the Grand Avenue streetcar! To this day my heart swells with pride as I view Navy Pier by boat, in the air, or standing and admiring its uniqueness.

I remember being on the U of I Dance Committee. We had wonderful formal and semi-formal dances in the downtown hotel ballrooms. There were the romantic sounds of the Big Bands, formal and cocktail dresses, corsages and nosegays, dance favors and dance bids. If you were luch you were with the man of your dreams. I was and still am, after all these years.

Barbara Ann Tush Larsen
Navy Pier Attendee '58-'60

Mad dash from the architecture's east end to the west end gym. Enough exercise! Jerry Lewis and Dino filling the cafeteria with spontaneous laughter. Fifth semester ending onward to Urbana.

Stephen Roman '52-'55
Navy Pier Attendee

In fall of '48 and '49 I attended navy Pier, U of I, as an Arch. Design student before going downstate as an art major, in advertising design.

One of my memories, as an Arch. Student, was talking to five fellow students before going to my design class for three hours. They had a copy of their final exam in Arch. History and were looking for answers, to the questions.

Three hours later, after my class, I walked through the cafeteria and there they were with another student or two still looking in their books, notes and reference material to confirm answers to test questions.

The final was scheduled to be one hour long and it was. Art and Arch. Were tough courses

No regrets, the Pier was a tough school and a good one. I had many 3 hr. lab drawing courses and hitch hiked or bused to Pier from foster Ave. and Elston Ave. in Chicago. We had no car-again-no regrets- a good school-guess what I became a High School Art instructor- now retired.

Kermit E. Lindberg '67 AM, '54 BFA
Navy Pier Attendee

I was in the very first class at Navy Pier. I believe we started in October 1946. When it rained, there were some classes that experienced "moisture", rain from above. There were long walks to classes at times. Halls not as well lighted as you might like. But, the plus side was we were all new, experienced all these trails and tribulations together.

Anytime the weather was decent you could sit outside with friends, classmates or by yourself and enjoy the view. I was on the dance committee and the dances were in the auditorium at the east end. The one I remember was late spring and my date and I walked outside and watched the sailboats still out on the lake, beautiful warm summer like evening.

Joanne Linderen Heal
Navy Pier Attendee

I have wonderful memories of Navy Pier! My family moved from Easton, Pa then moved to Chicago where I graduated from high school from. My freshman year in college was at a small girl's school in Philadelphia. My sophomore year was at Navy Pier and I loved it! 4,000 students in 1948-49 with boys! I enjoyed my classes, friends made and the location. Friday afternoons after classes a group of us would go to Rush St. for a pitcher of beer and great conversation. That spring I was on the 2 week court for the spring dance. The following years I was down state and graduated from U of I in 1952 after a brief time working in my field of merchandise. Name then (Mary) Jay Brick I married a young man I met my sophomore year in high school w ho was then attending Lafayette college. I am back in Easton, Pa!

Joy Neff (Brick)
Navy Pier Attendee

• Waiting for the bus in the freezing February weather and running the length of the Pier to get from the biology lab at one end to my next class at the other end in time.

• Summer school Organic Chemistry lab when my lab partner spilled acetone and melted my pen.

• My crush on my bacteriology instructor

• Doing "Kind Lady" and "Class managerie" with the theater groups.

• My summer job at he stock yards and riding the old IL cars there with the straw seats, holding my breath until I got into the air-condition building.

• Making up "brief forms" in short hand for terms like "hog scrapers".

• Listening to my Fran Sinatra album in the lounge

• Marveling that such a tiny insect as a fruit fly would have such a long scientific name- "drosophila melanogasten" (how do I still remember that?!)

Mary L. (Lori) Janowski
Navy Pier Attendee

It was a great place to learn.

Ronald W. Fross
Navy Pier Attendee

The U of I at Navy Pier was referred to as "Harvard on the Rocks" and to be sure, it was just that. The faculty was outstanding and exceedingly dedicated. As a result one could be assured of the best instruction in all courses.

Bernard B. Blaauw
Navy Pier Attendee

When I started at Navy Pier in February of '48, thee were no lockers, and everyone had to wear their coats, or pile them on tables at the west end. We always found our thingsŠ.after we had lockers that was no longer the case. Can you imagine diving for spiked volleyballs on the canvas covered ballroom floor? What a struggle to get a portion of the hug gym at the west end for women!

