Honoring the honor dorm

By Cornell Report Staff | October 30, 2010

About 20 former residents of the college’s men’s honor residence gathered this summer for a reunion commemorating the 50th anniversary of its founding.

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Row one: Ort Kolewe ’61, Norm Engstrom ’67, Keith Collins ’69, Bob Rubin ’67, John Brazer ’64. Row two: Craig Kuehl ’66, Peter McCormick ’65, Howard Happ ’64, Bruno Schmidt ’64, Mike Rogers ’67. Row three: Jack Schroeder ’67, Gordon Whitaker ’65, Bob Hellwig ’67, David Kline ’68, Bob Howard ’69, John Klaus ’64, John Lowell ’68. On Screen: Rob Sauer ’63

The residence opened in 1960 without a housemother—something other dorms on campus had into the mid 1970s. Instead, the residents, 22 in all, from all four classes, drew up a constitution and agreed to rules for living together. Though the students were academically successful, the honor in the name referred to the honor system, replacing a housemother’s oversight. The first honor residence was in Guild Hall, then moved to Altoona Hall, and finally was in Pauley and Rorem halls.

Gordon Whitaker ’65, who lived in the Altoona iteration of the honor residence, attended the reunion.

“Bob Hellwig ’65 organized the reunion to coincide with the 50th year of the honor residence founding,” he said. “He had good help from the college alumni office in locating addresses for many of the former residents and in managing the logistics for the reunion. Mostly we just talked, catching up on each others’ lives over the past 40-odd years.”

The events for the reunion included a welcoming reception, a talk/campus tour by Rev. Thomas, and a memorial service in Allee Chapel led by the Rev. Howard Happ ’64 and the Rev. Catherine Quehl-Engel ’89 to honor members who have died.

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