Guess who's having a birthday on March 3rd? Jolene Creed Harwell and, Jolene writes when noting her birth date, "Yes, we are old!" Jolene was a member of the Spring 1960 pledge class, she recalls, but relies on longtime friend and Gamma alum Sharon Fitzpatrick to remember her pledge name.

Jolene married Dillard Harwell shortly after leaving GPC and reports that Dillard "robbed the cradle" when he married her. Their families had attended church together when Jolene was an infant and Dillard was eight.

Jolene may feel she's old but age doesn't seem to have affected her memory; she related one of her stories from her time at GPC. When she left college to marry Dillard, "Gammas gave me a personal shower. I still have the lavender half slip that someone gave me. It's held up well even though my granddaughter now plays dress up in it!" The couple currently lives in El Cajon, California, where Jolene still "dabbles in real estate" and husband Dillard, a general contractor, is semi-retired. "Sharon Fitzpatrick (called 'Auntie Sharon' by Jolene's children) has been here all along to help with our daughters and, "Jolene adds, "is still more than my entire family can handle."

In the years since Pepperdine and during the 42 years of her marriage, Jolene reports that she and Dillard have lived in the San Diego county area, "raised two daughters, and survived, and still attend the Church of Christ." She adds that she is "still tall" but "not thin."

Writing about her long friendship with Sharon Fitz, Jolene says, "My husband is currently remodeling a wonderful old house [Sharon] bought in La Mesa about six miles from us. Of course, I sold it to her. What revenge! They actually get along quite well," interjects Jolene, "considering they are both old curmudgeons!" Jolene and Dillard plan to move back to La Mesa next year and she's looking forward to living near Sharon. "I can be closer to her and that will be great."

Jolene and Dillard's two daughters-Devon Harwell White (age 40) and Regan Harwell Schaffer (age 35)-both have ties to Pepperdine. Devon's husband is a graduate of the Pepperdine Law School and Regan is currently a professor at Pepperdine. Zoey Michael White is Jolene and Dillard's seven year-old granddaughter.

Jolene does have a question for all fellow Gamma alums. "Have any of you figured out what the real song is for 'Gamma Girl'? It's really driving us nuts!" By way of summary, Jolene goes on to conclude that "life has treated us kindly and we are grateful."

 

Robby & Regan Schaffer (on left) - Dillard & Jolene - Brain, Devon &Zoey White (on right)

Louise West attended GPC from 1960 until 1964. A member of the fall 1963 Gamma pledge class, Louise recalls her pledge name was "Rot-degrading and ugly, slow soft slime." After graduating from Pepperdine, Louise attended USC earning an MSW and qualifying her for what she calls a "variety of work settings, conventional and unconventional." For the past 22 years, though, Louise has worked at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica where she is now Director of Mission Services. Her current position includes "social work, pastoral care, bioethics and assorted administrative assignments."

In the years between completing her undergrad and graduate work, Louise reports she was married, learned to fly and divorced. Louise lists one of her life's accomplishments as acquiring "fluency in another language."

Her years at GPC are considered by Louise as "not the best time of my life." Perhaps, she says, "if the past could be changed, I might wish to have had an academically richer experience but then my life might have gone in a totally other direction. Who knows if it would be better after all?" Pondering such questions is, according to Louise, "entertaining but not terribly productive." With her enjoyment of travel and hopes to catch up with that in retirement, Louise surmises, finally, that "life is good."

 Peggy Zorko VanderWeide

"If my memory serves me right," reports Peggy Zorko VanderWeide, "I was the first Gamma to marry." A charter member of Gammas when the sorority was begun in 1957, Peggy married husband Sid in June of 1959, 44 years ago, after she attended GPC from 1957-1958. Peggy and Sid now live in Issaquah, Washington, a suburb of Seattle; she writes that she is now retired while Sid is a semi-retired electrical contractor.

Of her year at Pepperdine, Peggy says, "We charter members were a very close knit bunch of gals. [We] enjoyed being the 'renegades' of the campus in choosing to set up our own sorority rather than join an existing Pepperdine sorority." This, Peggy says, is one of her best memories of GPC.

Since their marriage, Peggy and Sid have raised four children and run an electrical contracting business as well as owning a Radio Shack store. Their children-twins Kent and Kevin (42), Brian (39) and Karen Anne (35)-have given the couple eight grandchildren. With her children raised and now retired, though, Peggy relates that she's now working part-time with a Prison Ministry "volunteering with a Bible Study Correspondence group." It is, she says, "very rewarding as the prisoners share how God has changed their lives while in prison."

After all these years, Peggy has some regrets. She's sorry she "did not stay on at Pepperdine and finish my degree in Business/Accounting. I chose to transfer to the University of Utah my second year and went into nurses training. Regretfully I did not finish but chose to get married." Her life has been and continues to be full. Perhaps, though, during these retirement years, both Peggy and Sid will attend a GPC reunion and be able to catch up with many old friends.