Glimpsing UMM's exciting past through memorabilia

The image shows Ralph E. Williams being honored as "faculty coach" for the Cougars' 1975 opener which was against St. John's University. The players are co-captains Myron Engebretson (left) and Chuck Senkyr. Coach Al Molde exchanges a smile. Molde had quite the football regime at UMM.
 
Mom's death has left me treading water in some respects. It has been a personal sea change. Yes there's a void. To the extent there is boredom and the inevitable emptiness, this is offset by my health being fundamentally good, knock on wood. My next birthday will be my Medicare birthday.
I have had the time to attend to the family property on Northridge Drive. Part of this has been to locate old photos from various places and organize them. My parents did a good job organizing photos and other memorabilia up through the 1950s. After that it became more scattershot, not sure why. My father did not do the best job saving and organizing memorabilia related to UMM. Going through stuff he saved previous to that, I'm reminded of what a remarkable and important person he was. This I learn through items in the Twin Cities media among other places.
I'm not sure he came to understand the "hip" generation of the '60s and thereafter. On purely cultural terms, this Depression-era product might have had some trouble relating, though I hope I'm wrong. Based on scrapbook material, he was totally in tune with his own young generation in the '30s and '40s. Then he got married. Rimshot.
He was a lieutenant in the Navy in World War II.

Dad at UMM graduation, 1975

He undoubtedly did remarkable things coming to UMM. He was not lock-step with his generation, the one that Richard Nixon tried to appeal to, as Nixon's presidency faltered. My father Ralph was always skeptical of the Vietnam war. He'd say "that war is a bad deal." Doesn't seem like a biting comment now, does it.
I'm reflecting on a time when the conservative political establishment actually thought Martin Luther King was a dangerous character. The conservative folks of today - granted that term seems nebulous - try to be first in line praising the civil rights icon. MLK was against the war when this position was largely deemed edgy or subversive.
My instincts told me, from the time I could comprehend the news at all, that the war sucked. This was reinforced when our family attended the funeral of a family friend in Brainerd, Mom's hometown, in 1966. The young man was a victim of friendly fire in Vietnam. He should not have been in an open casket.
 
Distilling the past
One can solve mysteries when going through old photos/memorabilia. Six years ago when Dad died, I supplied a nice "action" photo of Dad directing, to the UMM music department which was planning a memorial concert. Mom and I took some stuff out to Simon Tillier. It was a nice 8x10 black and white photo but one problem: the background looked unfamiliar. Where was this?
I think many families lament not having enough specific information for a lot of old photos. Today in this age where people can share so easily with online resources, old photos become even more precious. Without specific info for a lot of these, the value is diminished to the point where it's not practical to share them.
I discovered as I ferreted through old stuff, a "companion photo" to the "action" one just cited. A "partner" as it were, and it was in an envelope that elucidated. Mom and I had wondered if the "action" photo was taken at the old P.E. annex at UMM. I doubted it but verification was impossible because the P.E. annex is no more. It was an important structure in UMM's early days. I watched Cougar basketball there while Dad directed the pep band in the days when having an active pep band was practical. It became impractical in later years due to the proliferation of sports teams and how the musicians just couldn't provide this service equitably.

Dad and Jim Carlson at UMM recognition event

Dad directed the original UMM fight song which he wrote on request of the original UMM head person, Rodney Briggs. Briggs' title was "dean."
The fight song was later retired in favor of the main campus "rouser." My father had played the rouser countless times as he graduated from the U in 1939. He has lots of scrapbook material from that phase in his life.
Whatever you think about his original UMM fight song, I assure you that if you were at a game back then and heard the band, saw the cheerleaders - I seem to recall we had cheerleaders - and if you had your heart in supporting the fight song, you would have loved it! I assure you.
A few years back at UMM Homecoming, I remember Gary McGrath coming into the Bella Cucina restaurant singing the original UMM fight song. He had a twinkle in his eye. Maybe a UMM music class could dust it off just for the purpose of analysis someday.
So, let's finish the story of how I identified the location where Dad's "action" directing photo was taken. Due to finding that photo's partner, I learned from writing on the envelope that these photos were taken at one of those "select group" events at another college. I wish I could have supplied this information to Tillier at the time of the memorial concert. They used the photo anyway and it looked great.
 
Some other gems turn up
I made other interesting discoveries while going through old material in our household. I paged through a booklet of items prepared at the time of Dad's retirement in the late 1970s. Prior to this, I always assumed this scrapbook was composed solely of testimonial letters including some from main campus big shots. Those letters were very nice. I finally took the time to page through the whole thing.

Martha Williams with David Johnson, UMM chancellor

Surprise. I found some neat photographs at the end of it. There's a terrific photo of Dad rehearsing the UMM orchestra at the HFA, probably in the 1970s. I greatly appreciate Del Sarlette being willing to scan many of these photos for me now. He isn't asking for payment but I may remedy that.
On the corner of my mind, is the possibility I may request another framed tribute to Dad somewhere at the HFA in exchange for an infusion of money into the Ralph and Martha Williams Fund. It's merely theoretical now, i.e. in my head.
When in Morris, do as the Morrisons do.
I have some flexibility with money, knock on wood, and of course it's nice that I do not have a girlfriend. Rimshot again.
One storm cloud, though, is the increasing possibility that interest rates are going to be taken down to zero again, possibly quickly. This prediction is being heard. Why? I thought the economy was gaining strength. I depend on interest income to a pretty fair extent. Will I have to abandon the Morris banks? I might have to. Will I be forced into the stock market with its attendant risk? Maybe I'll have to. I might just have to delegate all this to a trusted financial advisor - yes, one I can truly trust, who I'd pay directly to be an advocate for me and no one else. Jeez, you have to watch your back.
No rush for any of this. Most importantly, I need to make it to my Medicare birthday. One cannot predict all the challenges that God may thrust in front of us. Mom and Dad are in a place now where they don't have to worry about money.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

The UMM band for the first year of the institution, 1960-61. Dad poses in back. He was a 1939 graduate of the U, and when he heard the Twin Cities campus was getting new band uniforms, he showed enterprise to get the previous ones.

Here's the UMM men's chorus with director Ralph E. Williams in 1966-67. The men's chorus did much to raise the institution's visibility in the early years.

Retired faculty/staff gathered for this photo as part of the Founders Day 40th Anniversary of the University of Minnesota-Morris, in September of 2000. Photo was taken at the Stephen and Arden Granger residence. Mom wrote on the back of this photo "it was a special day."