VT Stories Oral History with Natalie Strawn Kelly, November 20, 2015 (Ms2016-015)

Carmen Bolt: Okay, let's begin. To start, could you state your name and the date?

Natalie Strawn Kelly: Natalie Strawn Kelly, and it's November 20, 2015.

Carmen: Wonderful. So, where did you grow up?

Natalie: I grew up in Blacksburg, [Virginia].

Carmen: Oh, so you're a local?

Natalie: I am. Yeah, I was born in Martinsville, and then moved to Roanoke, [Virginia]. My parents moved to Roanoke, [Virginia], I think, when I was like a baby, and I lived there until I was five. And then we moved to Blacksburg, [Virginia] because my father got a job teaching in mechanical engineering at [Virginia] Tech. So, we moved to Blacksburg, [Virginia] and so I grew up in Blacksburg, [Virginia], went to elementary school and high school here and then went to [Virginia] Tech.

Carmen: What was the experience of growing [up] in a college town?

Natalie: You know what, I think it was wonderful. It was a great town to grow up in. You know, a lot of friends in the neighborhood. And yeah, it was a nice 1:00small town, and you pretty much knew all the kids, or most of the kids, that we went to school with. Yeah. When I went to elementary school, my first grade was in the building on Water Street that I think now is maybe some kind of a media arts building or something. So there were three buildings in that area that are across from Donaldson Brown [Hotel], Water Street, and then the street that goes by Donaldson Brown [Hotel], and then College Avenue. That whole area was my elementary school, and the area that's now a parking lot was our playground. So, when I was in sixth grade, they built two new elementary schools. They built Margaret Beaks [Elementary School] and Gilbert Linkous [Elementary School]. And so, then, they split the kids in town. Ad at that time, we were living on Turner 2:00Street, and so I ended up in Gilbert Linkous [Elementary School]. And the kids on that side of town ended up in Margaret Beaks [Elementary School]. But yeah, that's where I went. Until my sixth grade, I was in school there.

Carmen: Were there a lot of incoming, or was the town growing at that time? Is that why they needed a bigger elementary school or more?

Natalie: Well, you know, I guess we were outgrowing those buildings. But, you know, when you're a kid, you're not that aware of how things are growing. I mean, I guess, the town was developing a little bit, but nothing like it has since I've gone away. And when I come back, it's amazing what's going on here, both on campus and around the town. Yeah.

Carmen: So, since your dad was a professor here, did you feel like you had a strong connection to [Virginia] Tech early on?

Natalie: Oh, I think so. Yeah, because we would come to campus. He worked in 3:00Randolph Hall, and so we would come over and see him or come over and pick him up from work. There would be things that the university that we would participate in, so yeah. In the winter time, everybody went to the duck pond to ice skate, and so yeah. The town really was built around [Virginia] Tech. But in those days, of course, it was called Virginia Polytechnic Institute. Everybody called it VPI, and then it became Virginia Tech. I forget exactly when we kind of switched over and started calling it Virginia Tech.

Carmen: Were there any other events on campus that the community participated in, like football games or?

Natalie: Well, you know what, there were. There's been a football team here gosh, since the late 1800s or early 1900s, I believe. But, the thing I remember 4:00about football games when I was little was that Virginia Tech and VMI [Virginia Military Institute] always played on Thanksgiving Day, and they played at Victory Stadium in Roanoke, [Virginia]. So, that was the big rivalry back then. It wasn't with UVA. I'm not even sure what other teams they played. But in my growing up years, we didn't go to the football games, but we would always watch that one on TV on Thanksgiving Day. It was probably televised, so yeah.

Carmen: So when did you start thinking about college?

Natalie: Well, probably all through high school. I mean, I was sort of thinking about college. But, I also thought, well, if I decided not to go to college, I 5:00would want to have a business career. So, I also took typing and shorthand and bookkeeping in high school. But then, you know, I kind of always wanted to be a teacher, and so I went to [Virginia] Tech in elementary education, and graduated in 1973 with a degree in education and my certification.

