As a sophomore, Mary’s parents brought her all the way from Inglewood to take part in the dedication of Founders Auditorium in February 1927.  “I don’t know why we went, but I decided right then and there that I wanted to go to this college.”  She told me it was a memorable event, especially because after the dedication, the family couldn’t drive home. “It rained so hard out that we had to stay with some friends in La Verne, the Rensbergers.”  Two years later she returned to the campus she fell in love with and roomed with a friend at the Rensbergers home to defray the cost of living on campus.

Mary met her late husband, Sidney, at the University of La Verne.  They were assigned seats next to each other in chapel – Hollinger (Mary’s maiden name) and Hunter.  They took one look at each other and never looked back.  The year they graduated they were married by Dr. William Hoover, professor, dean & president of the University of La Verne.

Mary Hunter Bowman, oldest alumnus and President Steve Morgan, Alumnus of the Year

Mary has been a loyal and consistent donor of the University of La Verne, and her support of the auditorium renovation is no exception.  Mary pledged her support for the auditorium and memorialized her legacy with a plaque bearing her family name on a balcony seat.  She proudly admitted, “We couldn’t give much, but we gave what we could.”

Mary is overjoyed that the auditorium is being renamed for Ann & Steve Morgan. “It’s exciting because of all they have done for the university.”  Mary smiled brightly as she showed me a picture on her refrigerator of her with the president from Homecoming Dinner 2010 where they were honored as oldest alumnus and alumnus of the year, respectively.

It has been many years since Mary Hunter Bowman has attended an event in the auditorium, and she is looking forward to attending the Auditorium Dedication on April 2^nd.

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Ann & Steve Morgan in the plush new auditorium seats outside Founders Hall

If you haven’t realized it by now, Founders Auditorium has been renamed the Ann & Steve Morgan Auditorium. You may be asking, “How did that come about?”  Well, I’ll tell you what I heard from some insiders.

You see, Ann & Steve Morgan have been dedicated supporters of the University of La Verne for almost 26 years.  President Morgan’s faithful leadership of the university has helped it attain the success it enjoys today.  As plans developed for the renovation of Founders Auditorium, some of the trustees suggested “Maybe it should be renamed for Ann & Steve Morgan…”

Being the humble person he is, President Morgan was adamant that the auditorium should be named for a donor. This disappointed some people, but got the creative juices flowing for a group of committed donors.  They were determined to honor the first couple.

At the February 4, 2010, Board of Trustees meeting, an announcement was made that truly surprised the Morgans.  The board unanimously accepted the request by a group of donors who collectively pledged $750,000 to rename the renovated hall as the Ann & Steve Morgan Auditorium.

President Morgan addressed a standing-room-only audience in the newly renovated auditorium preceding the Cornel West lecture on February 11, 2011

Ann & Steve Morgan were speechless and deeply touched.  Benjamin Harris, veteran La Verne Trustee and current chair of the Board’s Development Committee, spoke for the group when he told the Board “our objective is to make this beautifully restored historical setting an enduring tribute to the remarkable leadership, foresight, dedication and enthusiasm that Steve and Ann have contributed to La Verne.”

Since the auditorium’s reopening on February 11, 2011, Ann & Steve Morgan have attended every event in the beautifully restored performance space.  Be sure to mark your calendar for the Ann & Steve Morgan Auditorium Dedication Week March 28 – April 2.  This week features events hosted by each college and the student body, all in tribute to the first couple and their commitment to the University of La Verne.

Ann & Steve Morgan Auditorium Calendar of Events

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Mary & David at an event in Spring 1958

If the walls of this auditorium could speak! There are so many stories that I could write a book about the true love found in this auditorium. I came across the Palmers, David & Mary, for whom the Auditorium has a special place in their hearts. Having met my husband in the auditorium, I was thrilled that David told me his story about his true love:

Graduation, June 1959

“I first noticed Mary in a History of Art class in September, 1957. It was my third year at La Verne and Mary had transferred in as a junior. I was shy so I had a mutual friend arrange that she would go on a ‘blind date’ with me to the Homecoming Play in the auditorium. It was a great experience that led to a friendship.

