PINTO — Mary Louise Buzzell Young, 90, of Pinto recently celebrated a momentous occasion. She attended her 70th reunion at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
The reunion took place from June 10 through 12 with more than 1,900 alumnae/alumni and guests in attendance. Also in attendance at the reunion with Young were her daughters Ruth Anne Sheetz of Cumberland and Sue Young Mullineaux of Gaithersburg.
The reunion included a cocktail hour, luncheon, fireworks and a parade. Young enjoyed her time at the reunion reminiscing with 20 members from the graduating class of 1941 and in particular, with her freshmen roommate, Dorothy Spiwak Field.
“I really enjoyed my time at Vassar College,” said Young. “I liked the campus and made a lot of friends. The teaching was excellent, the lectures weren’t dry at all.”
Young also enjoyed riding around the campus in a golf cart for the parade of graduating classes of 1931, 1936, 1941, 1946, 1951, 1956, 1961, 1966, 1971, 1976, 1981, 1986, 1991, 1996, 2001 and 2006.
The oldest alumnae, Maisry MacCracken, 100, graduating class of 1931, lead the parade followed in descending order of graduating classes. The graduating classes were accompanied by a brass band.
“It was really neat for the most recent graduating classes to see the previous graduating classes parade around the campus,” said Mullineaux.
Young and her daughters really enjoyed their time spent at the Vassar reunion and especially enjoyed the excellent food that was catered by the Culinary Institute of America.
“The reunion was beautifully organized and they rolled out the red carpet for the grads. They treated mom like royalty,” said Sheetz. “The college paid for mom’s lodging and food.”
“Everyone at Vassar was very gracious. It was like having your very own personal concierge,” added Mullineaux.
Young’s fondest memory of her time at Vassar College was meeting Eleanor Roosevelt.
“She (Roosevelt) had a really high voice; was really tall and gainly and had a very warm personality,” said Young.
In addition to being accepted into Vassar College, Young was also accepted into Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass., and Smith in Northampton Mass. Young decided to go to Vassar because it was the only college that had an indoor swimming pool.
In addition to attending her 70th reunion, Young has also attended her 25th, 40th, 50th, and 65th reunions.
“Ruth has already signed me up for the 75th reunion,” said Young.
In conjunction with the reunion, Vassar College celebrated its Sesquicentennial (150th) Anniversary. Vassar College was founded in 1861 and was an all girls college until 1969, according to Young. Young attended college at a time when there were few women attending college. Young’s sister Anne Buzzell also attended Vassar College and graduated in 1944.
After graduating from Vassar College with a in 1941 with a bachelor’s degree. in English, Young attended Simmons College in Boston where she obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Publishing and then went on to the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York where she obtained a master’s degree in journalism. It was at Columbia University that Young experienced another one of her fondest memories, meeting Sinclair Lewis, an American novelist, short-story writer and playwright.
“It was his birthday and I told him happy birthday from one red head to another,” said Young “He touched my shoulder and I didn’t wash it for a week.”
After graduating from Columbia University, Young came to work for the Times-News from 1944 until 1950, when she retired to raise her four children with her husband Franklin H. Young.
Young met her husband on a blind date. Shortly after her husband died, and after her children were married. Young returned to the newspaper and worked from 1979 until she retired in 1992, shortly before her 72nd birthday. Young has 11 grandchildren.
At the Times-News, Young was a Jill-of-all-trades. She handled obituaries, wrote feature stories and covered the police beat, attended city council, board of education and county commission meetings.
“I enjoyed writing feature stories the most,” said Young.
One of her most memorable experience, as a reporter, was around 1949 when two gun men held up the Capital Limited, a sleeper car train that travelled from Cumberland to Chicago.
“The men had a few drinks and thought it would be fun to hold up a train. So they went around collecting jewelry, wallets and anything they could carry,” said Young.
“During this time, pardon the expression, all hell broke loose in the newsroom,” recalls Young. “It was Jesse James stuff. I got calls from newspapers all over but I was told to hold off on giving them information,” said Young.
The robbers were later arrested and tried to sue the B&O Railroad for serving them the drinks that caused them to rob people, according to Young.
At one point, Young was offered a job at The Associated Press in Baltimore by Max Fullerton. Young declined the job.
“If I was a career-oriented woman. I would have jumped at the chance, but I liked living here in Cumberland,” she said. “Max warned me that the Associated Press was a a dog- eat-dog and I didn’t want to be a part of that.”
Young stills enjoys writing. She writes press releases for the Womens Civic Club of Saint Luke’s Lutheran Church. Young and Sheetz are currently working on writing children’s literature.
Contact Elaine Blaisdell at eblaisdell@times-news.com.
