From left to right: Marge Niblock, Catherine Sandahl, Sally Garrison, Pat Crump and Leslie Kneeshaw
To many college students and younger generations, the Inn at Carnall Hall is a boutique-style hotel that sits on the corner of Maple Street and Arkansas Avenue. Patrons can relax with views of Old Main lawn before going inside to enjoy an upscale dining experience at Ella’s Restaurant. Once a women’s only dormitory, Carnall Hall now serves as the meeting spot for eight University of Arkansas alumni who come together each year to reminisce of times spent on campus and the changes they’ve noticed from years past.
“We’ve been doing this for a few years now,” said Pat Crump BA’52. Admitting that their gatherings usually occur when her daughter, Leslie Kneeshaw BA’83, is in town, Crump takes the lead when organizing the yearly reunion.
Graduates of 1952 and 1953, the group all knew each other through various clubs, one in particular, Mortar Board. “There is a big Mortar Board connection between me, Catherine [Sandahl BA’53], Pat and Sally [Garrison BSSW’53],” said Marge Niblock BA’53.
However, the connections didn’t stop there. While pursuing a journalism degree, Crump and Sally’s husband, Jerol Garrison BSJ’53, shared many of the same journalism classes. While Crump served as a typist on the 1952 Razorback Yearbook staff, and Garrison as a staff writer with the The Arkansas Traveler, the two became friends through the various courses taught by “Uncle” Walter J. Lemke, as well as collaboration on the student newspaper.
Reflecting on their time spent at the U of A, Crump can’t help but notice the vast changes that have occurred throughout the years. “The campus is much bigger now than it was back in my day. The boys from World War II were still here, but the campus was so much smaller then,” she said. While in attendance, less than 4,000 students were enrolled at the University of Arkansas, a far cry from the nearly 25,000 students that arrived on campus this past fall.
Now in their early 80s, Crump and her fellow alumni are already seeing the continuation of their legacies through their children and grandchildren. While the days of girls wearing long skirts with ankle socks, and boys wearing pleated khakis or rolled up jeans are a thing of the past, the graduates of 1952 and 1953 keep the memories alive with each passing year.
