In favor of a smaller marching band
I am writing to express my concerns about the proposed plans for a potential 240-member ODU Marching Band which were announced in the fall 2007 issue.

As a proud graduate of the Department of Music, it is disheartening to anticipate that the limited financial resources provided to the department to support quality musical programs to the campus and surrounding communities may be redirected to finance a “game day atmosphere” at football games and other athletic events, and that music scholarship money may be redirected from students interested in obtaining a quality education in the performing arts to recruit enough non-music majors to permit the marching band to perform “razzle-dazzle” signature marching maneuvers at football pregame and halftime shows.

I believe that the university could strike a better balance by continuing to develop the quality music programs presented by the Department of Music and supporting a smaller marching band program in the range of 60 to 75 students composed primarily of music majors, which is a size more representative of the local high school marching band programs that ODU graduates will find themselves working with at the completion of their education.
– Martin F. Smith ’74
Lusby, Md.
Editor’s note: The music department is not providing funding to the marching band program, and will not have to reallocate scholarship funds to attract non-music majors to the band.

Remembering two notable women grads
Two notable women graduates of ODU passed away during the past year. Alice Zelubowski Charette (A.A. 1960) and Rose Marie Norwood Parker (B.A. 1964).

Alice was the editor of our college newspaper, then called The High Hat. Contrary to an article some years ago that stated that there had never been a woman editor, she was also preceded as editor by another, Deanne Malpass, who became a college professor in Texas. I wrote art criticism and sports, and served as copy editor, under them.

Alice interviewed Queen Elizabeth II when HRH was in Williamsburg 50 years ago, when she served as a summer intern for The Virginian-Pilot.

Rose Marie and I both attended Norview High School, got our M.S.L.S. in library science from UNC-Chapel Hill, and worked at the downtown Kirn Library from that point. While she served as the head of the Children’s Department in the early ’70s, and I was in charge of the Model City program, and worked across the hall, she enthusiastically helped a young black child every day locate then almost non-existent books about black historical figures. That child went on to graduate from Yale, and this year gave the Yale Library $1 million in appreciation for the help he had received from libraries. Meanwhile, Rose Marie married another ODU graduate, John Parker Jr. (B.A. 1965; M.S.L.S. Chapel Hill).
– Myreen Moore Nicholson ’62 (M.A. ’97)
Norfolk, Va.

Thanks for magazine
Thank you for another great issue [fall 2007] of Old Dominion University magazine. You do an amazing job.
– Liz Witkowski ’75
Norfolk, Va.

The night we won the NCAA basketball championship and we marched down Hampton Boulevard. Very exciting times.
– Glenn Massie ’76

Editor’s note: These items were posted Nov. 27 and Nov. 21, respectively, on the Alumni Association’s Online Community message board. To share your favorite memory, go to www.odualumni.org and click on “Alumni Connection.”

To send a letter to the editor, an update for the Class News section or a change-of-address notice, you may contact us via e-mail, sdaniel@odu.edu; fax, 757-683-5501; or by regular mail, Editor, Old Dominion University magazine, 100 Koch Hall, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA 23529.

You may reach us by phone at:
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