Margaret Patricia Stahl Hubbell '64
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- Jarren SantosJarren: Okay, good, so lemme make sure... Alright, so... So, I'm just gonna ask this: why did you come to Grinnell?
- Margaret Patricia Stahl Hubbell & Jarren SantosMargaret: This one right here?Jarren: Yeah.Margaret: Well, I grew up in Wrentham, Massachusetts, small town about 20 miles outside of Boston.Jarren: I'm actually from Belmont, Massachusetts, not Maryland. It's like around there, but yeah.Margaret: Yeah, and I was looking for a college, and I wanted to go to a school where I would push myself academically.
- Jarren Santos & Margaret Patricia Stahl HubbellJarren: Oh, sorry, I forgot. Can you just state your name, class year-Margaret: Okay.Jarren: -and where you're from first?Margaret: Sorry. My name is Margaret Patricia Stahl Hubbell. I came here as Margaret Patricia Stahl-Jarren: Mhm.Margaret: -in 1964, and I am from Wrentham, Massachusetts, and I've lived in St. Louis and Los Angeles, and Philadelphia, and I'm back in Massachusetts again on the same farm I grew up on.Jarren: Yeah.
- Margaret Patricia Stahl HubbellMargaret: So, I was looking for a school where I would have to kind of push myself, and I wanted to make something of myself, and so I wanted to stay very far away from a party school, and I also wanted to be far away from home. And so I asked my mother how far away could I go to college. And she said I could go as far as Iowa, and the reason for that is that my dad and mom both grew up in Iowa and there was an elderly couple here, my great aunt and uncle, who could, I guess, look after me if I had a problem, so.. So I applied to Grinnell and I was accepted. I think they didn't have any small-town farm girls from Massachusetts, so..
- Margaret Patricia Stahl Hubbell & Jarren SantosMargaret: I- Coming here was a project. I had a trunk and about a month before I arrived at Grinnell I had to put everything I needed for the year in a trunk.Jarren: Hm.Margaret: And the trunk went on the train.Jarren: Hm.Margaret: And the train took my trunk to Chicago, and then to Grinnell where it was unloaded, and it actually didn't arrive until after I arrived, but it was okay.
- Margaret Patricia Stahl HubbellMargaret: My first impression of Grinnell was that it was- it was perfect. I spent my first night in an old hotel in town, I think it was called the Monroe Hotel, with my elderly great-grand- er, great aunt and uncle, and then we came over to the campus the next day and I met my roommate and moved in. I lived in Main Hall as a freshman. I was there for all four years and...
- Margaret Patricia Stahl HubbellMargaret: Some of my greater adventures were traveling back and forth to get to school and to get home. I had a plane ticket for a flight from Chicago to New York, and then Boston, and I was with Martha Keety and Gretchen Geier. We all had tickets on the same plane from Chicago to New York. That- we got tickets from the Grinnell Travel Agency, and we got on the Rock Island Line to head for Chicago, and the train was late, which was quite usual, but it was late, so we got in a cab and tried to race to the airport to get our plane, but we missed the plane.
- Margaret Patricia Stahl Hubbell & Jarren SantosMargaret: The plane ended up crashing into a church in New York City called The Church of the Burning Pillar, and I believe there were no survivors.Jarren: Oh.Margaret: So our families, until we made it home, thought that we were on that plane, and I don't know about Gretchen's parents, but I know Martha's parents and my parents were just waiting to hear from the airline that we were gone because there were no survivors and that- we had told them that, you know, that was the flight we were- be on, so... So that was... quite an adventure, but I had other adventures driving with friends whose cars did not function well and lot of other interesting adventures, but... So that was part of my education.
- Margaret Patricia Stahl HubbellMargaret: In thinking about.. my college experience, I was a Biology major and I totally loved being a Biology major, and I would not have changed that for anything. The one thing I would change if I were doing it differently is, I would.. I would have been more aware of other opportunities to.. listen to lectures and participate in some maybe off-campus community service projects, but I was very focused on doing well academically. My grandmother was paying for my college, so I wasn't- I didn't have any financial aid help, and I didn't wanna disappoint my grandmother and my parents, so I really applied myself.
- Margaret Patricia Stahl Hubbell & Jarren SantosMargaret: I was just amazed when I came freshman week and they asked all the valedictorians and salutatorians to stand.Jarren: Mhm.Margaret: And, I looked around, and I was not one of them. And I thought, "Oh, my goodness, am I in deep trouble here." But, I did okay. I had to work hard, and it seemed like, for some kids, the class work came a lot easier. But, it was a good experience and I am very pleased that I was accepted and that I came here and finished the four years. And I've met many interesting people through Grinnell in the past years since my graduation, and.... It's- I think it's done a lot for me personally, just to have had this interesting background.Jarren: Mhm, yeah.
- Margaret Patricia Stahl HubbellMargaret: So... anyway, I think that's about all I wanted to say- Oh! I will say one thing that I missed. I was a farm kid in Massachusetts, and I was so excited to find that Grinnell had horses that I could continue riding, because I had a horse I had to sell at home to go to college. So one of the first places I went when I arrived was out to the stable, which was run by the Rosses, Mr. and Mrs. Ross. And... and I... got to know them, and I signed up for colt training the first P.E. class in September, and... And I would go out there for my P.E. class, and I would groom the horse and ride, and then groom it when I came back, and they were so impressed that I knew how to handle horses that they gave me some of their less experienced horses to work with, and I just totally enjoyed it.
- Margaret Patricia Stahl Hubbell & Jarren SantosMargaret: The Rosses invited us who belonged to the Canter Club- it was a... well, club of students who wanted to participate more in horse activities, and they invited us to their house for Thanksgiving dinner. It was my second Thanksgiving dinner because I had one at the College, but I remember I was stuffed, but it was fun to be in their house. And, the horses were sold at the end of that year, so after my freshman year I had to find other ways to fill my time.Jarren: Yeah.Margaret: It was probably good, because I applied myself more to other things, but..Jarren: Yeah.Margaret: I did miss it, and...
- Margaret Patricia Stahl Hubbell & Jarren SantosMargaret: So, I think that's the end of my story.Jarren: Good.Margaret: But, thank you for your time-Jarren: Thanks for helping us.Margaret: -and I hope it's been interesting to you.Jarren: Yeah, definitely
Alumni oral history interview with Margaret Patricia Stahl Hubbell '64. Recorded May 31,
2014.