Today’s Project 100 memory comes from R. H. (Bob) Bakley.  He was born in Blackwood and raised in Mt. Ephraim, New Jersey.  His parents got divorced when he was very young, and he knew very little about his father, though he worked for RCA at one point.  His mother was a blue-collar worker for Boscul Coffee in Camden, New Jersey.  Bob went to public schools and graduated from Audubon High School in 1961.  He took a year off and worked in construction. He enrolled at Glassboro State College in the Fall of 1962 and graduated with a degree in junior high education in the Spring of 1966.  For his electives, he took social studies classes, as that was the subject he most wanted to teach.  Neither of his parents graduated from high school, and Bob was the first one in his family to earn a college degree.  After he graduated, he began teaching at Collingswood Junior High School.  He began the Master’s program at Glassboro State at the same time.  He finished his MA in 1969, doing his work during the summer and at nights.  He left Collingswood after five years.  He then joined the faculty at Beck Middle School in Cherry Hill, where he taught for 27 years.  He also coached track and field (as head coach for 26 years).  He also coached the girls’ soccer team for about eight years. After he retired in 1998 at the age of 57, he and his wife moved down to the shore.  His wife soon found him a part time job delivering flowers.  She wanted him to drive around and learn the area, which is why she chose that job for him.  He had various other part time jobs, especially in the summer.  He also wrote many, many articles on history-related topics for The Herald, a small newspaper in Cape May County.  He hopes to compile a book on these stories and dedicate them to his granddaughters; Erin who attends Penn State, Katherine who is matriculated at Syracuse University and Ryleigh who has her eyes set on the University of Maryland.  Today, he is completely retired and travels often, especially to Spain.

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There were no county colleges in southern New Jersey when I graduated high school.  I was accepted at one in Trenton, and I considered going there.  However, Glassboro State College accepted me, and I decided to go there.  It was close and convenient, and I loved the campus.  It was also very affordable.  I could earn all the money that I needed to attend college by working in the summers.

I knew that I wanted to be a teacher, and I knew that I wanted to teach history.  One of the faculty members that I remember well was Marius Livingston.  He was a walking encyclopedia.  He was usually a couple of minutes late to class.  He came in with something that he was reading, placed it down, and then started lecturing.  He often talked non-stop, even after time was up, and students started packing up to leave.  He was a dynamic teacher, and I really enjoyed his classes.  I had him as undergraduate and then again as a graduate student.  One of those classes was in the summer, and he had assigned a research paper.  After class I asked him if I could do an alternate assignment since I was already writing another research paper for another graduate class.  He agreed if I taught one of the classes, and I ended up lecturing on the history of the Presbyterian Church in New Jersey.

Another faculty member that I remember was Dr. Aaron Bender.  He was a bit stoic.  I think that some of us in his classes irritated him.  However, we all appreciated that he always came to class very well prepared and was extremely knowledgeable.  One of my strong memories of Dr. Bender came during the Summit between Lyndon Johnson and Alexei Kosygin.  I believe that he became chairperson after Harold Wilson.  Perhaps for that reason, he was involved in the Summit.  I saw that he had been quoted in the Philadelphia Inquirer, and I brought it into class.  He did not know yet that he had been quoted, and his reaction was so human.  He was excited and happy to see that he had been included in the coverage of this historic event.

One of my fellow students at Glassboro State was Jack Gillespie.  I got to know him when I was working construction the year before I started at Glassboro State.  We had a mutual friend named Frank Houser who also worked in construction and who later got involved in politics in Thorofare.  Jack and I were common laborers putting in a chemical pipeline on Route 130 down near the shore.  We only worked together for three or four weeks before he returned to Glassboro State College.  He was a senior when I was a freshman.  We later bumped into each other a few times.  He was a very nice guy and extremely intelligent.  From when I first met him, I knew that he  was going to become someone special in education and at GSC – and he did.

In graduate school, I took many classes with Robert Hewsen.  He started in 1967 after I graduated with my undergraduate degree.  He was a true scholar, extremely knowledgeable and a great teacher.  I remember working very hard to get a B from him on a paper about the Armenian genocide during World War I.  I later worked on my “Seminar Paper” with him, but it was really a thesis, as it ended up being 106 pages long.  It was on the history of my hometown, Mt. Ephraim.

I had Jesse Kennedy, and I think he taught courses on Soviet Union and world history before Robert Hewsen was hired.  I remember that Dr. Kennedy appeared on television.  He looked like a professor, and he also smoked a pipe.  He was more aloof than the others, but I remember him helping me when I was preparing an oral presentation on the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan. I also remember Richard Porterfield who taught African history. 

I remember the ending of Operation Uganda. I didn’t have time to be involved.  I commuted from my home and I continued to work during the academic years.  This meant that I was unable to participate in many of the extra-curricular events that took place on campus.

For example, I didn’t have time to attend the celebration of Uganda Day during my first year.  I do remember that Marius Livingston led the project and they collected many, many books.  I recall some sadness that not all of the books ended up making it to the school in Uganda.

I was attending graduate school when they announced that the Summit would take place at Hollybush.  I did everything that I could to be there.  On Friday, I was on Clements Bridge Road in Runnemede when Alexei Kosygin’s limousine passed me.  His driver was speeding for sure.  The next day Saturday, we came to the campus.  We watched Kosygin drive in that day along Rt. 322 from Bosshart Hall, and we then tried to get as close to Hollybush as possible.  I put my first wife on my shoulders, and you can see her in some of the photographs taken that day.

I remember that we were all very hopeful that something big would come out of the meeting.  The Vietnam War was raging, and we really believed that this meeting might lead to something positive in the Cold War.  We were sad that nothing really came out of the meeting of the two world leaders.  The Summit, however, certainly put Glassboro State on the map.  We were very proud that they chose us over other options like Princeton and Rutgers.  They did a tremendous amount of work to get Hollybush ready for the meeting, installing air conditioning and much more.  President Robinson did a great job preparing Glassboro State for this historic event.

Glassboro State College changed my whole life.  I thought I was going into the United States Navy, like my brother and my namesake who attended Annapolis.  After a discussion at a bar with a friend who planned to go to Glassboro State College to become a teacher, I started to wonder why I couldn’t do the same. I eventually applied somewhat on a whim, was accepted, and my entire future changed.  I absolutely loved teaching for all those years, and I felt like I made a difference in the lives of many students.  Without Glassboro State, I can hardly imagine what my life would have been.

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This is part of the Department of History’s “Project 100,” the collection and sharing of one hundred memories by Glassboro State College and Rowan University alumni and staff.  One memory will be released per day in the 100 days leading up to October 20, 2023, the date of a reunion celebrating the 100^th anniversary of the founding of Glassboro Normal School, later Glassboro State College, and now Rowan University.  The reunion will take place at 7pm at the Summit City Farm and Winery in Glassboro, New Jersey.  Registration for the reunion will be open from July 11^th and will remain open until the venue reaches its 100-person capacity (or October 13^th if capacity never reached).  We do anticipate that the reunion will sell out, so please register as soon as possible by visiting the Alumni Office’s registration page here:  alumni.rowan.edu/historyreunion2023.

You can also find the up-to-date set of Project 100 memories on the Department of History’s webpage.  William Carrigan arranged, interviewed, transcribed and/or edited these memories.  Laurie Lahey proofread and helped edit the final versions.  If you wish to share your own memories, please email Dr. Carrigan at carrigan@rowan.edu.  Alumni with Facebook accounts are encouraged to join the RU/GSC History Alumni group here:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/251485937221524.