We had some wonderful and colorful faculty. The best was Professor R.W. Nicholsen who taught history VIVIIDLY, and fought the good fight with the "Colonel on Michigan Avenue".

Patricia N. Ephgrave
Navy Pier Attendee

In 1951, when I entered Navy Pier commuting was difficult. I lived on the far south side of Chicago. Even though I did not own a car I do not ever recall taking public transportation. Back then it was not difficult to put your thumb up and get a ride downtown. At that time, you could get off the Drive at Grand Blvd. and walk to the Pier. Also, my father would occasionally loan me his car. I had a lot of classmates who would "bum" a ride with me back to the south side. Also, two of our athletic coaches lived withink a couple of block from me. Occasionally they would give me a ride. The coaches were Dean Ryan, my wrestling coach, and Les Miller the baseball coach.

High school and collegiate wrestles did not wear tops as part of their uniforms then. Also, it was before we were required to wear ear guards. We were identified as wrestlers by the bumps in our ears.

In the early 50's after the Korean War, people returned from the service and attended college on the G.I. Bill. They were older and more mature. I was only seventeen years old. My fellow classmates and wrestling team members could go into the bars downtown. That left, this seventeen year old out in the street.

Marvin R. Syren (and Wife Karen) '51-'52 and '52-'53
Navy Pier Attendee

I graduated from Von Steuben Senior High School on the North side in January 1953 and began my studies at Navy Pier. First enrolled in Civil Engineering, I then transferred into General Engineering in 1954. Since physical education was required I tool weightlifting in the upper room in the Quonset Gym and then wrestling on the gym mats on the main floor. Badminton followed and then Square Dancing on the stage in the women's gym at the east end. My partner was a lovely girl named Sharon Barnes from Forest Park. When it rained we had buckets in the classrooms. We would sneak up the side stairs to the restaurant show to eat all sorts of food. Speaking of food, the cafeteria on the west end had the greatest cheese burgers in town. The pile drives for the filtration plant were busy at work and the noise was maddening. In the fall of 1955, I went to Urbana-Champaign, enrolled inn Industrial Engineering and graduated in 1957. I received my Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering in 1961. After working in industry for ten years, I joined the faculty at UIC in 1971 and retired in 1994.

Floyd G. Miller
Navy Pier Attendee

Two things stand out in my mind about the Pier in 1946. First, that several of my high school teacher at Lane Tech (1943) were now teaching at U of I Navy Pier. Most noteworthy was Arnold P. Heflin, Physics. Also, the great feeling of camaraderie at the school. I met many great friends who I had not seen for 3 years during the war. Most of them had also been in the service. Also, we had our won fraternity, which was called "Sigma Sewage" out on the end of the Pier (for obvious reason). One last item, many of us who had been gone for 3 years appreciate the army-navy surplus sales which were held in the south wing of the Pier. There was usually a lottery held for some of the hard to get electric tools, Great fun!

Richard J. Karas
Navy Pier Attendee

• Remembering the gatherings to watch the McCarthy hearings.

• The wonders of being captive all day. What a chance to "make-out" in some of the hidden "catacombs" upstairs.

• Rooms with linseed oil laden concrete floors lit by a single ceiling light bulb.

• Dragging my formaldehyde ridden rat to the Pier on the "EL"

• The excellent faculty

Avis P. Barnard
Navy Pier Attendee

That 1st day, that endless tube of a corridor, the confusion for me, standing at my locker that pulsating stream of people scurrying by, tears welling my eyes, scared. I'd just left my 1st architectural drafting class, I'd just held a 'T' square and triangle for the 1st time and while the others were rushing through the assignment, I felt paralyzed. Maybe, this architecture was a bad idea, maybe something else. After all, I was valedictorian in High School and I wasn't used to being befuddled. Then, there she was, a small, rounded lady, my instructor and she was asking why I seemed so disturbed. When I told her, she answered, what had I expected. I was amidst a group of students all of whom already had a drafting background from high school, and that at least give it a couple of weeks. If, then it wasn't for you, she'd help in getting me transferred to medicine, my second choice. Her being there at that moment, her assurance, her understandiing, and guidance, triggered something good in me. I never looked back. I loved that corridor, it was home for me and I learned to live that 'T' square and triangle. With those life long friends I've designed homes for Steven Spielberg, Richard Donna, Meral Streep, Brucie Willis, Mo and Evelyn Ostir, Jill and Brad Grey, Victoria and Jean Marc and now the love of my life, my wife, Ruby in Palm Springs, California.

