The dorm had a cafeteria called the "Commons" where we ate three meals a day. It was good substantial food but that is all I can say for it. I had my first exposure to hominy and I thought it was horrible. We had it often as it was one of the staples and it was not expensive.
There were nearly 1000 students at the University at that time. We had a choice of going into the School of Engineering, Agriculture, Law, Home Economics or Business. As a girl I felt I was limited to Business, Teaching or Home Economics. I took classes toward a business degree.
Olga and I went through Panhellenic rush week during our first semester and pledged Alpha Chi Omega (AXO) a Greek sorority on campus. There were approximately 25 girls in the sorority with 12 or 14 girls living at the Alpha Chi house. As soon as initiation was over we were able to move from Hoyt Hall to the house. The advantage of this arrangement was a closer affiliation with girls with the same interests, also the food was much better. I enjoyed school, sorority life, and college activities.
I was an average student but participated in several outside clubs one of which was "Spurs." We had special skirts and sweaters with University of Wyoming symbols and as a group went to all football and basket games supporting the cheer leaders and the team. Some of the classes I took were Accounting, Political Economy, Political Science, English, as well as more typing and shorthand classes. I also took another semester of French. I enjoyed social activities and often went to Fraternity and Sorority dances. I went back to Evanston for Christmas and again during summer vacation.
At the end of my second year I was offered an office job at the University in the Purchasing Department. I decided to accept for two reasons. I was not particularly interested in accounting and business classes and that year Pop had run for the office of Judge of the Third Judicial District and had lost to a Mr. Christmas from Kemmerer. Although I knew I could continue, I decided it was time to help myself. Rose was in her third year at the University of Utah but she also decided to drop out of school. She went back to Evanston where she worked for a year with the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, a Government Agency. Grace had come to the University the year after I entered and she also joined AXO. She finished her four years at the University.
I moved to a basement apartment in the AXO house with the Gould sisters who were also AXO's. Gert, a teacher and the oldest was in her early thirties, Dot who worked for Mr. Fuller in the Purchasing Department and Kathie a senior at the University had asked me to live with them. We had a large front room with an adjoining kitchen, a bathroom and a large bedroom with two sets of bunk beds. Things did not change too much as I was still one of the group. I did not go home that summer and never lived in Evanston again. I was 19 when I started to work and take care of my own affairs.
We four girls took turns at specified duties in the apartment. I have one remembrance that I have never forgotten. This was the first week I was to be cook. Kathie, who had cooked the week before, told me there was a dish of left overs in the refrigerator and to use it to make sandwiches for our lunch. Coming home from class I quickly looked in the refrigerator and saw a dish of spaghetti. I assumed this was what she meant and fixed us all cold spaghetti sandwiches. As you can imagine, I never lived that one down and remember it to this day - "cold spaghetti sandwiches."
My boss, Mr. Fuller was interested in investments. Each morning when he came to the office he would ask "What's the market doing?" Dot and I both became interested and bought a small amount of stock that he suggested. I bought some shares of Calumet & Hecla, a copper stock. We both also leased government oil land. At the end of one year the government asked for payment of fifty cents an acre. Dot and I let our leases expire.
Thirty years later this land became valuable oil land.
During the summer of 1936 Rose and I took a trip to Vancouver, B.C. by way of Seattle. Aunt Margretta and Uncle Henry picked us up from the train at Dryden, Washington where they lived. We stayed a couple of days with them. Then they drove us to Vancouver and put us on our cruise ship. The ship was owned by the H.F. Alexander Lines and was bound for San Diego with stops at San Francisco and Long Beach. It was a real experience for both of us. We had never been on a ship before and had not been exposed to the many varieties of fish that are served on the West Coast. We had salmon and trout in Wyoming. Salmon came to the markets from the west coast. Pop was a good fisherman and we were quite accustomed to eating rainbow and brown trout. We were on the ship two nights and three days. The food was delicious but because we were not used to eating unknown foods, we did not try the shrimp and other seafood. Also the ship did not have stabilizers and there was a great deal of rolling. At night when we danced, most of the time was spent trying to keep our balance. We stopped at Long Beach where I visited a friend, Bob Oline, who I had dated in Laramie. He lived with his Mother and I stayed there at her invitation. Rose went on to Los Angeles where our Uncle Mortie and Aunt Edith were running a fund raising event for the Los Angeles Police Department. Their business was to do this in many cities in the United States. Consequently they were in each location only a matter of a few months. Cousin Gwen was working for her parents and they talked Rose into staying in Los Angeles and working for them also. When Mortie and Edith went on to their next job Rose and Gwen stayed in Los Angeles. Gwen got a job modeling fur coats at Bullocks and Rose got an office job with a business woman who had worked for Mortie and Edith. I went back to my job at Laramie as I felt it was not right to leave without giving notice. I had a good job in the Purchasing Department at the University that paid $100 a month with a months vacation with pay.
Continue to Chapter 10, Los Angeles and the rest of the history,
Return to the Dorothy Walton Bishop page, or
Return to the Lewis Family page.