Today’s Project 100 memory comes from Suzanne Lehr Barrett.  She was born and raised in Northeastern Philadelphia.  Her father, Edgar, worked for an insurance company downtown, and her mother, Anne, was a secretary before she got married.  After Anne got married, she was a housewife who raised Suzanne, her brother, and her sister.  Suzanne went to Lawndale Elementary School, Woodrow Wilson Junior High School, and then Frankfort High School, graduating in 1957.  She began her college career at Beaver College (now Arcadia University) and attended for three semesters, majoring in Christian Education. 

She then got married to John Edward Barrett who was studying at Princeton Theological Seminary.  He graduated in 1958 and took a position in Glassboro as a minister of the Presbyterian Church on University Boulevard.  Suzanne joined him in Glassboro in 1959, and she continued her education at Glassboro State College in the Fall.  She had planned to teach for two or so years after graduating in the Spring of 1962, but those plans changed when she and Edward were expecting their first child.  She and Edward decided to accelerate his plans to pursue a doctorate at St. Andrew’s University, and they left for Scotland in October of 1962, taking their daughter, Jeanne, then six weeks old, with them. 

They spent two years in Scotland, returning to Philadelphia in the summer of 1964.  That Fall, her husband began a professorship in the Department of Religion and Philosophy at Muskingum College in New Concord, Ohio.  Suzanne taught social studies in the public schools for 23 years at all levels from elementary to high school.  She retired in 1995, and she and Edward moved to North Carolina to be close to their daughter and their grandchildren.

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I had never heard of Glassboro State Teacher’s College before we moved to Glassboro.  It was only a block from our house, however, and I definitely wanted to finish college.  The campus was beautiful, and we had become friends with Dean Robert Bole who was our neighbor. Interestingly, years later, his daughter, Barbara, attended Muskingum College where Ed taught. I was happy to attend Glassboro State Teacher’s College.  I was always interested in history, geography, and international relations.  I remember hearing about other countries in Church growing up from the reports of various missionaries.  At Glassboro State Teacher’s College, you had only three choices of a major.  One option was being an elementary education major.  If you did not choose that path, you had two choices in secondary education.  You could either be a social studies major with an English minor, or you could be an English major with a social studies minor.  I chose to be a social studies major and an English minor.  This was just fine with me given my overall interests and my goal of becoming a teacher.

I remember Maurice Blanken very well.  My husband and I were good friends with him and his family. We knew them through our church.  Maurice asked me to proofread his dissertation on Harry F. Ward and his relationship with the McCarthyite movement.

I remember taking a two-semester sequence in World History.  The first semester was very much about memorizing dates and information.  The second semester was much more stimulating and challenging as it was discussion-based and involved critical thinking. I also remember taking Harold Wilson’s American history class.  I loved his course.  He was a good lecturer, and I learned a lot from him.

President Thomas Robinson invited me, for reasons I can’t remember, to become a representative of Glassboro State Teacher’s College at a professional meeting of the New Jersey Education Association in Atlantic City.  I was scheduled to participate in a debate on the issue of the voting age.  I was assigned to advocate for lowering the voting age to 18, but my opponent, a teacher, had prepared the same position.  So, I adapted and advocated for keeping the voting age as it was. In any event, no one paid attention to the debate because at that very moment John Glenn was making history as the first American to orbit the Earth.  In a strange coincidence, John Glenn was from New Concord, where we later moved.  My daughters both graduated from John Glenn High School.

Glassboro State Teacher’s College was a very positive experience for me.  I felt well prepared – both with my pedagogy and with my content knowledge – when I finally became a teacher.  I do remember when the Summit with President Lyndon B. Johnson and Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin took place at Glassboro State in 1967.  We were in New Concord at the time, and that event brought national attention to Glassboro State Teacher’s College. 

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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 or by clicking this link: https://chss.rowan.edu/departments/history/alumni_highlights/projiect_100/

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.