Carmen: Did you feel like you were predestined for [Virginia] Tech with your family connection, or did you consider other colleges?

Natalie: You know what, I probably maybe thought a little bit about going away, but it really didn't seem to make any sense to me to go anywhere else. So, yeah. I think I was always kind of headed toward [Virginia] Tech.

Carmen: What was the experience like of being so close to your family while at college? Did you live at home or?

Natalie: I did. I lived at home. Our house was over just a few blocks down Turner Street. You know where Turner Street is, right? Just up in that 6:00neighborhood. So, it was just as close for me to walk to class as it was for a lot of people to come from across campus from some of the dorms. So, I lived at home. It was fine. I had my own room, and I could pretty much come and go as I pleased. But it was nice to be home with my family and have dinner and all that kind of thing. I had some friends in the dorm, so sometimes I would come and spend the night in the dorms and hang out. And the truth is, I was always kind of happy to get back to my own room because I'm not very good at sleeping with a lot of noise going on. So, you know, the dorms are pretty noisy.

Carmen: Yeah? What were they like back then?

Natalie: Well, now when I was at school here, there were male dorms and female dorms. I forget exactly when they had the first coed dorm. And you had to sign 7:00in and out of, like if you went into a male dorm during visiting hours--which I forget what they were--on the weekends. Like Friday nights and Saturday nights it seems like you could go in and out, but I think you had to sign in and sign out to go in and visit a guy in their dorm room. But then at some point, I don't know, do you know when? I think AJ [Ambler Johnston Hall] was the first coed dorm, and that was kind of a big thing. But I think that was after I graduated.

Carmen: I would think the [19]70s, but I'm not sure.

Natalie: Yeah. I don't remember exactly when either, but that was like a big thing that they were going to have a coed dorm.

Carmen: Yeah. But that was the norm, right? Were people--not upset but--annoyed with it, maybe, about the whole process of signing in and out? Was it just 8:00generally accepted?

Natalie: It was just the norm.

Carmen: Yeah?

Natalie: It was. And up until the early [19]70s--Well, I could wear pants to class. But, I think most of the [19]60s women had to wear dresses to class, and that was the norm for them. By the time I got here, we could wear pants and jeans or whatever, but yeah. So, those things were just the norm for us. It probably didn't seem odd. It seemed pretty radical when they decided to have a coed dorm. It seemed pretty radical to a lot of people, I think.

Carmen: You had already graduated at that point, right?

Natalie: Yeah. I graduated in [19]74, so I think I had graduated before that. 9:00But can't remember exactly the timing on that.

Carmen: Yeah. How did you feel about that, that they were having a coed dorm?

Natalie: I think I felt fine about it. I was a little surprised at first, but it was like well okay, whatever.

Carmen: [Laughs] That works!

Natalie: Yeah, I guess that's the way things are gonna go. I mean are all the dorms coed now?

Carmen: I think they have the option not to, to have a single sex dorm. I think there's like one or two. I'm not entirely sure.

Natalie: But, I mean it works fine as far as I understand, right?

Carmen: Um-hm. Yeah. So, what were other parts of campus like? How were your classes?

Natalie: Well, I was in education. I guess, we had some classes up in Wallace Hall, some of our education classes. I took geology one year, so I was in..was 10:00that in Derring [Hall] maybe? Geology may have been in Derring [Hall], and I took history and geography over in...what's this building right here on the corner?

Carmen: Oh, across the way? Oh, I don't know. I should know. I teach a class in there.

Natalie: So, anyway, whatever that building is. So, I was always back and forth across campus. I had biology over in one of the older buildings just across at the bottom of the Drillfield, which I forget the name of it. It's hard to remember after all these years the names of some of these buildings.

Carmen: I don't even know now. [Laughs].

Natalie: Yeah. But you know, the gym was--Oh that's something else I did as a youngster. I took swimming lessons here on campus at the War Memorial gym. That 11:00was the big swimming pool in the area, and they taught swimming classes to people in the town. So, I would come to campus and take swimming lessons, and we would swim in that pool.

