Names of Note: Stan State library gets $25,000 from couple who met there in 1965
Rosemary and Paul Adalian struck up their first conversation in the library at Stanislaus State University in 1965.
More than five decades later, the couple has donated $25,000 in support of the very same building on the Turlock campus.
The gift is part of a campaign to further enhance the J. Burton Vasché Library, which reopened last fall after a two-year renovation.
The library was one of the first two permanent buildings following the 1960 founding of Stan State. A university news release has details on the Adalians, now retired in Fort Collins, Colorado:
Paul was a history major from Inglewood, near Los Angeles. Rosemary was an English major who grew up in New York City but went to junior college in the East Bay.
The two first glimpsed each other during the first day of a Sociology 201 course. Two months later, Paul saw Rosemary in the library and asked what she thought would be on the midterm. That led to more conversations in the library, a popular hangout for the mere 600 students at the time.
Their first date was to a campus production of “Theatre of the Absurd.” Paul took Rosemary to her first basketball and baseball games, where he was a yell leader.
‘Turkey Tech, do or die’
One of the yells involved the old “Turkey Tech” moniker for Stan State. It dates to when some of the first classes were held at the Stanislaus County Fairgrounds, home to many poultry competitions.
Paul remembered the yell during a Facetime interview with Stan State: “Gobble, gobble, that’s our cry. Turkey Tech, do or die.”
The two received their bachelors degrees in 1967 and married in 1970.
Rosemary remained at Stan State to earn a multiple-subject teaching credential. She went on to teach elementary school in places where Paul was continuing his own education, including Syracuse, N.Y. She later taught migrant children in the Salinas Valley town of San Ardo. Their careers in education would take them to New York state, Nebraska, Oregon and back to California.
Jobs in four states
Paul, meanwhile, earned a masters degree in history at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. He taught college history for a while and then got another degree in library science at Syracuse University.
Paul worked as a librarian at Doane College in Crete, Neb. , birthplace of the couple’s two daughters, Allison and Caroline. He then had jobs at CSU libraries in San Francisco, San Luis Obispo and Channel Islands. He finished his career at Southern Oregon University.
The Stan State library donation is for the Paul and Rosemary Adalian Instruction Room, a large classroom on the second floor.
“I did a lot of instruction as a librarian myself,” Paul said. “I thought that would be a good fit.”
Stan State launched the drive, The Next Chapter, in November. It will run through May 1. Donors of $10,000 to $150,000 can name one of 35 spaces within the library. Everyone giving at least $100 will be listed on a commemorative wall. For more information, call 209-667-3131 or email giving@csustan.edu.
Names of Note recognizes people and organizations for their contribution to their communities. Submit items to jholland@modbee.com.
This story was originally published February 19, 2022 at 7:00 AM.
