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Blugold alumni 43 years apart bond over Special Collections and Archives Donation

| Jenna Vande Zande

Last fall, Special Collections and Archives received a donation from Blugold alumnus John Beck, class of 1969. He brought multiple pieces of clothing purchased while living in the dorms on campus, and shared stories with each artifact.

Another Blugold alumna, Rachel (Perry) LaPorte, class of 2012, who works as a development officer in the UW-Eau Claire Foundation office, gets to hear amazing alumni stories all the time, and decided to start a blog dedicated to the people she meets. The first subject of her blog is John, whose stories of attending Wisconsin State College – Eau Claire “left (her) with a grin from ear to ear.”

Here is one of the memories John shared, which is especially fitting during this very snowy winter:

Senior year (68–69)- Towers-North: After the first accumulating snowfall in November, the residents of Bridgman Hall, the all-freshman men’s dorm decided to challenge Towers-North to a snowball fight! Although (I was) no longer a RA, I helped to keep the residents of the dorms separated. Talk about the thin blue line; there were hundreds of residents ahead and behind us and we were in the middle trying to keep things calmed down.

For the full article featuring John, photos of his memorabilia, and even more wonderful stories of semesters past, check out Rachel’s blog post.