Carmen: That's neat. Did students teach it or was it people from outside in the community?

Natalie: Actually, I think it was some of the phys Ed [physical education] professors here at [Virginia] Tech taught it, taught the classes.

Carmen: Oh, how neat.

Natalie: Yeah. But they would teach them to the towns' kids, so I took swimming lessons here. And in the summer time, it would be open so that we could come over and go swimmin.,So, we would use the pool there. So that, the War Memorial [Hall] was the major gym and physical fitness area of the university.

Carmen: Did they also have like intramural sports, like kids sports, or was it mostly just swimming?

Natalie: I don't remember other sports other than coming there to go swimming. I don't remember what other sports they would have had there.

Carmen: When you decided to come to [Virginia] Tech and you had your first day of classes, did it feel different than all the other times you've come to [Virginia] Tech?

Natalie: Oh yeah, definitely.

Carmen: Yeah? What was it like?

Natalie: Golly. Well, I just remember coming here, and we didn't start classes until like about the twentieth of September because we were on the quarter system. So, our fall quarter was from like twentieth of September to right before Christmas. And then our winter quarter was real early in January to like about the second week in March. And then we had a break. And then late March to about mid-first or second week of June was our spring quarter. And then they had summer school. But, I came, and I just remember sitting there thinking, wow. The 13:00summer went really fast, and here I am in school and there's going to be a lot to do. So, yeah.

Carmen: Mostly apprehension about the school or were you nervous about-

Natalie: I don't think I was nervous. I was just like, okay, the fun is over. Like now we've got to get down to serious work. Yeah, I don't think I was apprehensive because I was so comfortable being in and around the town.

Carmen: You knew where to go.

Natalie: Right, right.

Carmen: Do you have any memorable classes or professors that you really liked or felt had an influence on you?

Natalie: That's a good question. There was a geography professor who was a woman, whose name I don't remember, and the geography class was really interesting because it really helped me think about other cultures. And 14:00elementary school geography was basically maps and this country has mountains and that country has rivers or something. But in that class, we started talking more and more about the cultures and the way of life in different countries, as opposed to just the physical geography of a country. So, that was sort of interesting to me. After high school, I traveled and spent about six weeks in France with a French family, so I had started learning that other cultures were different from us. I mean, they still had family units and homes and stuff, but just kind of the way people interacted was a little bit different. And customs were different, about what time you ate dinner for instance. You know, in Europe 15:00they often don't eat dinner until eight or nine o'clock at night, and that's perfectly normal. Well, those kind of things were interesting to learn, and then I came back. So geography, I remember the geology class was a really interesting class, and I think it was Dr. [Gordon] Grender was the head of the geology department then. I had classes with him, really liked him, and I really liked that too because that was like being in a whole new different world of understanding the strikes and dips of rocks and driving down the road and starting to look at the way rocks are and then to begin to understand how they got sideways or how they got all the striations. So, that was pretty 16:00interesting, yeah.

Carmen: Cool.

Natalie: And then when I was here my senior year we student-taught for the whole year. There was a program here, and it was only for two or three years. And our senior class was the first group, and twenty of us went to Northern Virginia. So, I actually spent my senior year living in Annandale, Virginia and teaching at Canterbury Woods Elementary School up there. And we started class when the kids started, and we spent nine weeks in one grade with one classroom teacher. And then we went to four different classes during the year. But, we were integrated into the school the whole year, and we had an education professor up 17:00there. His name was Gary Kilear. And so he taught us our education classes at the school. We would just go in the library and have our--all the different kind of education classes and whatever it was we were supposed to be taking on campus we were actually taking there onsite. And so the kids got to know us as real teachers.

Carmen: Now, a lot of people make the joke that Northern Virginia is like its own separate state.

Natalie: Right.

Carmen: Was there any sort of culture different or was it an adjustment?

