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Marble Hall A Story for the Ages by Randy Sarvis X he cornerstone reads "Built by Students" — and indeed it was! In contemplating a century and a quarter of Wilmington College heritage, legacy and tradition during this commemorative year, the construction of Marble Hall shines as the watershed event in the institution's 125-year history. Led by WC's young, new president, Samuel D. Marble, in 1948, the construction of a major building depending largely on volunteer student labor was both a bold and risky endeavor for the financially struggling College. But Marble saw this project as something much greater than building a dormitory to house the large influx of G.I.s on campus following World War II; rather, he viewed the venture as something that affected the very heart and soul of Wilmington College. "We're getting a lot more out of this work project than a new building," Marble said in a Reader's Digest article. "We're making a better bridge between education and life." And he told Newsweek the project had implications that went far beyond Wilmington College's 27 acres. "We are not primarily interested in saving money, although that, of course, is pleasant," Marble said. "We are trying rather to teach our students that seemingly insoluble problems — like the construction, without sufficient funds, of desperately needed campus buildings — can be solved. "In later life, they will perhaps then be encouraged to tackle other seemingly insoluble problems — like world peace, for example," he added. 4 Fall 1995 The Marble years of 1947 through 1959 reflected the surge of great expectations and unbridled optimism running rampant in the country as the United States was asserting its role in what would become known as the American Century. As with many of the nation' s institutions, World War II and its aftermath had a great impact on higher education and Wilmington College was no exception. WC had a predominantly female enrollment of 133 students (13 men and 120 women) in 1944 when Roy Joe Stuckey '48 arrived as a freshman. Tht College was especially strapped for money during the war years and Arthur Watson's presidency (1940-47), as WC did not accept military training units and the money that would have accompanied them. "It was war time and the College was struggling so hard; bul there was a spirit here, one that started wiih President Watson and people with the names of Pyle, Boyd and Hazard," Stuckey said. "We had great education..., and those were pretty good odds for men with all the women here — I ended up marrying one of them!" With the end of the war came a great euphoria that this tragic ordeal was finally over, and the G.I. Bill, which provided for former soldiers to attend college free of charge, revolutionized higher education. The G.I.s began to "trickle in" during early 1946, and, by the start of the 1946-47 academic year, that trickle became a raging flood, recalled Ira G. "I.G." Hawk '46, who served as WC's director of public relations, admission and alumni trom 1944-52. Sam Marble rallies the troops. Photos Courtesy of Wilmington College Archives "The College of 100-plus students drawing from a 12-county area suddenly became a College of 550 students from a very wide area, including, for the first time, the East," said Hawk. "Everybody wanted to go to college. , "It was a totally new Wilmington College," he added. "All of a sudden, it was a cosmopolitan college and it attracted a bright, charming, energetic new president in Dr. Marble." A major challenge for the 32-year-old president when he arrived in the fall of 1947 centered around where to house all those men. They had been living in Quonset huts, attics and a partitioned section of Whittier Place, the College's gymnasium, which had been outfitted with 200 Navy surplus bunks. As spring began to set in during Marble's inaugural year, a handful of stu-
dent leaders and faculty and staff members were summoned to attend a meeting at the president's home (107 College St., the current site of WC's Advancement Office). The Marbles had only recently moved in and Stuckey recalls seeing little furniture and unopened boxes of household goods throughout the living room as Marble's wife, Rebecca, served Pepsi-Cola to what would become the Building Planning Committee later that evening. "Sam said, if we don't get some place for these men to stay, they will leave; and if they leave, most of the women will leave,'" Stuckey said, noting Marble was always careful in building his case. "When he unveiled the plans for a new dormitory, we were bug-eyed — and then he said it would be built with student labor!" Stuckey recalls Beatrice (Walker) Warren '48, head of the student YWCA chapter, asking Marble if there would be work for women. "Sam said, 'Of course! Women will work side-by-side with the men, and Dr. Marble will too!'" he said. "I know it's not going to be easy," Marble told the group, as reported in the College newspaper, Quaker Quips. "It will entail much hard work and an even greater amount of interest on the part of the students, but this can well be i he start that Wilmington College has long awaited." After several hours of discussion, the Planning Committee agreed and pledged its support. Several subsequent, secret meetings were held as M irble's spontaneous plan evolved — until April 13, 1948, finally arrived. "In later life, they will perhaps then be encouraged to tackle other seemingly insoluble problems — like world peace, for example," — Sam Marble It had been mys :eriously billed as "WC' s D-Day," and few students knew what to expect when they en tered the campus convocation at Whittier Place called by Marble to begin immediately :'ollowing 8 a.m. classes. "I recall that clay very vividly — the swing band was playing when we walked inside the door," said Stuckey, one of a handful of students who had even a clue of what would transpi e. The event exceeded all expectations. The legend of Marble Hall was built upon a foundation of volunteer student labor. "First, a Methodist minister, Rev. Gaston Foote, inspired us by speaking about Jesus Christ and what he was able to accomplish," Stuckey said. "He said he knew we had it in us to achieve these great plans that Dr. Marble would unveil. "Then Sam spoke of the impossible situation of the young men who had returned from the struggle to save the country, and how we could build a dormitory — Sam really was a dynamo!" Stuckey said, noting that, at precisely the most dramatic moment during his talk, the president uncovered an artist's rendition of the building. "He said, 'How many will pledge a day's work?' Everyone stood up. 'How many will pledge two days' work?' Again, everybody stood up," he said. "Then Bill Hilgeman ('50), the leader of the renegade fraternity of veterans, shouted, 'Tau Kappa Beta pledges one month!' "With that, Sam jumped up on the podium and said, 'Good, we've just built the first unit — let's get to work!'" Marble led the students to the building site, which had been surveyed and staked out by Dr. W.R. Pyle, chairman of the Department of Physics and Mathematics. There, on the ground, which had been saturated with seven consecutive days of rain, were 150 shovels collected by Clifton Warren, a former teacher with construction experience who had been hired to serve as supervisor of the building project. "We got all the shovels we could find in town the day before," recalled Warren, a 1927 graduate of Earlham College who has lived most of his life in Wilmington and attended WC his freshman year. "There was an air of excitement," he said, noting that Marble had approached him about supervising the construction. Warren agreed to the task and immediately turned over management of his farm implement business to a nephew before selling it altogether. Stuckey and a mob of excited students grabbed those shovels, posed for a quick groundbreaking photograph and began working. "That day in the rain we dug The Link 5
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Page 39 and 40: Alumni T-Shirts $9.99 Vantage Sweat

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