The lovebirds graduated in June 1959. Mary earned her Bachelor’s degree in Social Science, while David earned his degree in Business Administration.

Married more than fifty years, the Palmers have generously donated to the auditorium renovation as a special tribute to their alma mater. “That first date in the auditorium was the beginning of a life of mutual love, mutual respect and a great friendship!”

Bring your sweetheart to the Reed Gratz Band concert February 14 at 7:30 p.m. – the first concert in the auditorium!

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Photos by Steve Biondo, Rusty Evans, Jeanine Hill, and Amanda Hanson

Audience View

Stage View

The Shutters

The Ceiling

The Balcony

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From uncomfortable seats in the auditorium we could see future stars shining on stage.  We tried to offer bright smiles of encouragement, but the setting sun was shining in our faces.  The recitals were held at 4:30 p.m., perfectly timed to catch the glaring rays streaming through the bare windows, forcing our smiles into grimacing expressions of discomfort.  It is a wonder that none of the performers left the stage in tears at one look of this daunting audience.  The sunlight was such a nuisance that between student performers, faculty and students alike would indiscreetly move a few seats to the left or right, or even as much as entire row altogether, to escape permanent damage to our retinas.  This mad dash when the performance stopped became a game of musical chairs and the winner would keep their sight until the next recital.

Thankfully, among the auditorium upgrades are the introduction of window shutters.  Fully adjustable, they will elegantly block those intruding sunbeams from distracting the audience’s attention away from the stage and its most deserving performers.  It seems more cost effective and environmentally friendly to install these shutters than to issue sunglasses to patrons at the door.

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The auditorium was in obvious disarray, unused, and had a shocking color scheme.  “The stage was Welch’s grape juice purple with a black proscenium and a dark green velvet curtain,” said Reed.  He told me that it had been out of use for a while in the early 1970’s until a student presentation of “Man of La Mancha” gave the auditorium this color combination.  Even the windows were covered with canvas painted with a white, lilac, and purple paisley pattern, a sight which made Reed seriously rethink this new position.  “It was frightening,” he said.

The auditorium received a facelift in the early 1980’s, a labor of love and about $20,000 that made it a light bluish-grey shade until construction began early this summer. 

In recent years, the music department has had to build out the stage to accommodate special musical performances such as “Children of Eden” and “Pirates of Penzance.”  Thankfully, this was kept in mind when the new stage was designed.  Extended more than nine feet, it can now fit nearly 40 seated orchestra members.  The expansion created desirable storage underneath the stage, accessible by doors hidden in the paneling at the front.  On top will be beautiful glossy wood floor. 

The proscenium has also received a fresh new life.  When the contractors were working they found a historic design that was patched over, probably in the 1980’s transformation.  Beautifully restored, the detail in the proscenium draws attention to the stage’s magnificence and will frame performances exquisitely. 

From green to light blue, the stage curtain had experienced a dreary identity crisis over the past few decades.  Mercifully, it has been completely replaced by a breathtaking burgundy-rust colored curtain that will accent the new color palette of the auditorium perfectly.

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Dr. Kathy Lamkin, an auditorium donor, in the new seats which are soon to be installed.

Dr. Kathy Lamkin, professor of music, has touched hearts for decades at the University of La Verne with her gift of teaching music history and its appreciation.  Though I wasn’t a student of hers on campus, I learned music history from Kathy when we toured Austria for the annual Classical Music Festival in the summer of 2006. 

When we reconnected at the beginning of this semester, I was eager to hear Kathy’s excitement for the auditorium renovation.  When Kathy started at La Verne in 1981 she wasn’t thrilled with the auditorium’s condition, but kept a positive attitude and outlook that one day the university would have a hall that would reflect the talents of its varying departments, faculty, and students.  “I’m excited to have a good hall, something we can be proud of,” she said. 

Steven Andrews '07, Kathy Lamkin, Becky Tuttle '07, Brianna Roth '06, Andy Hanson '08, and me at the Esterhazy Palace in Eisenstadt, Austria in summer 2006.

