Strong Memories Keep Coming
More of you share memories of old Strong Hall, which closed at the end of spring semester. Do you have Strong memories? Send them to torch@tennessee.edu
I was an RA in Strong my junior and senior years and immediately fell in love with that old, quirky building. How comforting it was to return from class or a visit home and go to my room filled with real furniture, a large window that actually opened (to better hear the garbage truck at the dumpster) , and all my friends. I am glad that at least the exterior will be preserved after renovation. Does anyone know if it is possible to buy a piece of the dorm room furniture as a memento?
Brenda McWilliams Mason ’76
I have fond memories of Strong Hall. My roommate, Janet Brown (Patterson), and I shared a room there for four quarters from the fall of 1964 until we left in the winter quarter of 1966 to do our student teaching. The real upside to Strong Hall was the great food downstairs and the delightful quirkiness of Strong’s geography. Another upside for us was that we had our own private bath. The downside was the step up into the bathroom and the fact that the price we paid for the private bath was having the housemother next door. I’m sorry it won’t continue to serve UT women.
Carole Barber ’66
In 1947, my Kittie Kain dorm room became the hideout for two baby ducks! My idea was to surprise two fellows with a special Easter treat, and these colored darlings needed room and board for a few days until my friends could take on their unsuspected responsibilities. My room was the only place for them to stay.
At the end of the semester, when we would all be returning to our respective homes, what should be done about the one surviving duck—now an adult? The solution—duck dinner for three, cooked and served in the Pan Hellenic building. The Kittie Kain house mother never found out!
Ann McFadden Reaves ’48, Clermont, FL
Of course I never lived at Strong Hall, but I kissed Patsy in the shrubbery just before the curfew many nights. If you were late getting your date back before the curfew, you were in big trouble. Golden years.
John B. Waters ’52
I didn’t live in Strong Hall but often went to the cafeteria there for breakfast and supper, and almost always for Sunday dinner.
I have fond, though fading, memories of the cinnamon toast, the breakfast coffeecake, and the Sunday chicken – none of which I have tasted again, anywhere. As a matter of fact, I have been hoping to find the recipe for the coffeecake ever since I graduated and realized that no one else on the planet appears to make it, or have the recipe. My memory of it (which is admittedly foggy now) is that it was a simple cake, not overwrought with streusel or toppings, just a few nuts, and not overly sweet. Still it had a lovely flavor, was always fresh and usually warm, and was perfect with coffee before an 8 o’clock class. Seeing the remembrances about Sophie’s reminded me that I never did find an exact match on it. The closest so far is, appropriately, one of the variations listed for the Baking-Powder Biscuits recipe in the book “Food Preparation Recipes” by Kathryn Bele Niles, which I bought in a campus bookstore in the late ’60s. I think the book was used as a textbook in the College of Home Economics, but I bought it because, even then, I liked reading recipes.
I think if anyone still has copies of Sophie’s recipes, they would make a nice collection to publish. And if anyone has the real Sophie’s coffeecake recipe, I would love to have a copy.
Sunnie Son ’70
I met my husband at Sophie’s in the fall of 1979. We married in 1981 and have shared 27 years together. We still get together with friends who shared meals and late evening cups of coffee with us at Sophie’s. What a great place and great memories!
Narda Maxwell Fairweather ’82, communications
I lived at Strong Hall with our house mother, Mrs. Holland, from fall 1933 to graduation in Liberal Arts, June 1937. Dean was Harriet Greve and Dr. James Hoskins was president. Henson Hall was the new dormitory across the street. I had a single low-ceiling walk-up room top floor. I will be 93 years old in November.
Louise Porter Buxhoeveden, New York, NY
