Remembering ‘The Waldorf’

Day before the burn in summer 1968.

Officially it was “Laurel Hall” or “Laurel Apartments,” a Linfield College residence hall for men. But, later it was called “The Waldorf.”

Why “The Waldorf?” It was a tongue in cheek nickname in honor of the Waldorf Astoria luxury hotel in Manhattan, New York City. The Waldorf of Linfield was anything but luxurious.

Bill Hammel, Pete Dengenis, John Ekemo, Dick Bushnell. Oct. 2013.

After World War II there was an influx to Linfield and other colleges and universities across the state and nation of students who had served in the U.S. military. The former service members used the federal G. I. Bill to help pay for college.

Because of this influx there was a need for campus housing for these military veterans, their spouses and families.

A story in the Oct. 28, 1947, edition of the Linfield Review student newspaper said, “Government surplus buildings moved to colleges was part of a government plan to enroll … veterans (in) institutions of higher learning. Linfield was allotted 25,330 square feet (of building space). It is known as the Veteran's Educational Facilities Program.”

Linfield Review 1967.

Maxwell Field. Memorial Stadium. Ed Griffin. John Lee. The Waldorf.

At Linfield this need was met by moving barracks from U.S. Army Camp Adair near Corvallis to the Linfield campus. Or, according to a Review March 30, 1967, story The Waldorf was “one of six G.I. barracks brought from the Portland Air Base.” Take your pick: Camp Adair or Portland Air Base.

Win Dolan, longtime Linfield faculty member and administrator, recalled the former barracks as serving a need “such as they were,” according to a story in the McMinnville News-Register.

Marilyn Stow Crouser, Linfield Class of 1958, told Wildcatville she recalled Linfield’s G. I. housing during her 1954-1958 studies at the college. “G.I. housing was mostly where Dillin Hall cafeteria and the athletic/p.e. building are now,” she said. “There was also G.I. housing across from Latourette Hall, where I lived.”

At some point the number of G. I. housing units dwindled to one. The former barrack was painted light green and it was named “Laurel” for the huge laurel bushes adjacent to it on Lever Street near what is the secondary entrance to Memorial Stadium/Maxwell Field.

Exactly when and how The Waldorf nickname was given to Laurel Hall is lost to history. But it is known resident Johnny Bill “Moon” Self climbed to its roof and painted “THE WALDORF” in large red letters on it. (See photo.)

The Waldorf had about 24-26 students living in seven apartments. It included a TV room, laundry, and resident advisor’s room. Each apartment had two bedrooms with two residents in each bedroom (with bunk beds), a combination living-dining room, bathroom and a kitchenette.

A story about The Waldorf in the March 30, 1967, Review, said 1966-1967 residents of The Waldorf were Bob Sullivan, Aggie Agajanian, Dick Horner, Dan Briner, Doug White, Warren Youel, Terry Miller, Steve Smith, Johnny Bill “Moon” Self, Mark Oberson, Richard Handley, Bill Helbig, Lowell Dayton, John McClaskey, Kim Vanatter, Ken Snoddy, Chuck Freeman, Tom DePue, Keith Shriver, Mike Kolin, Jim Kimber, Rocky Reed, Bob Daggett, Bill Hayden, Bruce Eckhardt and Allen Yap.

Some residents left The Waldorf and others were added for its final academic year, 1967-1968. In addition to some of those listed above, those living in The Waldorf then included Odis Avritt, Tim Danchok, Sonny Jepson, John Ekemo, Terry Miller, Dick Bushnell, Bill Hammel, Tom Busick, Fred Lavarias, Dennis Okimoto and Mike Achong. (Jepson said another resident of The Waldorf part of that academic year was Bill Lownsberry. Den Surles says Tom Busik and Bob Mink were The Waldorf residents, too.)

The resident advisor for The Waldorf was Pete Dengenis, Linfield Class of 1964. He served in that role after returning to campus in 1967 to complete a master’s degree (earned in 1968) and serve as Linfield assistant football coach.

Looking back, Ekemo, Linfield Class of 1969, an alum of The Waldorf, said Dengenis “tried to keep us (Waldorf residents) in line, but that was a losing battle at times.”

During the 1967-1968 Linfield academic year, The Waldorf residents learned their residence was likely going to be closed because “New Dorm” would open the next fall.

During the burn. John Ekemo outside where his room was located in The Waldorf. 

The Waldorf up in flames summer 1968. 

New Dorm is now Frerichs Hall, a student residence hall, not to be confused with the original Frerichs Hall, a former G. I. building (where Murdock Hall is now located) on campus which housed Linfield’s theater, student radio station and speech and drama classrooms and faculty offices. In 1969, Frerichs was destroyed by fire caused by an overheated chimney.

A story, “Waldorf Residents Content; Want Building to Remain,” in the March 28, 1968, Linfield Review said residents wanted to “keep their happy home.” Warren Youel described The Waldorf residents as a “close-knit group … like a fraternity.”

In 2019, Sonny Jepson told Wildcatville, “… I feel very fortunate to have lived there my freshman year. I still have fond memories, including the friendships” of those of us who lived in The Waldorf.

In a 1967 Review story, Dengenis said Linfield “dorms are sterile like hospitals … all the rooms are the same.” But, The Waldorf rooms were different. Plus, he said there was a lot of “friendship and union” among those living there.

