Geometry, English, Bible, Spanish, and sewing, along with part-time work kept me busy. Dale and I had a few classes together, but we could not sit next to each other. This was 1954. This was MBA. However, we did manage to walk together between classes and say a few sweet words to each other. We had to be very careful though, because if the faculty saw us together too often, we would be put on what they called “social.” Being on “social” meant that for a period of two weeks couples could not talk to each other or be together at any time. It also meant that one’s citizenship grade would be lowered, and neither of us wanted that.
I worked as a hall monitor in the dormitory. Each evening I would sit in the hall doing my homework, making sure none of the girls “misbehaved.” We were under very strict rules from morning until we went to bed at night and most of the time we were happy with these rules. I enjoyed my job as it allowed me to become acquainted with many of the girls who are still my friends. Dale worked at the Harris Pine Mill where they made trellises and yard furniture.
One of the first banquets of the year Dale and I chose to serve so we could be together longer than the students who just had dates. We would be able to stay after the banquet and help clean the cafeteria. This also saved us money as I did not need a new dress and Dale did not have to buy a corsage. At the end of the meal the student body president and vice president were talking when we heard our names being called to go to the front. We had been chosen as Courtesy King and Queen! We were embarrassed as we made our way up to receive our crowns. What an honor!
How had we been chosen out of over 300 students, we wondered? The students and faculty together had made this choice because, I was told later by Mrs. Bieber, the principal’s wife, “we were an example of how a couple should act, and were a good influence on the other students.” Dale, how ever, was shocked when grades came out and his citizenship grade was lowered. When he inquired as to the reason, he was told, “You laughed too much during the rest of the program!” This did not make sense to either of us. I was with him all during the program, and he did laugh, but at appropriate times when we all laughed. This was an evening of entertainment and there were funny things that made even the faculty laugh. However, this was MBA! This was 1954! I guess kings are not supposed to laugh!
Dale and Carolyn crowned as Courtesy King and Queen.
Even with the strict social rules many couples were going steady, and there were special times couples could be together. Every Wednesday and Friday nights in the cafeteria we could sit together at a table with two other couples. This was called “date table night”. These were always enjoyable times as we ate and talked and joked.
One night Dale and I, and Edith Forgey (a close friend who became my roommate my senior year) and her boyfriend Charles Roesel, were at a date table and the guys would not talk. Edith and I were beginning to be afraid they were mad at us. Perhaps they were justified in their silence, we were thinking.
Edith and I had “baked” up a beautiful pink, peppermint-frosted cake and had it delivered to Dale and Charles. It was delicious-looking, with chopped walnuts on the top of pink frosting and it smelled so yummy with the peppermint flavoring. However, when the guys cut into it all they found was some crumpled newspaper inside a cardboard circle frame and a rotten orange we added to give weight. That beautiful frosting was beaten soap suds! The peppermint flavor served as a camouflage to the fragrance of the soapsuds. It was April Fools’ Day, and we had played a trick on them.
Toward the end of the meal, Edith and I could not stand it any longer. We apologized for sending them the cake, saying we had not meant to make them mad. We were only playing an April Fools’ joke. They then began to laugh and said they loved it. They were not mad. They were just playing a get even trick on us! They said one of the boys tried eating the frosting and soap bubbles started coming out of his mouth. He was OK, though, and we all had more good laughs.
Charles Roesel, Dale, and Soapsuds Cake.
Other times couples could be together were on Wednesday and Saturday nights for play period. Many options were open during this time. One could go to the gym for playing a number of active sports. Most of the couples enjoyed going to the Social Hall, an old army barracks room that was equipped with a ping-pong table and other tables for games or puzzles.
Dale and I usually went to the Social Hall, and we got started on a puzzle that took many weeks to complete. Often another couple would sit with us, and we worked on the puzzle together. Our work was left untouched between social nights, so each night as we put this puzzle together we would discuss the days activities or classes and sometimes would drill each other on Bible class memory verses-and we would dream. We could not hold hands, but nobody said anything to us when we put pressure against each other’s knees as we sat close!
We had a little code that we often used that we created while riding the bus at Modesto Union Academy. It was a group of something in the “fours”, then something in the “threes”, the “twos”, and finally something that was only “one”. It could be a group of hand squeezes, a group of winks, or a group of knee bumps, etc. The interpretation was this: Do you love me? Yes, I do. How much? Lots! We would bump our knees against each other’s knees with this code and laugh, because no one could see under the table!
A very special time of togetherness was the long walk to and from the beach auditorium on Saturday nights when there was a movie or special program. Arriving at the auditorium the boys sat on the south side and the girls sat on the north side. We could only walk together. We could not sit together. This was 1954. This was MBA. That walk in the cold fog, and often rain, became a special time where couples learned to walk slowly and in step as they leaned on each other for warmth! No holding hands, though!
On Friday nights after vespers, girls would meet in front of the dorm and start singing. Other girls would join in, and then we would continue singing as we walked up the hill behind the dorm. There we would get in small groups, put our arms around each other, and pray. I always looked forward to this sweet time of singing and praying for one another.
Dale and I joined the seminar group that went out to churches around the area to give sermons and special music. I was elected as the secretary of this group, and Dale was elected as the assistant secretary. We each enjoyed this extra curricular activity and the occasional chance to get off campus.
Carolyn at the marimba.
Student Week of Devotion speakers: Ralph Allen,
Roy Shigley Johnny Breckenridge, and Dale Ratzlaff.
My Cup Overflows. Copyright © 2009 by Carolyn Ratzlaff. All Scripture quotations—except where otherwise noted—are from The New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1979, 1994 by the Lockman Foundation, used by permission. All rights reserved. Life Assurance Ministries, Inc.
Carolyn has always been a positive person enjoying life and outdoor activities such as hiking and gardening, and she and her husband currently raise a good portion of their own food in small grow boxes. She also reads many health journals and is often surprised at the contrast between what was taught through the writings of Ellen White on forbidden items of diet and health, and the beneficial evidence of these same items which is supported by a plethora of scientific studies.
She and her husband Dale Ratzlaff have two married sons and four grandchildren.
- 25. That Very Special Occasion - March 24, 2022
- 24. Living in the New Covenant - March 17, 2022
- 23. Crisis in Freedom - March 10, 2022