ODE to a Century
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In their own words.,.
Emerald alumni share their memories
of life in and around
the newsroom
Courtesy Phil Waldstein
The news staff from 1975-76 tries out the barber chairs in a lounge area near the
Ballroom in the EMU.
ft
Courtesy Sandi Daller
Ingrid While, Serena Williams and Ronwin Williams show off their costumes on
Halloween in 1988.
Courtesy Phyllis Van Kimmel Bell
Reporter Phyllis Van Kimmel stops for a photo with famous
evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson after interviewing her
for a story in the mid-1920s.
Phyllis Van Kimmel Bell
1920s
"As a reporter for the ODE in the mid- 1920s,
interviewing the famous (and later, notorious)
California woman evangelist Aimee Semple
McPherson when she came to preach in Eu
gene. She was a fascinating personality and had
thousands of followers. ... I took a great deal of
kidding from my fellow journalists who claimed
I ‘obviously’ had been converted!”
Karl C. Broom
1962-64
“Two stand out in my mind. The first was
shooting the Columbus Day storm my freshman
year. Ansy sensible person would have been
taking cover inside. I, of course, was outside
taking lots of photos while branches snapped
out of trees overhead, and more than a few trees
crashed to the ground just yards away. Some
good shots, but... The second was producing
the summer ODE with Ev Dennis. Ev did most
of the writing; I took care of the photography
and did a little writing. We may have had a little
help from others. We both proofed everything. I
even got to run the linotype!”
Richard Burr
1981-84
“I ... remember listening to fellow Emerald
staffers wonder how the University, Eugene and
the country would make it through the Reagan
years. Well, we did it, and the country is no
worse off for the wear.”
Cathy Neville Castillo
1961-65
“We loved to party but were very serious
about journalism and spent most of our time
fighting with or plotting against the state legis
lature (the conservatives were in power and
didn't look kindly on the kind of fuzzy liberal
thinking that came out of Eugene). ...
We wrote using the words “girls,” as in “clos
ing hours have been eliminated for senior girls
over 21,” and “Negroes,” as in “Negroes joined
the CORE march protesting housing discrimina
tion.” Bill Bowerman was coaching track, and
Len Casanova was the football coach. ... It was
a time of very fast change from the old Joe Col
lege era of parades on the Mill Race to the hard
core activism of the 1960s. We went from house
mothers and closing hours to teach-ins and the
Vietnam War in three short years. ...
Important people came and went. Neil Gold
schmidt was elected student body president in
spring of 1965. Earlier I lerbert Hoover and Win
ston Churchill had died, but to students the most
important obit reported that Max Robinson of
Maxi's Tavern fame on 13th Avenue had died.
Day in, day out, we all went to Maxi's tavern.
Some ODE staffers even lived in apartments in
Maxi’s Alley (property he owned across 1.3th.)
We wrote a big obit when Max died. ...
In the spring, 250 students sat up all night in
Erb Memorial at a Vietnam teach-in while
Wayne Morse and Ernest Gruening spoke. The
Free Speech Platform in front of the student
union had been dedicated a year or two before,
and it got lots of use. Oregon made headlines
lor having the first teach-in in the country and
also because five faculty members read Alan
Ginsburg’s poem “HOWL” at the Free Speech
Platform after a professor at Central Oregon
State College was fired for reading it at a meet
ing there.”
Carolyns. Chambers
1951-53
“I wrote a letter to the editor that was pub
lished in The Oregonian supporting confiden
tiality of the press, specifically Annette
Buchanan’s right to protect her sources on a sto
ry that some people on campus had tried mari
juana.”
Jerry H. Claussen
1954-56
“Covering and writing about Pac-8 basketball.
... McArthur Court was old even then!”
Janet O’Dell Davies
1963-67
“Coverage of the Oregon-Oregon State foot
ball game on Nov. 30, 1963, becoming the first
woman in the history of Hayward Field to be
admitted to the press box there to cover a
game.”
Monte Enbysk
1974-5
“My favorite ODE memory is working with
Randy Shilts and having him convince me I
should try writing about something besides
sports — so I did. But I still was a sports reporter
for many years after college, until I became a
business reporter and found that is what I
loved.”