Natalie: Well, yeah, it was an adjustment. And it was more of an adjustment because I got married right at the beginning of that year. So when I left Blacksburg, [Virginia], I had just gotten married. I was moving away from home for the first time living in Northern Virginia, which is a lot bigger, a lot more traffic. In Blacksburg, [Virginia] if you're going to see somebody, you plan ten maybe fifteen minutes if you're going across town. Up there, it can easily take you half an hour or forty-five minutes to get across town to see 18:00somebody. So, yeah. Your whole thinking about planning your day changes because you have to allow for how long it's going to take you to get somewhere.

Carmen: Yeah. That's a lot of big changes to go through.

Natalie: It was a lot of big changes.

Carmen: At twenty-one [years old]?

Natalie: Yeah. I had just turned twenty-one.

Carmen: Wow. How did you meet your husband?

Natalie: Here at [Virginia] Tech. He lived in Northern Virginia and was coming to [Virginia] Tech, and he was in school here.

Carmen: What did he study?

Natalie: He studied animal science. But, then he decided that animal science wasn't for him, so he quit school for a while and worked for a while. And then when we got married, he was working in Northern Virginia doing construction. His 19:00dad worked construction. He was doing construction, and then after I graduated, he decided he wanted to go to school to do accounting. So he went to Strayer University to night school. So he worked and then went to night school and got a degree in accounting. Yeah.

Carmen: Would you say you had any difficult experiences at [Virginia] Tech, or maybe just challenges?

Natalie: Well, my most challenging class was the geology class and probably biology. But difficulties, I don't think so. Oh, the other thing I did, when I went to France after my senior year of high school, I didn't speak any French. So when I came back I signed up and took French for three years.

Carmen: Oh, neat.

Natalie: Here at [Virginia] Tech, so that was really good. And I take French now 20:00in adult education.

Carmen: Oh cool. Have you returned to France since then?

Natalie: I have. My husband and I...my new husband. The husband I married at [Virginia] Tech, we got divorced after about six years. And then I was single for like about twenty years. And then I remarried. Well, it's been sixteen years. I remarried sixteen years ago, and my husband and I went to Paris and to the south of France for our honeymoon.

Carmen: That sounds lovely.

Natalie: It was.

Carmen: The French must have helped a lot.

Natalie: Yeah, it really has. But I just keep taking it because I love it. I love the language and the people and the country and everything. So, French was probably one of my most fun classes that I took when I was [Virginia] Tech. I really enjoyed that. I liked literature a lot, and I took world literature. I'm pretty sure I took a year of that, and I think I had the same woman professor whose name I don't remember. But she was really, really interesting, and, you 21:00know, really got into the heart of all the literature we were reading. So, that was good. And then I took linguistics and that was a really interesting class because it was going back to the history of language and how languages were developed. I forget the professor's name. Sorry, I just don't remember.

Carmen: That's okay.

Natalie: I mean, he could speak Gaelic, and it was really interesting. He would tell us all these words in Gaelic. So, I've always found the literature and the language, languages and English, all that has been more my strong suit than the sciences. The sciences I really had to work at a lot more than the literature 22:00side. Yeah.

Carmen: So, it sounds like things went pretty well academically for you.

Natalie: Right.

Carmen: Do you have any favorite memories that are more social, hanging out with friends, football games?

Natalie: Yeah. We used to go to the football games. I do remember when we went to the football games, it seems like we dressed up a lot more. I remember wearing really nice wool slacks and nice jackets and stuff. So, it was a little bit more dressy to go to the football games. Yeah, just all the stuff that goes on on campus, hanging out, but--.yeah. I would just go over and hang out friends, like I said, spend the night sometimes in the dorms. But, yeah.

Carmen: Did the guys have to dress nicely for the football games too? Or was it just everyone wanted to?

Natalie: That's a good question. Everybody just kind of did. It wasn't that they 23:00had to. It's just that we kind of dressed up a little more. I don't think they wore ties, but it wasn't like everybody was just going in blue jeans and sweatshirts, like we kind of do now.

Carmen: Yeah.