Linfield President Harry Dillin told the 1967 Review reasons why The Waldorf should close included:

1. It was classified by the college as substandard housing.
2. The college has built/will build New Dorm to replace it.
3. It does not grace the campus.
4. The location of The Waldorf is needed for physical education expansion.

An April 25, 1968, Linews student newspaper story said The Waldorf would “definitely be phased out as a new dormitory” for the 1968-1969 academic year. Phasing out was an understatement.

It was fate which put Ekemo on campus to watch and photograph The Waldorf burning down in late July or early August 1968 as a McMinnville Fire Dept. training exercise approved by the college.

“I would have been home in Cordova, Alaska. But I attended both Linfield summer school sessions in 1968 because my Dad wanted me to get enough credits to graduate in four years,” he said.

All of those living in The Waldorf vacated it at the end of spring semester 1968. That summer in McMinnville, John and roommate Mike Easterly (not an alum of The Waldorf) lived in an off campus apartment, about a 10 minute walk from Linfield.

Ekemo said while there was a “general campus buzz” during the summer about the fact The Waldorf was to be burned down, not many people came to watch.” In fact, Ekemo and Easterly may have been the only students to witness the burn.

Ekemo said burning down The Waldorf didn’t make him sad. He saw it as a “passing of an era.”

Burn day was sunny with temperature in the mid-70s.

The fire department “set the fire in various spots so it went up pretty uniformly. They let it burn pretty much too the ground without a lot of water on it.”

In a 1968 Review story, Ken Williams, dean of men, said The Waldorf was tentatively scheduled to be burned down in the summer of 1967. “But the weather was too dry to permit it,” the story said. “Around July, the college found itself with 56 men enrolled without housing.” So, The Waldorf was renovated and “put back into service. Williams said (The Waldorf) will be used for one more year and then replaced by a new dorm.”

The Waldorf went from a happy home for Linfield students to ashes. But, the fiery end of it did not extinguish good memories for those who lived in it.

POSTSCRIPTS:

–In addition to the former G. I. barracks, there were non-residence buildings at Linfield which had World War II military roots:

=A story in Linfield Magazine said, "In 1947 a surplus theatre from the Portland Air Base was moved to the site now occupied by Murdock Hall. Music joined journalism and radio communications, speech and theatre in this new home. First called the Fine Arts Building, the facility was re-named Frerichs Hall in 1957." In 1969, Frerichs was destroyed by fire caused by an overheated chimney.

=Taylor Hall, now home of mathematics, was originally a mess hall located at the Portland Air Base. It was moved in 1946 or 1947 to Linfield.

=Cozine Hall, formerly home of Linfield facility services and now home of public safety.

–Jepson told Wildcatville in 2019 that The Waldorf 1967-1968 residents were informed of the fate of The Waldorf in a meeting conducted by Dengenis. “Initially we thought it was because we were charged slightly less for our rooms, due to the fact there were 3-4 people per room, versus the traditional 2-per room.” Residents told Dengenis “we were willing to pay the same (room rate) as other students, thinking that drove the college's decision” to close The Waldorf. Dengenis said that was not an option. The Waldorf would be destroyed because the McMinnville Fire Dept. had determined the building unsafe, and had condemned it, primarily due to the electrical wiring, he told them. 

-- Even though The Waldorf was gone, the “great camaraderie” which Ekemo said existed among its residents continued. Those who returned for the 1968-1969 academic year moved en masse into New Dorm/Frerichs (across Lever Street and in eyeshot of where The Waldorf was located) and enjoyed being together again, he said.

PHOTOS

--March 30, 1967, Review photos taken inside and outside The Waldorf.

--Late July or early August 1968. The Waldorf at Linfield the day before it was burned down in a McMinnville Fire Dept. training exercise. Photo by former The Waldorf resident John Ekemo, Linfield Class of 1969.

--July or August 1968. During the McMinnville Fire Dept. training exercise burning down The Waldorf. John Ekemo stands outside window of The Waldorf in room he shared with Dick Bushnell, Bill Helbig and Lowell Dayton. Photo by Mike Easterly.

--Photo taken by Wildcatville in October 2013 shows Waldorf alumni (left to right) Bill Hammel, Pete Dengenis (resident advisor), John Ekemo and Dick Bushnell holding a poster sized photo of The Waldorf near where, next to Memorial Stadium/Maxwell Field, The Waldorf was located.

--Linfield football players #31 Ed Griffin (Linfield Class of 1968, should be a Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame member) and #85 John Lee (Linfield Class of 1967, a Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame member) with The Waldorf in background. Upper right hand corner. They're on Maxwell Field with Memorial Stadium behind them.

Read more about Ed and John here:
https://wildcatville.blogspot.com/2017/10/linfields-athletics-famous-hartford.html

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McMinnville N-R photo below from a Linfield home track meet in April 1968. See The Waldorf in the background. 

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Vintage photo from Sept 12, 1955, in Sept 15, 2020, McMinnville N-R/News-Register. Dorm in background (which might or might not be Laurel Hall/The Waldorf) was one of several ‘GI’ (Government Issue) former World War II barracks on campus serving as housing for Linfield student and families.

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"One of the Linfield College backfield prospects is shown running through the tires during a practice last week. This drill teaches the boys to lift their knees as they drive through the defense with the ball."