Winter 2025 5 FROM thE EDItOR THE PLACES THAT HOLD OUR MEMORIES Last winter, I visited my high school for the first time in nearly 30 years. It fills an entire city block of downtown Nashville — a four-story limestone castle among high-rises and honkytonks. Walking in the doors, I was hit by the familiar smell of worn floorboards and a century’s worth of dust. Locker doors clanged shut just out of sight. And then, like a series of camera flashes popping: There was the staircase where I timed classmates with a stopwatch as they raced up and down the steps for a physics project.There was the office where I’d been summoned by the secretary, cradling the receiver to my face as my boyfriend, calling from college, told me a classmate had died. There was the corner where my girlfriends and I spent every lunch hour, crosslegged with half-eaten sandwiches in hand, laughing and singing Beatles tunes. The happy, painful and mundane crowded in — all of it forgotten until I walked those halls. It’s a particular magic trick of place that a building can hold our memories — fragments of our past selves. And for 75 years, Gill Coliseum has done just that for generations of Beavers. Since it opened in November 1949, it’s hosted graduation ceremonies; concerts and dances; registration (back when it was done with physical cards); lectures and memorial services; a turtle race or two; and athletics events aplenty, from the stands-shaking mayhem of Orange Express games to last year’s unforgettable women’s basketball buzzer beater. Records have been broken, friendships forged and minds changed, all in the shadow of its steel girders. As former Beaver gymnast Mary (Ayotte) Law, ’82, says: “When I walk into Gill Coliseum — and it can be empty — I hear people cheering for me. … There’s something about the way the sound of that happy cheering just kind of remains in there.” Though we can’t quite summon the smell of Gill’s particular mix of floor wax and popcorn in these pages, I hope you enjoy the memories in “Where Beavers Gather” (see page 40). And please write in to share your own. Scholle McFarland Editor, Oregon Stater P.S. There’s a new way to offer your thoughts on all things OSU and share favorite articles with friends. Check out our new website at OregonStater.org. ILLUSTRATION BY JOÃO FAZENDA Winter 2025, Vol. 110, No. 1 PuBLIShERS John Valva, executive director, OSUAA; vice president of alumni relations, OSU Foundation Dan Jarman, ’88, chair, OSUAA Board of Directors EDI tOR Scholle McFarland DIGItAL & PRODuCtION MANAGER Travis Stanford GRADuAtE ASSIStANt Cora Lassen ARt DIRECtION & DESIGN Pentagram Austin, DJ Stout, Davian-Lynn Hopkins DESIGN CONSuLtANt Teresa Hall, ’86 COPy EDItOR Charles Purdy ADDRESS ChANGES ForOregonState.org/Address LEttERS AND QuEStIONS stater@osualum.com 877-678-2837 Oregon Stater 204 CH2M HILL Alumni Center Corvallis, OR 97331 ADVERtISING Travis Stanford advertise@osualum.com 541-737-2786 ADVISORy COuNCIL Nicole “Nikki” Brown, ’04 Vicki Guinn, ’85 Tyler Hansen Colin Huber, ’10 Chris Johns, ’74 Jennifer Milburn, ’96 Elena Passarello Mike Rich, ’81 Lori Rush, ’78 Roger Werth, ’80 Oregon Stater (ISSN 0885-3258) is published three times a year by the Oregon State University Alumni Association in collaboration with the Oregon State University Foundation and Oregon State University. Content may be reprinted only by permission of the editor.
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