Natalie: Right. That was just a little more dressy. But, it wasn't a requirement. It's just kind of what we did. We just kind of dressed up to go. And of course the stadium was smaller. I mean they've added on a lot to that stadium. The stadium was a lot smaller. And it feels like, to me, the games were a lot colder. I mean tomorrow it will be cool, but it seems like to me that when we went we were more dressed for winter for most of the season. And then I think my last season here Don Strock and Dave Stroke were both here. Don Strock was a really a pretty good quarterback, and Dave was a pretty good kicker. They were 24:00brothers, I think. Yeah, so that was exciting because that was I think a fairly decent year of football for us when [Virginia] Tech wasn't having a lot of good football years back in those days. But, I think when the Strocks were here we actually had some decent wins, and so that was exciting.

Carmen: Yeah. How does the football culture compare to how football is here now? Football rules [Virginia] Tech now.

Natalie: Yeah. It wasn't quite the big thing it was then. I mean...I'm not sure all that really happened until Coach [Frank] Beamer came, which, and maybe Jim Weaver. I don't know how that all developed, but it was more a game. I mean I 25:00like that [Virginia] Tech football is where it is. Personally, I really enjoy it. My husband and I have season tickets, and we enjoy coming down for the games. And it's exciting to see [Virginia] Tech do well. I have a lot of admiration for Coach [Frank] Beamer and what he's done for this program and for what Jim Weaver did. So, it will be sad to see Coach [Frank] Beamer leave, but I wish him all the best. He's earned the opportunity to retire and enjoy his life, I think.

Carmen: Yeah. So, since you've grown up around [Virginia] Tech most of your life, you must have noticed other differences as you come back for football games. Like buildings on campus or more students, increase in student body size. Are you happy with those changes or is there a certain direction you want 26:00[Virginia] Tech to go in?

Natalie: I think [Virginia] Tech has been moving in a great direction, as far as I can see. I love coming back and seeing the progress that's been made on the campus. I really think that we're going in a good direction, and that we have been. Yeah. I love that [Virginia] Tech does so much research and is so involved with so many research projects. It's pretty interesting to read the magazines and see everything that we're involved in. And I'm not even aware, I'm sure, of a tiny part of what [Virginia] Tech is doing. But, the stuff I do see, I think is terrific. I mean, I'm really proud of Virginia Tech and what they've accomplished, absolutely. Yeah. I think it's wonderful.

Carmen: Yeah. What other ways are you involved in [Virginia] Tech besides 27:00sports? Are there any other ways?

Natalie: Well, I was on the Alumni Association Board. I started out in Northern Virginia as a chapter officer, and then I was the president of the Northern Virginia Chapter of the alumni, that alumni chapter in Northern Virginia back in the late [19]80s or early [19]90s. And then I was on the Alumni Association Board for six years. And then I'm also a Hokie Club rep[resentative], and I've been a Hokie Club rep[resentative] since probably like [19]89 or [19]90. So I still do Hokie Club. And I was a member of the Women in Leadership and Philanthropy. I was on the board of that, and so I'm a lifetime member of that organization. Yeah.

Carmen: Wow. It sounds like you've been really busy with Virginia Tech your whole life.

Natalie: Yeah, I kind of have. You know, living in Northern Virginia it was kind of a way to be in those organizations. It was a nice way to connect with other people from [Virginia] Tech up there. And so yeah. It's been nice.

Carmen: Do you have any favorite experiences in those organizations, or people that you've met or interesting stories?

Natalie: Oh. Well, lots of people. As working with the Alumni Association, I met Debbie Day who is one of the assistant directors of the Alumni Association. And so we worked together in the Alumni Association and stuff, and we've been friends for a long time. So, I met her through [Virginia] Tech and that was 29:00wonderful. We've had a lot of good times together. We actually went on a [Virginia] Tech cruise to Alaska some years ago, and so there was a [Virginia] Tech group on the cruise which was wonderful. Then we met a bunch of other [Virginia] Tech people in Alaska, some of whom we became really close to and I've remained friends with for like twenty-something years. So, even in Alaska everywhere we went, we would see somebody with a [Virginia] Tech sweatshirt on or a [Virginia] Tech hat on. Yeah, so the Alumni Association, I think, does a great job with their trips. That's another way going on. And I went on another trip with the Alumni Association. We went on a skiing trip to Switzerland one 30:00year, and that was a blast too. I mean, you know, it's just so much fun to go and everybody has something in common. So, it just makes a nice comradery to travel with other people from [Virginia] Tech. So, that's been a lot of fun.

