Mary Elinor Sibille Fontenot – Upper Elementary Education, 1943

Mary Elinor (Mellie) Sibille Fontenot

1939 – 1943

                In the fall of 1939 I enrolled at SLI in the College of Education, looking forward to a teaching career.  It was very scary to me on that first day when I arrived to register for my first semester of classes.  We were issued a little red and white “Beanie” that all freshmen girls had to wear as part of our initiation as freshmen.  The boys also wore a “Beanie” but had their hair shaved off.  As part of our initiation, one night we had a “Snake Dance” down Jefferson Street.  We all wore pajamas, held hands and formed a long line, snake dancing down the street.  I remember being pulled along at running speed.

                I had decided on an upper elementary course of study and followed the catalog listing of classes.  When registering, I remember we were in a large room–maybe in Martin Hall–and we walked from one table to another enrolling in awesome sounding classes such as Biology 101 (Animal), Music 101 (Public School Music), English 100 (Composition & Rhetoric) etc.  We registered for classes that were held on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and others that were held on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.  No Saturdays off for us.  This was the fall semester of 1939.

                My sister, cousin and I were commuters, driving in our family car from the small community of Bristol in St. Landry Parish about twenty miles from Lafayette.  We had just graduated from the eleventh grade at Sunset High School–23 graduates.  Everybody knew everybody.  This college seemed so big with many freshman and all strangers.  The college professors sounded so knowledgeable and intimidating to a poor little freshman.  I didn’t know how to find my way around the campus to my classes–sometimes having to run to make it for the beginning of a class.  I would rush across the campus, into the building–looking for my classroom number–down the long hall, up the stairs and finally finding the right room–hurrying in and grabbing a student desk.  In some of the classes, we were seated alphabetically.  Many a night I had a recurring dream that I would arrive late, the door to the classroom would be closed, and I would miss my class.

My most intimidating class was biology.  We were seated in rows of desks, very close together on rises or steps.  I was seated on one of the top rises because my last name started with S.  One of the things I remember about this class was that there were so many students and we were so close together that the professors and helpers walked up and down the aisles during an exam keeping an eye on us so we wouldn’t get help from a nearby student.  I was very nervous and was so afraid to be caught looking at some student’s paper that I was probably cross-eyed by the end of the exam.

Going back to our experiences as commuters:  All of the roads were gravel roads, and we had to drive through Cankton, Ossun, Scott–onto Cameron Street and then to University Street–no paved roads, no super highways, but not a lot of traffic.  We parked in the circle in front of Martin Hall–plenty of place to park.  There were a few other commuters in cars, but most of the commuters rode buses from the nearby communities and the buses were parked in a special place.  We left home at 7 A.M., but we were lucky, for my father had the car ready for us, parked in front of our house, ready to go.  Although a few years before, we were fighting to drive, now we were fighting not to drive–wanted time for an extra nap or to study for an exam.  One morning we were all seated in the car–but not behind the steering wheel.  Our father had to come of out of the house and raise his voice before one of us decided to drive.  Of course we had flat tires, engine trouble and other car problems–no wrecks!!!!  One day it rained so hard, the roads flooded and one of our uncles had to rescue us from Scott in a truck.  What fun!  Four years of this.  Sometimes we picked up riders while on the way–from Ossun and Scott–and our brother came to school only one year before he joined the service.  In 1942, servicemen were everywhere–on campus and off–exciting but terrifying, with all the boys being shipped overseas to unknown destinations and an unknown future.

Most of the time, we left the campus and went downtown for lunch.  Had to hurry; back to the campus for a 1 P.M. class.  Almost everyday we had to wait until four or five o’clock before starting home.  Someone riding with us always had a late class except Saturdays when we got off at noon.  The only time we went back to campus was to attend football games.  We were always excited about our football team.  On one occasion I rode on an excursion train to north Louisiana for a football game.  We won by just a few points.  What a good time we had!  Then, there was the time we won an important game, and all the students gathered in front of Martin Hall and yelled for Dr. Frazier (the university president) to come out and give us the next day off–and guess what, he did–some very happy students.

We had a nice girl’s social room in the basement of Martin Hall with sofas, chairs, restrooms, and lockers where we spent our extra time.  I think a nice lady, Mrs. Barnett, presided over this home away from home.  Also our bookstore was in Martin Hall.  We waited there in long lines to buy books for our classes.  Everything was in Martin Hall, even our graduation in May of 1943.

I loved sports and joined the organization called Women’s Athletic Association.  This meant that I had to take four extra sport classes a week besides the Physical Education classes required.  I had to squeeze these sports classes between my regular classes–rushing to the gym–changing into red shorts and a white shirt–then after the class, changing back into a skirt, bobby socks and saddle oxfords and running to my next class.  I scheduled everything from ping pong, tap dancing (I learned about two steps), archery and tennis–Margaret McMillan was my instructor and Mrs. Bourgeois was always around.  We even had to run an obstacle course (after the war started).  When they introduced golf during my senior year, I tried to sign up but couldn’t because there were no left-handed clubs–and I was left-handed.  In my senior year, I was supposed to receive an SLI blanket–a couple of years ago, I received a USL blanket–thanks to Sherry Lebas, when I attended a dedication ceremony at the gym on campus.

The following facts are taken from a letter I wrote to my soldier brother, Gordon Sibille, about my week of graduation from SLI in May of 1943.

During the last week of school I went to the SLI training school and taught every day.  I don’t know how I’ll ever do it all day long.  (I taught school for 34 years).  I spent a lot of my time helping my teacher supervisor, Mrs. Veazey.

On Friday after Training School classes were over, we all ran to Martin Hall to look for our grades.  When the secretary brought out the list, the girls grabbed it and held it up to search for our grades.  It took me at least 10 minutes to get close enough to see my grade.  It was a “B”.  Good enough!

Sunday after lunch, Mom and I went to Lafayette to attend the Baccalaureate Sermon.  I met my two friends, Flora Belle Callen and Helen Fritz, and we received our caps and gowns.  Mine was made of wool material and I nearly smothered.  Everyone else had the summer ones, but mine looked nice.

And then, graduation on Monday morning.  All of the students from the different colleges marched into the Martin Hall auditorium.  Flora Belle and I walked together.  There were speeches and songs.  Then President Fletcher announced names of students on the Honor Roll–all of the students in the College of Education with a “B” average.  There were about ten students with this average.  I held my breath until he finally called my name–and when he did, I could hardly stand up I was so excited. When the dean of the College of Education called our names, we marched up on the stage to receive a folder (without a diploma in it) and shook hands with President Fletcher.  After the ceremony, we went to the registrar’s office to receive our diplomas–they gave me a notice saying that my diploma had been sent to an engraver to have “With Distinction” engraved on it.  How about that!

My college ring had a blue stone in it instead of a red one, because of the war.  I wonder why!

About 25 College of Education graduates decided to accept teaching positions in Orange, Texas, teaching shipyard worker’s children.  I was going to make $135 a month– big money.  We lived in apartments built for the shipyard workers.  There were eight of us who had a lot of fun together and became life-long friends–some from Texas and some from Louisiana–and therein lies another tale.