Bona Bound
More students than ever arrive on campus with their own wheels. But that wasn’t the case for earlier generations. In the previous issue of the magazine we asked alums how they got to campus – carpool with a buddy from their hometown, a brutal bus ride from New Jersey, or perhaps thumbing it across Route 17. Here’s what grads from the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s had to say.
FOR THE NEXT EDITION
If you could return to SBU as a student for one day, what’s one thing you would do?
Tell us in 100 words. We’ll print a collection of responses in the winter 2022-23 issue of Bonaventure magazine. Send submissions to magazine@sbu.edu.
I hitchhiked between SBU and the NY City area a number of times in the late ’60s. It was a seven-hour drive back then. I remember one amazing trip. I walked from Devereux Hall out to Route 17 in front of campus, stuck out my thumb, and the first car stopped and took me all the way home. We stopped at the iconic Roscoe (N.Y.) Diner for lunch. I tried to pay but the driver wouldn’t let me.
– Bill Donovan, ’68
Even though it’s been more than 50 years, I remember my first night on campus.
I never had a car at school. My dad drove me to campus and I moved into my room, 201 on second Fal. I immediately bonded with several other freshmen on my floor. That first night on campus, while my dad slept in the dorm, five of us from the floor went out to Route 17 to hitchhike to the Bowlean bowling lanes in Olean. After a few minutes, a Volkswagen Beetle stopped to pick us up. Inside were five girls. We crammed into the car and as the 10 of us drove toward Olean I remember thinking to myself, “This is going to be an amazing four years.”
I was right about that and to this day I remain lifelong friends with guys from second Fal!
— Glenn Keidel, ’72
The day before our Christmas break started in 1956, Bonaventure hosted its annual party for the underprivileged children in the area. It was always well attended and a very enjoyable event. To help finance the party, along with many other events, we put a new watch (not self-winding) in a box and sold chances on picking the time that the watch would stop running. The nearest guess would win the watch and about $200 in cash.
The night before the party’s concluding dinner, we went around the dorms and sold strings of minutes at a discount to get more money in the till. To my great surprise, I was the winner. After all the shouts of “FIX-FIX” died down, we went to the Burton to celebrate our good fortune and such a great day.
Obviously, since I was the big winner that night, the beers were on me. Before the evening was over, all my prize money and the bucks in my wallet were gone. To get back home to Philly the next day, I had to borrow the train fare (boarded in Olean) from Ray Mulvey, the owner of the Burton. Yes, I did return to the Burton, paid Ray back and even lived to enjoy a few more beers.
Pax et Bonum,
Bob Haenn, ’58
Travel from Brooklyn to St. Bonaventure in the ’60s was, to say the least, an adventure. For the first three years it was on the often-delayed “Weary Eerie Wacklana” (Erie Lackawanna Railroad) from Hoboken to Olean (with attendant subway, Port Authority train and taxi). By senior year, it was a trusty ’59 Rambler (a tank, but it ran in the winter!), carpooling with paying classmates and stopping at a McDonald’s at the halfway point in Binghamton.
— Gerard J. Monaghan ‘67
I came to St. Bonaventure in summer of 1966 for a journalism internship. My future husband’s best friend drove the three of us to campus. It was a trip of only an hour from our small Cattaraugus County town; for me it might as well have been a journey to another world. I was 17, spending weeks on campus with other students to learn about journalism through the direction of Dr. Jandoli.
I don’t remember the car or anything significant about the trip except for the early morning fog cropping up as we hit Ischua. I do know the trip changed my life as I eventually became a full-time student at Bonaventure and married my boyfriend/carpool mate. Way more memories than can be expressed in 100 words envelop me as I write this, along with so much appreciation for my Bonaventure education and experience. One car trip laid the foundation for so much of my life.
— Carolyn Delaney Hopkins Kirsch, ’72
When I entered SBU in the fall of 1965, I was among the first women to live on campus – in Shay-Loughlen hall. At that time, Bona’s had a large number of students from the NYC metropolitan area – New York City, Long Island, New Jersey and Connecticut. Interstate 86 did not exist. To travel home and back to Bona’s we had to use Route 17 – very scenic and very time consuming! It was two lanes … the ride from campus to Long Island, where I lived, was eight to nine hours, depending on the number of stops along the way. The rule of thumb for a ride back then with a fellow Bonnie was five dollars, one suitcase. The rides were always fun and adventurous with good memories. A true Bona Venture.
— Bonnie Bowes Duran, ’69