Carmen: Yeah, I wasn't aware Virginia Tech did that with alumni. That's so neat.

Natalie: Really?

Carmen: Yeah.

Natalie: Oh, yeah. The Alumni Association has a whole...like if you go on the website and look under them, they have a whole bunch of trips already set up for next year.

Carmen: Neat. And a lot of people go?

Natalie: Um-hm.

Carmen: It must have been a really good time.

Natalie: Yeah. They are good times. And also the Hokie Club does a trip when we have a Miami football game. They will sometimes have a cruise or some kind of trip that's on one end or the other of the football game. My husband and I went 31:00on that one time, and that was a blast too.

Carmen: Oh, Miami is beautiful.

Natalie: Right. Well, I think we went to the game and then we cruised out of Ft. Lauderdale for like a five-day cruise out into the Caribbean. But, again, it's so much fun when you have like this common bond with traveling with other people who are Hokies.

Carmen: Yeah.

Natalie: You make new friends, yeah. So, it's neat.

Carmen: So, Virginia Tech clearly from your stories has a great connection with their alums.

Natalie: Yes, I think so.

Carmen: Why do you think that is?

Natalie: Well, you know, the Alumni Association reaches out. The Hokie Club reaches out. But I think that people who come to [Virginia] Tech really fall in 32:00love with the university. I think they fall in love with the town. I think they fall in love with the campus, with the mountains, just the whole thing. But, I think that the administration and the professors here are, you know, it's just a really good group of people that really care about the students here. At least that's been my impression over the years. I think when people leave they still feel an affinity with Virginia Tech. I mean, when I've talked to young people, a lot of them don't want to leave Blacksburg, [Virginia] or wish they could stay here and work or figure out a way to maybe at some point come back and work because they love it here so much. Plus, you just get a really good education 33:00here. I mean, I know in Northern Virginia there are a lot of companies that I talk to people, and if they are looking for some people they will, I think, like to recruit at Virginia Tech because they know that the people here are getting a good education. Yeah, so I just think there are a lot of reasons that people like to stay connected. How about you? How do you feel?

Carmen: I think people just love [Virginia] Tech. I think it's a good community-

Natalie: Yeah.

Carmen: Between everybody, yeah.

Natalie: Yeah, I agree.

Carmen: Yeah, between professors and students. Everyone is polite. Everyone seems to care about each other.

Natalie: I agree.

Carmen: And help each other.

Natalie: Yeah, I agree. It's just a wonderful place. I love coming back here.

Carmen: If you drive an hour up the road and you're in Roanoke or Salem, everyone is in their Hokie gear. So it extends outside of Blacksburg, too.

Natalie: That's right, yeah.

Carmen: Well, to wrap-up, is there anything I should have asked you or that you would like to tell?

Natalie: I'm not sure. I mean, I guess, I told you that my grandfather--my father's father--actually did come to [Virginia] Tech for, I think, maybe two years. He finished on the GI Bill, and then he later worked for [Virginia] Tech as an extension agent in Virginia. I forget where it was, but he worked for [Virginia] Tech and ran one of their--I think they called it an experimentation 35:00farm or something, somewhere in Virginia. And then, of course, my dad graduated from here in 1950. His brother graduated also in 1950. My dad was here going to school and then he got drafted during that and spent some time out in Washington State at the end of the Second World War until the war was over. And then came back and finished and graduated. And then I have a niece who graduated here.

Carmen: A Virginia Tech family through and through.

Natalie: A Virginia Tech family through and through, it's true. It's true. But yeah, this was enjoyable talking to you and meeting you.

Carmen: Yes. Thank you so much for coming out.

Natalie: Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it.

[End of Interview]