Minidome

In early spring 1974, ETSU started its largest building project ever ---  the construction of an indoor covered football stadium. In theory, it would be a multi-function building, but the design was specifically for football games. Other uses were secondary, including basketball games, teaching PE classes, intramural activities, and, more importantly, other big assembly functions such as graduation ceremonies etc. The building place was on the old stadium site, together with some other adjacent areas. Included was the site of the old Math Building, which was too small by that time even for just the teaching classrooms and faculty offices. But, of course, the new building would not solve these simple academic problems! I took a few pictures of the initial construction, so you can see the size of this enormous task:   

Departmental Administrators

It was very typical to see just a skeleton of administrators at the Departmental levels at a university in the USA in the seventies. It meant that a university level faculty member had to do everything himself or herself as there was no supporting personnel around – things such as printing out exams, setting up for demonstrations, etc. Certainly, you had to grade all your exams and correct any homework you assigned to your students. Once in a while a faculty member might be assigned a student worker for a few hours a week if there was a need for special support. Let me describe for you all the Departmental administrators in the Chemistry Department during the academic year 1973~1974, as an example of a typical Departmental operation:

Department Chair: Dr. D.G. Nicholson He was in charge of running the whole department - both the academics and the administrative details, from ordering supplies and chemicals to buying new equipment and instruments, and, most importantly, the departmental budget. Certainly, he needed to make everyone happy to live together, faculty and staff all included. At the same time, he had to teach his own classes. Nicholson had a University of Illinois PhD in Inorganic Chemistry and was well liked as a teacher in the classroom. Two things stand out when people described him: he was a very loud, and he was a devoted Presbyterian  church member.

Secretary of the Department: Mrs. June Shipley  She supported the Chair and the rest of the Department in everything, from typing the manuscripts to buying office supplies.

Stockroom clerk: Mrs. Lilly She was in charge of the stockroom, assigning lockers to all students taking chemistry labs as well as stocking them and checking students in and out, preparing and supplying all chemicals and solutions for students use, and ordering all chemicals for students use. She had a helper at that time: Mr. Hughes 

Foot Braces

Have you heard the term “foot braces” before? We had not before Dr. Meeks told us that Steven needed one after a regular check-up. He told us that one of Steven’s feet was turning slightly inward. I believe that it was the left one, I am not sure as you can not tell from the picture. Steven had to wear this brace for more than one year after he turned two years old and was walking well. You could see it easily when he was up and playing in front of you. If Steven was sitting down, you would not see it unless you were looking for it. The following pictures will give you an idea of how Steven managed during a span of about one and half years. The braces really did not slow him down at all!

Grandpa and Nana

Grandpa and Nana came to visit just a few days after Christmas day, which was just great in helping to keep the spirit burning! There was no question that our two kids considered Christmas a season, not just a day! There was more gift opening, more food tasting, and, of course, more picture taking and more drinks served, etc.

In the last picture, you can see that there is a gray-colored record player on top of the picture. It was part of our decoration at home then. It was a variable speed player, specifically designed for use in folk dancing. We were then still heavily involved in International folk dancing.

A Precious Moment

We all have many, many precious moments in our lives. Some of them we would love to be able to catch on a picture or video tape. But, generally, we do not get a chance to have such an opportunity. During the Christmas season in 1973, when we opened our Christmas gifts, we had just the right moment. Believe it or not, I was lucky enough to catch it with a picture. It is just very precious to me! Take a look at this picture below taken when Steven played the first chord on his new gift of a toy guitar!

  

You can see that they both enjoyed playing guitars. PanPan also got a chance to play that year - on  MY gift!

Christmas 1973

Kai was the only visitor from out of town on Christmas day, 1973. Both PanPan and Steven enjoyed the routine we had started on Christmas eve. We would prepare some food and drink for Santa Claus when he brought the gifts down the chimney. Then, on Christmas day, the children would open some of their gifts before they changed from their pajamas into regular clothes. It was great fun to see them getting so excited. Of course, we always took some time, later in the day, to take some pictures together. In 1973 Janice made some special clothes for the “girls” and she made matching ties for the “boys”. (Unfortunately, my picture did not get the ties clearly, but they were of the  same material as the dresses.) You can see them if you examine the pictures carefully! Janice has never duplicated this effort. Once was enough! But she loves these pictures!!

Having Fun in the Snow

The weather in East Tennessee is really ideal. The area has four distinct seasons, with great colors in the spring and fall, and with summers and winters which are generally mild. It was an ideal place to live and to bring up children. We enjoyed living there and often thought how lucky we were to live in a place like East Tennessee! Once a while, we had a big snow which covered the whole area. Usually the roads were cleared in a couple of days and we could enjoy the mild weather again! I have a couple of pictures below, to show how our kids built a snowman and enjoyed the white stuff. They are not the best pictures, but you can get some feel of our mood!

My beautiful Wife!

Yes, I have a beautiful wife! The word beautiful is not just to describe that she looks great - that is just the starting point. There are a lot of people who look great, but once you examine them a bit deeper, you do not see anything more. Janice is beautiful inside and out. She has a great personality, she is patient, she is willing  to work hard, she sees things clearly and she has a good idea of what is wanted. She knows what is right and always sticks to her thinking in trying to do the right thing. This does not mean that she is stubborn all the time, she realizes that some compromise is necessary in the real world. If you ask me that how I got the chance to marry her when I was so young and in graduate school, I have to tell you that it was pure luck. At the end of 1973, we had already been married for 8 years, with two youngsters at home. She had given herself up entirely for them and to give me the chance to concentrate all my time on my work. I could definitely appreciate her effort and see the beautiful side which had been hidden!

Boys from across the Street

There were four boys who lived across the street from our home on Maple Street. They were the Newbys.  Several of them were close to our children’s ages. David was the oldest, then came Dan, Mike, and Peter. Over the years, we participated in various activities with them. I might mention these later. I just wanted to say here that they often came to play with our children - not only in our yard, but also in a nearby field. They ran and exhausted themselves whenever they had a chance. It was a good thing to spend time together for they certainly needed to have some exercise to get rid of their youthful energy! Since Steven was the youngest one in the picture below, he was always trying to catch up with the older ones!

Our Yard on Maple Street

The front and back yards on Maple street were quite small. I liked them, as they did not require a lot of time to mow, and were easily maintained. But, every Fall, when all the leaves dropped, they created huge piles and it required Janice a couple of days to rake and  bag them. The pictures below were taken in the fall. The one for the back yard, unfortunately, was not high enough to show you a tree house on that big Maple tree, which was much liked by our kids, especially Steven. He even spent a night up there when he was older. The picture shows Janice was letting him out to play from the back door!