A 59-year Fredonia friendship: A navy blue Fredonia blazer

By Linda (Kauderer) Burke, ’64

I met Ellen (Hitchcock) Meister in September 1960 while living in Hillman House freshman dorm; she was a friend of my assigned roommate from Niagara Falls. Friendships have always been important to me. It seems as a child when we sang the song, “Make new friends, but keep the old…one is silver and the other gold,” I took these words to heart, using them as a theme throughout my life.

Ellen and I continued our friendship through four years at Fredonia, marriages, children and grandchildren, even though we never lived in the same city. Of course, it helped that our husbands thoroughly enjoyed each other’s company also. As the years and then the decades flew by, we tried to meet for dinner at least once a year.

This year was no exception, but it did have a surprising outcome. A few weeks ago [Fall 2019], Ellen and Bob arrived at our home for dinner and an overnight. During cocktails, Ellen casually mentioned they would be attending the 50th Anniversary Reception of the Rockefeller [Arts] Center on the Fredonia campus over the upcoming weekend.

“Really?” I replied. “I clearly remember Nelson Rockefeller coming to Fredonia every year and marching through campus like a king. That’s when I would wear my Fredonia blazer and we would line the campus to welcome him.”

“What?” said Ellen, her eyes flashing. “You had a Fredonia blazer? I never had one. What did it look like?”

I started to laugh telling her I had just noticed it the other day at the very back of our front hall closet and thinking at the time how old that must be…about 60 years old! I am not a saver so to see it there was rather surprising. To the closet I went and brought it out, taking off the protective plastic covering. Surprisingly enough it was in excellent condition, just missing one brass button. I am dismayed to say I could get but one arm into it, however Ellen, who has maintained her college weight, slipped it on easily; it fit perfectly!

Needless to say, we all decided she had to take the blazer and wear it to the Rockefeller reception. She would need to find a brass button to sew on but otherwise it was perfect. We chuckled throughout the evening thinking of her wearing the blazer with the Fredonia crest on the pocket proudly announcing 1964, our graduation year. “Everyone will know how old I am,” she lamented.

Well, a few days later I received an email from Ellen including a photo of her wearing the blazer. She had paired it with a white shirt, white pants and several gold bracelets; she looked like a Ralph Lauren ad.

Her email said, “The blazer was the buzz of the evening. The college president, the chairman of the board [College Council] and several longtime professors were all interested in the 59-year-old blazer with the 1964 crest. No one knew something like that existed.”

Now, if only I had saved my freshman beanie!