Five women met in Illinois State’s Watterson Towers in 1971 and were able to celebrate 40 years of friendship this fall back on campus.
Nancy (Klaus) McClatchey ’75, Deb Lutz ’75, Twila (Gockel) Muhlach ’75, Marsha (Schuttler) Menzel ’75, and Carol (Lingel) Nauman ’75 came from farming communities around Illinois to pursue degrees at Illinois State. Most of them had never been this far away from home, but their backgrounds and instant connection when they met each other as roommates in Watterson Towers made them lifelong friends.
For two years, these five women lived in Watterson Towers before finding a place off campus together for the remainder of their college experience. “Living in Watterson and meeting my amazing roommates is my favorite memory of campus,” Lutz said. The rest of the alums agreed. Menzel said, “Standing in line to get tickets to watch Doug Collins play basketball is something we enjoyed doing as a group too.”
As the group toured campus, took pictures in Watterson Towers, and enjoyed dinner at Avanti’s (a favorite for them all), they were able to reminisce about their experiences on campus and talk about the exciting new features that were not around during their time at Illinois State. “When we first started at ISU, we saw the new student union, the Bone Student Center, open,” McClatchey said. “It was very enjoyable to see the new buildings, such as Milner Library and the new rec center, and to see ISU growing with the future.”
Why do this reunion? The group kept in touch through holiday cards every year, but many had not seen each other or been on campus for over 30 years. “The amazing thing was even though we had not been together in so many years it was like we had never left,” Muhlach said. “We laughed and shared memories and pictures just like we did had then.”
Interested in visiting campus or holding a small reunion? Email Alumni Relations or call (309) 438-2586.