Harry Newman
Navy Pier Attendee

As a 17 year old high school graduate from Lane Technical High School in June 1946, I had the privilege of being among the very first to attend the navy pier extension of the University of Illinois when classes actually began in October 1946. Classes were late staring in 1946 because of ongoing construction activities, a challenge for all.

One morning in an English 101 class, a construction worker joined us "from above" as he fell through the acoustical ceiling. Fortunately for all no one was injured and after about 15 minutes of clean-p, classes resumed.

Lake Michigan did not provide a "campus" climate and my classmates and I left school for work without the opportunity to develop social relationships. My veteran classmates did teach me tow things that still remain with me, to drink strong coffee and smoke cigarettes, two things that made it possible to maintain my seen but not hear persona.

Being there two years and out starting ping toward a college degree at Navy Pier, in 1948 my new military "grads" and myself were "discharged" for the U of I and left to finish our college careers elsewhere, without benefit of a "yearbook" of any kind to remember fades and names 57 years later.

Economics and a good after-school job dictated my enrollment in another local university, De Paul University's business school "campus" on the top six floors of 64 E. Lake Street from where I graduated in June 1950, just as the Korean "conflict" began. Eight months later Uncle Sam called so I also became a military veteran in 1953 (but stateside all the time), reversing the wonderful experience that began at navy Pier in 1946!

My wife and I look forward to attending the UIAA-UIC Partner Awards Gala on February 3, 2006. Miracles of miracles might happen if I recognize any one or be recognized by any other septuagenarian or octogenarian from that pioneering class of 1946-48!

Robert F. Serafin (Bob Serafinowicz in 46/48)
Navy Pier Attendee

• Basic PE, running for a mile around the Quanset Hut that was the gym. Climbing 20 foot ropes, and learning how to swim at the YMCA.

• Making a life long friend.

• The grind of Engineering, commuting, and working. But grateful for the opportunity to go to college.

• The school that was a wharf and included rats.

• The Pier was to me what the statue of liberty was to my parents. Opportunity in a great land.

Sheldon Altman
Navy Pier Attendee

I valued my academic and athletic experience at Navy Pier. They have helped in the quality of my life. Old friend please e-mail me. Including Vesna, Barb, and Mary. All women! I am ok!

Kenneth Strand
Navy Pier Attendee

I grew up in a neighborhood a mile south of Wrigley Field, attended Lane Tech High School. I did not have the money to go down state. So Navy Pier was a help to me to live at home and attend the U of I. I remember the mile long hall way with class rooms on the both sides of the hall way. I rode the "L" and a street car to school. I remember the big gym and running around it 4 times in the cold winter time. I wan to thank the U of I for opening Navy Pier after WWII so that those of us with limited funds could go to the U of I. I did go downstate for my junior and Senior years and received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering. I also have a M.S. in Electrical Engineering from University of Denver and a Master of Divinity from N.O. Baptist Seminary. I am part time minter at 1st United Methodist Church in Slidell, LA. We were flooded by the hurricane. Please pray for our recovery.

Allan W. Anderson Jr.
Navy Pier Attendee

I attended navy Pier September '48 until September '50.

• I remember having to run around the gymnasiums in shorts in minus 20 degree weather with the wind blowing, every Monday morning.

• I remember Herr Werner- Our government teacher who began every class with a joke.

• I remember the weekend that the wind blew down the math lab. I was not sorry for trigonometry was not my best subject.

• I remember Dr. Bucher, our physiology instructor, who was very strict and feared by all especially me. One day after class, she asked me what my dream was. She said you have to have a dream. At the time I had no clue. After graduating in 1952, I realized my dreams, to go to NY, California and Paris. I traveled all over Europe, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Greece. I spent many weekend and two summers for the French Riviera.

• I remember running from the end of the pier to the other to get to class on time, avoiding bumping into the large posts that were in the middle of the not too wide hallway.

