The Beckoning Road, Little Saplings & the Curious Tattoo: The Saga of Slocum Walkway

By Carrie Thomas, Senior Class President, OWU '73

One of the tasks assigned to me as senior class president was to work with the University Development Office in the spring of 1973 to organize the Senior Gift Fund, a long-standing OWU fundraising tradition among members of each graduating class.  

At the time, I would have much rather avoided the assignment. I didn’t relish being the voice asking classmates to pledge monies that had yet to be earned from jobs yet to be landed. The post-WWII economic boom had come to a screeching halt in the spring of 1973 as the country tumbled into a deep recession. Seniors were sweating bullets about very cloudy futures, including the burden of student loan debt, getting into and paying for grad school, moving expenses, rent deposits, and wholly unknown job prospects. While we were all impatient for the beckoning road ahead, few of us knew what we’d encounter nor what rewards we might reap.

I braced myself for snide comments and rejoinders from fellow classmates who I assumed would be put off by a pledge solicitation when they faced the financial unknowns of post-grad life. Yet not a peep was heard. No Letters to the Editor in The Transcript decrying the fundraising campaign. No egging of my dorm windows. No push-back from anyone. My immature mind had failed to grasp that many classmates fully understood that collective tuition monies alone could not fund the University’s budget. Like all private colleges, OWU’s ability to provide an exceptional student experience depended on the donations of alumni.

My role in the fundraising campaign was actually minor. I drafted and penned my signature to a fundraising letter which was distributed to all seniors. In addition to a request for a pledge, the letter also solicited input from seniors regarding the project to which pledged monies should be directed.

The votes of responding seniors showed the most enthusiasm for two landscaping projects: planting trees along the barren walkway leading from the Memorial Gateway—a two-column brick entrance to the main campus near Sandusky Street donated by OWU’s Class of 1909—and the creation of an outdoor gathering area with benches on the main campus. Which of these received funding was entirely dependent upon the level of contributions, since the estimated amount required to finance both projects was more than $25,000, far more than any senior class had ever raised.

An Astounding Achievement

During the summer of ’73, Bob Holm, then Director of University Relations, gave me the surprising news that, with a little reconfiguration of our two wish list projects and a small amount of other alumni contributions, our class had pledged enough monies to plant trees along the Sandusky-to-Slocum walkway and also to replace and widen the walkway and add benches to create an inviting gathering place. The generosity of our classmates during the 1973–1975 economic tsunami was nothing less than astounding… and a real shock to this doubtful class president. Truth be told, I had been a true doubting Thomas.

It was the peak of irony when I—the reluctant fundraiser—was subsequently offered a post-graduation position with the University’s Development Team to assist with the Annual Fund. The generosity of my classmates opened a door for me which subsequently defined the direction and arc of my career. I am forever thankful for the undeserved benefit which accrued to me as your class president.

Thus, I had a front-row seat during the fall of 1973 to see the OWU landscaping team demolish the existing concrete walkway to Slocum, excavate a wider path, install a handsome brick and concrete walkway with evenly spaced pushouts to house inviting iron and wooden benches and then plant eight young European linden tree saplings, four along each side of the walkway. I silently wondered if the little saplings which were about as tall as this height-challenged college basketball player would ever grow tall enough to make a visual impact. Little did I know that European linden trees generally reach heights of 70 feet.

As the years passed and class members moved along our personal roadways of life, the trees grew tall and strong, regularly showering the walkway beneath with gorgeous yellow blossoms every spring and striking yellow-gold leaves every fall. As if orchestrated, the long limbs of the trees on each side of the walkway grew tall and wide, forming a naturally arching arbor over the symbolic “road” beneath. In early summer, this green “tunnel” becomes a suspended ceiling of glorious yellow blossoms which surround the walkers below with the wonderful scent of sweet, honeyed perfume. Over the years, one of the trees succumbed to disease and was removed. Oddly, one doesn’t notice the missing tree. It’s as if the departed tree’s family members pitched in to fill the spatial void.

Whenever I’d visit campus over the years, I always looked forward to checking the status of the beautiful arborway which I couldn’t help but think of with emotion as “our” trees. I’ve often wondered if our landscaping feature also evoked warm emotions among the thousands of students, faculty, and alums who have walked beneath the enveloping trees over the 50 years since our graduation.

That question was recently answered when I spotted a brief story in OWU’s online news archive about OWU alum, September Howat, Class of 2000, and her most unusual tattoo. The photo accompanying the article shows a vibrantly smiling September proudly showing off a detailed tattoo on her upper right arm. The delicately tattooed image is “our” Slocum Walkway and trees!

The Beckoning Road Ahead

Just as the members of the Class of '73 knew not what the beckoning road ahead held in store for each of us during the spring of 1973, September had reached such a crossroads in her life. “A few years ago, I began a new chapter in my life and wanted to commemorate the exciting road ahead by getting an appropriate tattoo,” she recently wrote. “My then-girlfriend, and now wife, Ann Moss Manby, OWU 2002, suggested that I track down a photo of Slocum Walkway with its wide pavement and arborway of embracing trees,” she explained.