Kathy explained that a great venue for performing arts attracts excellent performers and adds to the appeal and prestige of the university.  “The performing arts venue is a public space that sets the tone for the university,” she said.  Aside from being used as a rehearsal and performance space for the music department, Kathy is pleased that the entire university will benefit from its attractiveness and functionality.

Feeling inspired, we sneaked up the back stairs by her office to the renovation scene.  Some time had passed since Kathy last checked in on the progress.  We stood on the extended stage and took in the sight.  With a smile, she said proudly, “We made glorious music before, and now we’ll make glorious music in a magnificent hall.”

You don’t have to wait until the auditorium is finished to hear glorious music!  Come to the Christmas Concert at Church of the Brethren on Sunday, December 12 at 7:00 p.m.

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“When most mortals think of haunted places, those places generally tend to be abandoned or in an altogether sorry state of repair.

However, there are countless stories of the souls of the departed inhabiting a place still maintained and occupied by the living.

Some may find this surprising, but the University of La Verne campus and its numerous structures provide the setting for many such stories.

Founders Hall, Dailey Theatre, Hanawalt House, the International Student Center and the Studebaker-Hanawalt Residence Hall are all reputed to play host to visitors from beyond the grave.

Senior Melissa Stahly has heard a number of stories regarding paranormal occurrences and was part of one herself just last year.

During rehearsal and production of the opera “The Medium,” a piece about, oddly enough, communicating with the spirits of the deceased, the lighting system in Founders Auditorium occasionally seemed to take on a life of its own.

Stahly even noticed how the lights misbehaved on a rather consistent basis when she was performing one of her songs.

Fellow senior Becky Campana was in charge of the lights for the production.

On one occasion, Campana became so impatient with the lights that she unplugged the whole system…only to have the lights continue their eerie and inexplicable malfunctions.

So much for the mechanical explanation.

The anomaly became such a frequent occurrence that the people involved in “The Medium” could not help giving the phenomenon a name: Gladdys.

Stahly explained that the theater folks chose the name Gladdys in reference to Gladdys Muir, a beloved ULV faculty member who fell down the exterior stairs on the east side of Founders Hall in 1967 and died as a result of her injuries.” Read more

I’ll have to ask if there are any plans for an exorcism as part of the renovation plan.

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One of the overlooked enhancements of the Auditorium renovation is the ceiling. When I was a choir member I didn’t think much about the ceiling until there was a bit of unusual weather. There was more than one rainy day or performance night when buckets and trash cans adorned the stage, placed there to catch water leaking through the old ceiling. On stage, artists would joke, “I came in here to get out of the weather!”

But rain was rarer than the inevitable heat wave in September or October. Since there was no air conditioning the auditorium had half a dozen small, slow ceiling fans to circulate air. Fortunately our rehearsals were in the morning, but I can remember at least one evening performance that was sweltering. When the heat finally became unbearable, some delirious person turned on the lazy ceiling fans. Patrons were in for a magical sprinkling of pixie dust – ok, just regular dust – which stuck to their steamy bodies for an even more uncomfortable experience.

And then there were the unexplainable things that fell from the ceiling. Reed Gratz, professor of music, recalls a pre-performance rehearsal that gave the choir a fright. A baby possum fell from the rafters onto the stage to the sound of screaming choir girls. Reed joked, “I was glad it wasn’t a rat. Thank God it didn’t fall on somebody.” The possum wasn’t the only inhabitant of the auditorium rafters. Several times swarms of bees made a home above the stage. For weeks after the auditorium was fumigated, dead bees were still dropping on students during rehearsals.

Over the past several weeks, towering rows of scaffolding have kept the auditorium ceiling out of sight and out of mind. Last week the scaffolding finally came down and revealed a beautifully mastered ceiling. Several boards were replaced and the entire area was brought to life with a fresh coat of rich brown paint. The structural beams that span the width of the auditorium were reinforced. The most beautiful improvement is the stylish addition of a beam of molding below the ceiling edge that lines the entire perimeter. Soon the new and exquisite light fixtures will be installed, this time without ceiling fans.

So, while some of us may have been trained to look up out of fear, all of us can look up in awe of the beautiful new auditorium ceiling.

The ceiling in progress – Photos by Steve Biondo

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