Izetta Fannings Karp
Navy Pier Attendee

Both my wife and I share a number of memories from our days at U of I- Navy Pier (late fifties). Here are a few:

• Grand St. connect to campus from the EL-arrive AM- dark/cold, leave PM-dark/cold.

• Roller skating to class

• Pushing for Meigs Field site for a four year campus.

• Sound of warehouse barrels rolling overhead classrooms

• Great professors and instruction!!!

• Polish sausage (concession at entrance)

• Studying by waters edge on the perimeters of the Pier

• Sounds of pile drives (construction of Water Filtration Plant)

We both are graduates of UIUC and retired Public School teachers.

Byron T. Bekiares & Christine A. Bekidres
Navy Pier Attendees

I have fond memories of my Navy Pier days. I will always remember my favorite teachers. Dr. Rhuemer for climatology-physical science and Mr. Sarkison for biology. However, I will never forget the ceiling falling down in the classroom during an ancient history lecture. I will always have vivid memories of hurrying to class at Navy Pier on cold, snowy, wintry days.

Beverly H. Walker (Jackson)
Navy Pier Attendee

As a young kid riding 3 streetcars, lugging drawing boards, tackle boxes, lunch bags and a whole host of other items stuffed into my pockets, little did I realize the true significance of how my NAVY PIER experience would eventually mold my life. Those days for me, 1949-1951, as I reflect back on them, literally formed and changed my life forever. My fellow students, many of whom had returned from World War II with wives and families already started, were mature beyond their years. They were inspirations, beacons of light and role models in themselves, having endured what they did overseas for our right to be free.

The professors, teachers, administrators, "Ma Harran" and counselors also had come out of a background of extreme difficulty, many also having been in the war, and most having grown up as young adults during the Great Depression. Few today have any understanding or comprehension of what that means in real life terms. Because of that rare and specific time frame, the environment was electric with hope, enthusiasm, and a deep desire to pursue learning…anything…and working towards a brighter future. Hitch your wagon to a star! Dream about what could be. Work to make it happen. All was…and still is…possible.

Ron Dirsmith '54 FAA, MARCH '56 UIUC
Navy Pier Attendee

Pier: A long walk to the cafeteria and back to the men's gym. First kiss outside at end of pier. The smell of alcohol walking by the Biology Department. Failing Russian. Watching ships unload and the smell of lake fish. Seeing a telephone pole bobbing on the wind swept rough lake just outside of the window of my German class. Looking back at the city & enjoying the beauty of the Chicago lake front. Naked statues of men at end of pier. Some cold drafty classrooms.

Daniel F. Yetter '67 ENG UIUC
Navy Pier Attendee

I remember Navy Pier fondly. I graduated from Austin High School and entered U of I Navy Pier in the fall of 1958. I took the bus to school and probably would not have been able to attend college if it had not been for Navy Pier.

I was born in Latvia and my family escaped the Russian occupation during WWII. We were in a DP camp in Germany before we emigrated to the US in 1950.

There were many Latvian students at Navy Pier. I have great memories of walking down the long corridor to the cafeteria at the very end of the pier. There was a favorite table at the very end of the cafeteria where all the Latvian students met.

It was very important to me to be able to live at home, save money, and work part time during the school year. After the two years at Navy Pier, I had money saved and could transfer to Champaign-Urbana. I then had the experience of living on campus for two years. I would not have been able to go away for four years.

My education at Navy Pier gave me the opportunity to get two years of education in a first class institution and then transfer down state. I found the transition went smoothly and felt no disadvantage because my first two years had not occurred in Champaign-Urbana. Being down state also turned out great for me because I met my future husband who was in a Ph.D. chemistry program.

Velta Burton '62 LAS UIUC
Navy Pier Attendee

Like most of the students at Navy Pier (as we called it) I lived in Chicago. I had just graduated from Austin High School.

My first memory was sitting in the large hall where incoming freshman gathered to hear orientation. These were the days before SAT's and other incoming tests to limit enrollment. The University Of Illinois had to accept all Illinois residents that graduated from an accredited 4 year high school. We were told to look to the left and look to the right (at our other freshman students). Then we were told that only 1 in 3 of us would make it through the first year at Navy Pier. What a motivating speech that was!! Unfortunately it was very accurate.

