Wabash College - Class of 1991

Many of you know that Dr. Jim Barnes affiliated with the Class of '91 when the NAWM made him an honorary alumnus in 1994, and we have been proud to call him a classmate in addition to valued professor of history. With the recent Commencement, the newly retired Dr. Barnes joins the ranks of the sage emeritus professors who grace the Wabash campus.

He has instructed and guided generations of Wabash men since beginning his tenure here in 1962. In 2002, Dr. Barnes was recognized with the prestigious McLain-McTurnan-Arnold Excellence in Teaching Award. With his wife and research associate, Patience, he has penned several books, scholarly articles, and reviews. In addition to his professional memberships, he is active in St. John's Church, the Indiana Historical Society, the Montgomery County Historical Society, American Historical Association, and Ski for Light Inc.

On the occasion of his retirement, we want to encourage you to send along some reminicences about your experiences with Dr. Barnes, both in and out of class. My favorite experience came when I had the pleasure of presenting him with a recognition on behalf of the Class of '91 after our 5th reunion. He wasn't able to make the dinner because he was presenting a paper, so the next time I was up on campus, I looked up Dr. Barnes in his Baxter Hall office. I presented him with a plaque with "Old Wabash" printed in Braille. "This is such a thoughtful gift," Dr. Barnes remarked, "because I'm a little embarrassed to admit that as long as I've been on this campus, I have never learned the school song! Now I have no excuse."

We, your classmates, wish you all the best in your retirement, and we thank you for all of your dedication to Wabash and her students.

Over the next few days (or weeks), we’ll be posting pictures, stories, and thoughts about last weekend's Big Bash 15^th Reunion. We start with the main headline for the Class of 1991.

Three years ago, when Tom Runge and the Alumni Office boldly decided to start a new Wabash tradition of holding its reunions in the summer, they began staging an alumni Chapel Sing where the reunion classes would each stand in front of the Pioneer Chapel and belt out their rendition of “Old Wabash.”

On Saturday, a portion of our reunion class gathered in front of Baxter Hall as the Sings commenced. Some of us were busy cramming the second verse just as we did before a final way back when. The Class of ’56 had color copies of the “W” from their senior yearbook that they held up. Cal Black and the Class of ’66 paraded in wearing green pots with a police escort, a golf cart, and a pickup truck. (I felt Cal had a leg up on the competition since a direct relation of his wrote the song! I heckled “Show Boats” from the wing.) The Class of ’71 made red t-shirts with the lyrics printed on the back!

I sheepishly admitted to our classmates, “Sorry guys, I didn’t come up with a gimmick for us.” Funny how Wabash guys react (especially at the last minute) when presented with a dilemma. Watching Chapel Sing caused a lot of memories from our freshman year to flood back. I “remember” passing out. Brett Miller reminded us that the Delts won our year. The Betas stood up on the top and were the first to start and the last to stop. We couldn’t remember which pledge class had a cadence to preserve their voices. I remembered how a couple of Phi Delts would thrust into the air one finger (for first verse), two fingers (for second verse), or a fist (for refrain and chorus) to try to keep my pledge class in sync amid the din. Someone recalled how the Sigma Chis came late, charging in up the center of the mall to bully their way to front and center. Ross Weatherman recalled a big fight.

Suddenly, our little “focus group” hit upon the idea of staging a fight. So, when we sang, “…to the light of the southern seas,” the fists flew and the good-natured shoving began. Remarkably, we kept singing the song! (The Sig contingent didn’t show up until the dinner later that night, so I’m not sure if a faux fight would have been good idea with the likes of Ervin and Fahey on hand!)

On Sunday’s award brunch, the Class of 1991 finished runner-up to ’66, who took home the Robinson-Ragan Award. It’s amazing what style points will get you.

(Thanks to Tim Cobb’s wife, Tricia, who took the photos.)