Gold Medal Club honors far-flung alumni of 50 years

From left, Edith Darby Evans, Don Fambrough, and Don and Pat Orton, all Gold Medal Club members, meet at the Adams Alumni Center, 1266 Oread Ave., to mark 50 years as Kansas University alumni in this 2009 file photo. Nearly 130 people attended the annual reunion.

Gold Medal Club members from left, Mary Turkington, Topeka and Glee Smith Lawrence visit at the Adams Alumni Center as the club marked their 50th year as KU Graduates and honored Chancellor Robert Hemenway.

Hal and Ellen Grindle hadn’t been back to Kansas University since they walked down the hill at graduation.

Since then, the campanile has been built; so has Allen Fieldhouse and Wescoe Hall.

“We didn’t hardly recognize anything until we finally got to Bailey Hall,” said Ellen, who graduated in 1948.

“(Back then) you could walk the distance between classes, now you got to go by helicopter,” said Hal, who graduated a year after Ellen.

You can excuse them for not visiting sooner. The couple came from Wasilla, Alaska, the small town made famous in last year’s presidential elections.

They were among 13 pinned Saturday as members of KU’s Gold Medal Club, a ceremony that honors those who have been alumni of KU for 50 years or more.

Along with the Grindles, the group included a doctor, bank president, elementary school teacher, community college educator and, as honorary members, Chancellor Robert Hemenway and his wife, Leah. The Hemenways were recognized for their work with the Gold Medal Club and their contribution to the university. The chancellor will retire at the end of June.

“Whether it be on the football field, school of pharmacy, or school of engineering, whatever it is, he wants to have the best we can possibly have,” said Don Fambrough, former football coach and departing president of the Gold Medal Club. “And I know we have the best chancellor.”

Close to 130 people attended the annual reunion at the Adams Alumni Center, 1266 Oread Ave. As for the Grindles, it was Hal’s idea to attend. The couple was already making the trip down from Wasilla to drop off a car in Phoenix for their grandson.

The Grindles moved to Alaska shortly after graduating from KU. Hal, an architectural engineer, worked with the federal housing administration and then in construction. Ellen is a dietitian.

On Saturday, the couple dined with fellow Gold Medal Club members Ruth and Jack Schroll and Scottie Lingelbach.

Ellen, Ruth and Scottie all lived in Corbin Hall together, during a time when there were 10:30 p.m. curfews and a rule that the only male visitors allowed were brothers and fathers.

Lingelbach recalled going on her first date with her future husband. They were supposed to go ice skating on Potter Lake, but the ice melted so they went to a film instead. Ruth, a vocalist, fondly remembered singing at the Christmas vesper services, and Ellen said she had too many memories to name.

“I think that it’s the friends that I’ve met, the wonderful friends,” she said.