Having just graduated from High School, the class size and instructors were familiar. A typical freshman class in advanced math had 20 to 25 students and was taught by a Professor. I thrived in this familiar enviroment. It was not until my junior year, when I transferred to Urbana, did I realize how fortunate I was to have spent my first 2 years at Navy Pier.

I remember my first class in Electrical Engineering in Urbana. It had about 20 students and was taught by an associate professor in Electrical Engineering. My classmates seemed amazed at the small class size and high level of the Instructor. I asked them what they had been used to. Now it was my turn to be amazed. I was told a freshman Calculus Class had over 100 students and the teaching section was lead by a TA (Teaching Associate, better known as a Graduate Student in Math). I had no idea that the first 2 years of undergraduate classes were taught in that manner.

I had the strongest 2 years of undergraduate education that I could have received except for, perhaps, a sm! all private very expensive college. It gave me a strong academic backg round that made my upper division classes much easier and launched me into Graduate School.

I changed majors while at Navy Pier. I had entered with the plan to major in chemistry. However my laboratory skills left a lot to be desired. When my lab breakage fees became larger than the tuition, I felt a message was being sent to me. I looked for a discipline that could use my math skills and technical orientation. Engineering was a new and expanding field (so I was told). But there were many different types of engineering. Which to choose?

I decided to look for an engineering discipline that had a minimum of Labs. Electrical Engineering was recommended as fitting that criteria. At the next semester break I decided to transfer into Electrical Engineering.

Signing up for classes was a very manual process. The gym was turned into a class enrollment area and you stood in line in front of tables manned by instructors that would sign you up for classes based on availability. I walked over to the Electrical Engineering Table and stood in the rear of a long line. When I finally got to the front the instructor asked me where I wanted to transfer. I thought that an odd question since I was in the Electrical Engineering Line. I said "Into Electrical Engineering of course". He looked at me with a grin and told me that I was in the line transferring OUT of Electrical Engineering. I asked him where was the line transferring in and he pointed to an empty table with a very bored looking instructor sitting behind it. I walked over with some trepidation but decided I was going to do it anyway.

My Calculus Professor left a lasting impression on me. She was a full Professor and an excellent teacher. However she did like to make us work. She would assign homework problems as follows:

Do every third problem in the set.
There was a chorus of groans and moans from the class. She told us she was not used to the lazy students that were coming into the University! When she first began teaching in the early 1950's the students were primarily exGI's on the GI Bill. When she gave them the same assignment she had just given us, they would come in the next day and had done ALL of the problems in the set. They had questions about them and she had to have sloved them so she could answer their questions. Perhaps living through the experiences of war makes you take life more seriously.

All in all my 2 years at Navy Pier was the most perfect transition between high school and University life that I could imagine.

Phillip Doppelt '61 ENG, MS '63 UIUC
Navy Pier Attendee

"Navy Pier! I remember it well: the longest mile between classes and only five minutes – or was it three minutes – to make it on time! It was a challenging year for a freshman in more than one way."

Lilija Nastonas-Adomenas, MA '78 UIC
Navy Pier Attendee

The physical features of Navy Pier and the big western-end gym and the problems they presented in attending classes are a big component of my memories of my "Pier" experience as well as everybody else's. In that regard, I cherish the memory of sneaking in one of the northern class rooms, with a wonderful view of the lake when sitting at the instructor's desk, on Saturday's for a quiet place to study for upcoming exams. The guards tossed me out a few times when it got late, but mostly they never knew I was there.

Most of my really good personal interactions happened at the cafeteria; I remember the interactions vividly, and the friends that I made, but not the food, which could not have been that bad.

I still remember the library and the chance it presented to explore more advanced things, particularly in math and physics, texts that I subsequently recognized as "classics" even though I could not appreciate much about them at the time.

Finally, I am grateful for the chemistry courses I took at the Pier and, especially, the people who taught them. I think that these instructors provided me, by their interest in me and their obvious dedication, with my first inspiration to pursue science (in my case Physics) as a career. Kenneth L. Kowalski, B.S. (Physics), Ill. Institute of Technology; Ph.D (Physics), Brown University; Professor of Physics, Case Western Reserve University.

