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Former Staff First To Return for Weekend Birthday Bash
by Myra Saturen        October 26, 2007

The celebration of the 40th anniversary of Northampton Community College's founding concludes this weekend. More than 350 guests are expected to attend Saturday night's black tie dinner honoring individuals and organizations who have made significant contributions to the quality of life in the communities that NCC serves. PPL, HMK Insurance, Embassy Bank, New Bethany Ministries, Turning Point of the Lehigh Valley, Dan Bosket, and Dexter and Dorothy Baker will all be in the spotlight during the ceremony emceed by NCC alumni Chris Martin, CEO of C.F. Martin & Company, and David Shaffer, co-CEO of Just Born.

The first guests started arriving Friday morning. Former faculty, staff and trustees came back to NCC from as far away as Maine and North Carolina to join the celebration. At an anniversary luncheon in Hampton Winds, they shared handshakes and hugs, chatted about their latest news, and traded memories over bowls of soup at a gathering that had the easy warmth of a family reunion. To see more photos of retirees who returned for the weekend's festivities, see the photo gallery.

In fact, "we feel like a family" came up over and over again as participants remembered their days at NCC. Early faculty and staff were not only colleagues, but, in the early days, pioneers together. Classrooms and offices did indeed resemble a rough-hewn settlement. In 1970, psychology professor David Goss’s first office encompassed a desk inside the cubbyhole of a trailer on the present site of the Gates Center. The atmosphere was hectic, there was no space, but there existed a wonderful spirit of camaraderie. And excitement about the future.


"I watched the campus being built from my window," Goss said. "We were starting something, and the enthusiasm was enormous." He is delighted at the College’s continuing success and impact on the community. Dr. Richard C. Richardson, NCC's first president, and Reg Tauke (pictured at right) both were on the scene at that time. Tauke was one of the College's first faculty members. She held many positions at the College and retired in 2002 as registrar and dean of instructional services.



Former mathematics professor and administrator Ken Kochey (employed 1967-2000) remembers a time preceding even barracks and trailers. The campus consisted of a field and a few wooden buildings. Administrators worked from a bank in downtown Easton. Kochey, also NCC’s first softball coach, is proud to see how the College has grown from its rustic origins.

Cheryl Aschcroft, director of disability services from 1978 – 1993, recalls a place where colleagues were young together, learning together. She remembers, with humor, beating Arthur Scott, now NCC president, at ping-pong when she was eight months’ pregnant. Citing the Monroe Campus and the Southside site, Ashcroft says she is gratified by the College’s expansion to fill the needs of more people.

Tim Brady’s most indelible memory is the blizzard of 1992. The recently retired director of building and grounds spent four days leading an all-hands-on-deck crew to clear 26 inches of snow. Closed on a Thursday and Friday, the College re-emerged the following Monday.

For Deni Thurman-Eyer, the best memories are of the displaced homemakers she assisted to carve new lives and the cultural events she helped bring to campus, such as the time she and her daughter went to the Lehigh Valley Airport to pick up the performing group Capital Steps. Eyer worked at NCC from 1984 – 1994 in various capacities, as assistant professor, director of the Work/Life Center and as a trainer at the Center for Business and Industry.




Louise Sanderson (shown providing retired librarian Pat DiStefano with her e-mail address in the photo on the left), feels she has never left NCC; alumni still greet the former tutorial coordinator in supermarkets and most recently, at Musikfest, thanking her for her crucial role in helping them achieve their dreams. "I loved working with the students," she says. "There were even two marriages among my students during those years."




Helen Lakatos, who worked at NCC in several computing/consulting capacities from 1984 – 1996, appreciates having been able to earn her associate degree in computer information systems while she was employed here. In the mid-1990s, she enjoyed helping the staff and faculty learn CARS, the records system so integral to the College ever since.

Richard Ott, a trustee from 1987 – 1994, noted NCC’s new gym and children’s care center as among the great changes to the College over his years here. Dr. Arnold Cook, another former trustee and Foundation board member, remembers the dental hygiene and funeral programs initiated during his tenure, which began 38 years ago. David Shaffer, both an NCC alumnus and a board member, admires NCC for the excellence of its teaching staff and outstanding personal attention to students.

In 40 years, Northampton Community College has burgeoned from a huddle of makeshift buildings to an educational institution with two major campuses, a major site, and more than fifty other ones. The decades have brought enormous changes to the College, but NCC’s most basic character has remained the same. Even as the school has grown from 846 credit students to close to 10,000, its family-like feeling has not changed.