First Person: SLU Through the Generations
I first started as an Admissions Ambassador at St. Lawrence University my sophomore year. I remember standing in the lobby of Payson Hall flipping through the various yearbooks until the prospective student I was taking on a tour arrived. I stumbled upon the 1950 yearbook and realized that my Grandmother attended school during that year.
After a few minutes of passing through the pages, I finally found her yearbook photo. There she was—Beverly Woods, a sophomore at St. Lawrence University, just like me.
St. Lawrence University has been a part of my family’s journey for generations. Our story began here with my great-grandfather, Floyed Woods. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in 1917 and then went on to serve in the United States Navy in World War II.
The story continues on with his daughter and my grandmother, Beverly (Woods) Loyst, a 1952 graduate with a degree in French studies who will be turning 90 years old this December! She was the pianist for the Laurentian Singers, a group still prevalent on campus today. When we share our favorite SLU memories together, I am always surprised at how similar St. Lawrence and Canton were in the 1950s. She lived in Dean Eaton, which used to be an all-girls dormitory, her first year. I got to live in that very same building my sophomore year.
But things were a little different. She remembers a cafeteria being in Dean and the Quonset building next door which was a temporary building for classrooms. All the residents in Dean had a 10 p.m. curfew put in place by the house mom. Her house mom was Mrs. Ryan and all the students would line up before curfew to check in. Now we just use our key card to access the dorms.
Ice hockey games were still a favorite sporting event. I learned that our Clarkson rivalry in hockey dates back to even before her years. The Tick Tock Inn was a student favorite then too and served as a restaurant. They would all walk off campus together and enjoy a meal at the Inn, now known as the “Ticker.”
St. Lawrence has become my home, just as it was hers. I am so lucky that I get to share such an incredible experience with my grandma and continue her legacy here at St. Lawrence! We are both proud to be Laurentians for life.