Kenneth L. Kowalski
Navy Pier Attendee

I attended Navy Pier from 1961 to 1963. The thing I remember not so fondly was the commute from Rogers Park for my 8:00 classes. I had to take the bus to the el, the el to Grand Ave., and the Grand Avenue bus to the Pier... lots of fun in the dark in sub-zero weather. Sometimes I would wind up cutting that 8:00 class to play hearts in the cafeteria instead.

I have so many happy memories of my two years there. It felt like a community... maybe because we were so contained by its configuration.

I do remember sitting out in back on a summer day and watching the ships go by. The fireboats used to park at the end of the pier... and I remember those cute Scandinavian sailors.

I also remember half a mile of buckets catching the drips in the hallway on a rainy day... and the constant jokes about being torpedoed. We took it all in stride, as part of the deal.

And most of all I remember Dr. Lipman's psychology classes and how we would all crack up every time he would describe someone as "disturbed" in that peculiar accent he had.

I'm glad I got to go there. It was a unique experience and one I'll never forget.

Judith (Loberg) Rock
Navy Pier Attendee

I was very fond of the Pier, which I attended for two years before transferring downstate. The trade shows, the fishermen, the noises, all added to the "ambience."

I was in ROTC and in good weather we would have drill outdoors on the area just east of the girls gym (now the grand ballroom). I was a ssgt and I recall marching my squad one day when I suddenly thought what would happen if they marched off the end of the pier. I started laughing so hard I couldn't say a thing. Fortunately they stopped short of the edge but I still laugh today thinking about it.

I was on the ROTC rifle team and we had our rifle range set up inside what is now the water filtration plant just north of the pier. The building was under construction at the time.

The first day of ROTC class Sgt Clampitt would ask which students in the class were in engineering. Those who raised their hands would be put in charge of opening and closing the windows for the semester.

I also remember the day when campus "activists" dumped a coffin containing Mayor Daley's empty promises for a new campus into the lake.

Edward M. Samson '62 LAS, MBA '64 UIUC
Navy Pier Attendee

1. Summer school, with the golden planetarium dome shimmering in the distance

2. Roller skating students making the run from the front gate to the "lake" cafeteria in minutes

3. Taking a tour whenever a lake boat captain at the south pier would okay it

4. All morning bid whist tournaments

Kenneth L. Caldwell '65 ENG, '65 LAS
Navy Pier Attendee

I REMEMBER MY U-OF-I NAVY PIER . AFFECTIONATELY

I remember the student who slept with his eyes open in physics class and the teacher telling him he would get an A if he told how to do that.

I remember my pretty chemistry teach who I had a crush on. She was also my chemistry teacher in high school. At the end of the semester, I ask her for a date . she said no but was flattered. Oh well, at least I got an A in all three schools! (I deserved them).

I especially remember excellent teachers and professors who went out of their way to help all ways.

I remember a great swim team coach and fellow team members . going to competitions at southern colleges at the end of one semester ... we had a winning season. I remember long walks going to the Naval Armory pool on Chicago Lake Shore Drive for swimming practice in the dead of winter . wind chills below zero . then walking to the L' station downtown after practice . going home . studying that evening . starting next day to do it again . and loving it.

I remember the cafeteria at the wet-end of NP at lunch time . eating . studying . playing hearts . and waiting for the next class.

I remember the long walks along NP to get to classes . good exercise . amazed how the eye vanishing point disappeared at the far end of your line of sight when no one was in the hallway.

And most of all I remember the good friends and fellow students. There are too many memories to add . life is great many times especially when your young.

Ronald Staschke '62 ENG UIUC
Navy Pier Attendee

I commuted fron the Near North Side on the Clark Street streetcar. Between Division and Grand Avenue, every other store front was a liquor store,bar, pawn shop, or strip club. When I saw Bennie the Bum's Bar, it was time to get up, the next stop was Grand Avenue. The subway station was 2 blocks east on State Street, so those student commuters missed this colorful part of town.

I remember the harsh overhead flourescent lighting in the classrooms. The Engineering and Science students all carried slide rules. I took College Algebra from Professor Nowlan. This was the first time I was taught by the person who wrote the book. Also in the Math Department was the red-headed Dr. Frank, who taught Calculus very effectively. When I transferred downstate, the campus was very! large, but the number of students in each major was still relatively small, so I saw many of the old classmates from Navy Pier.

Bob Uyetani
Navy Pier Attendee

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