Barbara Vaughan, W'65

Westhampton College alumna from the Class of 1965, Barbara Vaughan, fondly reflects on her time spent on the UR campus and shares, “my years at Westhampton College are still some of the most memorable of my life.”

Barbara Vaughan recounts:

"I believe that the education at Westhampton College was not just what we learned from the textbooks and the excellent faculty, but we learned so much from the college campus experiences.  We learned to live together in a campus setting where there were no locks on the room doors in the dormitory, there was a hall bathroom that we shared, there was one phone on the hall that we shared, there was an honor system that we supported and that was the basis for governing the student body, there was “Quiet Hours” nightly so that we had uninterrupted time for study.  Living in this environment we had to share, to communicate, and to be considerate.  We learned from our experiences and from each other."

Vaughan formed many close friendships throughout her time at Westhampton College that have lasted throughout the years. Her inner circle included five women: Margaret Brittle Brown, Evelyn Garrett Bowyer (deceased), Janet Renshaw Yates, Harryet Hubbard Wallace-Boulster and Linda Armstrong Farrar – all from the class of 1965. The six of them were affectionately named and known by close family and friends as the “Girly Girls.” They lived next to one another in the same on-campus dormitory their first year year becoming incredibly close. The most rewarding aspect of Vaughan’s time at WC was that she was able to develop, nourish and maintain close ties with the “Girly Girls” and other classmates even beyond graduation. In fact, this year will be the 20^th “Annual Vacation Week” in Bethany Beach, Delaware for the “Girly Girls”. Vaughan feels that now the girls “probably have a closer relationship now than we did when we were classmates.”

Since graduation, Vaughan has maintained a close relationship with the University. She served as the first Class Secretary and assumed the responsibility of preparing ‘Class Notes,’ which shared post-graduate peer news and updates about weddings, graduate school, jobs and babies. Moreover, Vaughan plays a pivotal role in planning 1965 Class Reunion activities. Currently, they are planning the Class’ 50th Reunion! 

Fond Westhampton Memories

The four years Vaughan and her friends spent at the University went by fast. She recounts:

“Some of my fondest memories of Westhampton are gone, but not forgotten.”

The Richmond campus as well as the rules and regulations at the time were different from what students are accustomed to today. Vaughan remembers:

• Students had Saturday classes and they were not allowed to have a car on campus until Senior Year
• If you wanted to leave campus, you had to have a group of four and you had to sign in and out of the dorm after certain hours
• There were strictly enforced curfews, such as 10 p.m. during the week and midnight on Saturday nights
• The bed linens were furnished for students and each week there was “sheet” day: the day when students took one sheet from the bed, put it in the pillowcase and took it to a designated location to leave it and get one clean sheet and pillowcase. 
• As first years, students came to campus on Sunday.  The first event they attended along with parents was the Dean’s Tea on Sunday afternoon after which parents left campus. For the first month on campus, students were not allowed to leave for an overnight trip home without special permission and it really had to be an emergency situation to get permission granted.

Four years later in June 1965, Vaughan graduated with a degree in Psychology.  The weather was unpredictable so graduation was held at The Mosque, now The Landmark Theater, which had no air conditioning at that time.  But it is still one of the most memorable days of her and her friends’ lives.