Blackburn alumnus James Barr kicked off the 60 year reunion for the class of 1956 with a small monologue. “The year was 1955,” he began, “and this is what people were saying… ‘I’ll tell you one thing, if things keep going the way they are, it’s going to be impossible to buy a week’s worth of groceries for $10.’” This comment was met with smiles and laughter from the other graduates gathered around the table. Barr continued listing the ways that life had changed in the 60 years since they had attended Blackburn College. The alumni had their reunion in at Magnolia’s, a restaurant in Carlinville. Barr, who helped organize the event, said that he was very glad that over 20 people were able to come.
Blackburn students at a 1956 school dance.
The graduates all had stories about when they had attended Blackburn. Bob Beatres remembered one night a fire started in the small woods near campus, “A military boy – I think his name was Rich Miller – busted through the door and screamed, ‘Quick men! We have to save the girls in Stoddard!’ I missed those woods; they were a good place to go spoon with girls.” Beatres also remembered a friend of his who would always pull pranks. “He would do pretty standard stuff. He would put farm animals on the upper floors [Blackburn still had a farm on campus at this time]. The best prank he ever pulled, though, was one spring when he hung up a sign that said, ‘30 Days Until.’ No one knew what he was planning. The next day he hung up a sign that said, ‘29 Days Until.’ This continued for the rest of the month until he hung up a sign that said, ‘One Day Left.’ At this point the entire campus was excited but also nervous about his prank. The next day nothing had happened. He had fooled the students and the staff into thinking some big prank was gonna be pulled.”
Alumnus John Edwards recalled a funny story that occurred while he was on trash duty for Campus Services. In those days, students in the work program would ride around in trucks and collect garbage from various buildings and burn them in pits. “We were making our rounds, picking up trash like any other trash day,” he said. “In this one instance, we accidentally stopped the truck on another burn pit while stopping to collect trash.” When Barr and his partner returned to the truck, the tire was completely engulfed in flames. “I could see the headlines in ‘The ‘Burnian saying ‘James Barr Burned to a Crisp’ but I knew we had to try and save the truck.” Barr’s partner drove the truck with the tire still on fire to a nearby water pump. Barr and his partner managed to put out the fire. “I don’t recall the crew head ever finding out that that happened,” smiled Barr.
The alumni agreed Blackburn was a great place to go to school and all of them praised the work program. “The work program,” said Barr, “is a great opportunity. You get to know people ahead of you, people behind you. I met my wife there; it was a great experience overall.”