Wheaton College Alumni Magazine Spring 2013 | Page 39

In 1933, these young ladies could never have guessed that the bench they
are sitting on—donated to the College by the Class of 1912—would became
the object of intense class rivalries some years later. Genevieve Van Houtum
’33 (left) placed this picture of her and Grace Wolfenden ’33 in her scrapbook,

Wheaton College arChives and speCial ColleCtions

which is now in the College’s Archives and Special Collections.

Dem Were
the Daze –

and They Continue to Be So
by Ray Smith ’54

Was it Charles Blanchard, Prexy Edman, or Phil Ryken who said,
with a paraphrasing sigh: “Student rivalries will always be with us.”
Well, at least since 1912—when graduates anchored the first senior bench in
front of Blanchard Hall. (It was first photographed for the 1934 Tower.)
And where ground rules for traditional junior/senior rivalry varied with deans,
today 56 v