The main dining room was a special place for me while attending WPSBC in the main building from 1971 through 1979. Both long and wide, this room occupied the entire center portion of the figured-8-shaped main building, where students in grades 4 through 12 resided and learned. Equipped with sound-deadening suspended tile ceilings, the place had little echo. But during a typical lunch when nearly a hundred students and serving staff converged, it still could get quite loud; especially when the waitresses and cooks were a little late getting the meal to the tables.
Long, double-hung windows, with drapes that reached from ceiling to floor, let in some daylight. These were located on both the left and right walls as you entered, and they looked out into the white-painted court yards; concrete- and brick-clad areas surrounded on all four sides by three tall stories of building. This dining area was positioned in the center of the figure-8-shaped main building, and these court yards resembled the holes in the 8. These windows faced north east and south west, and direct sunlight shined in only for an hour or two at lunchtime. Unfortunately, the amount of usable daylight was low, so a barrage of perhaps thirty in-ceiling incandescent floodlights brightly lit (and heated) this room.
Six doorways provided ingress; three located on the North West wall, in what we called “the back” of the dining room, closest to the kitchen. I think they called this area “the back” because this part of the entire building complex was considered the back. The widest of these was the center doorway, which had double thick and heavy wooden doors. With the kitchen immediately across the back hall from here, it was through this passage that food and dishes were carried to and from the kitchen. At the front of the room, three more doors allowed access from the front half of the main building. three faced north east and south west (No, the building did not align true north). These walls each had three doorways, the biggest of the three found in the middle. Food was brought in through the main west doors, immediately across the back hall from the kitchen. The boys entered and left through the south west door, and the girls used the North West door.
Always warm due to its location away from wind-beaten exterior walls, we often sought refuge here in the 70s during the numerous energy crises. Though parts of the building dropped down to as low as 48 degrees in the dead of winter, the main dining room always remained warm, especially during meals with the two steam operating steam tables that kept the food (and dining room) hot and the glaring floodlights overhead that made those of us who could see feel like we were dining on a stage, It was one of the warmest spots, even warmer than some of the dormitories.
We ate our three meals a day here, and at each meal, besides morning assembly in the chapel one floor above, was probably the only time when all the students in the building came together. Meals represented quite a diverse social gathering and I looked forward to attending most every one. I wasn’t crazy about the food so I often ended up eating cold cereal. But the atmosphere woke us up at breakfast and calmed us down at supper.
The was an upright piano at the front, and occasionally the student musicians would play it; providing soft jazzy-sounding mood music while we ate. They played typically during supper only, but occasionally someone would bang out a few tunes at lunch. Never at breakfast though.
Unlike all the other big rooms in the school that served multiple purposes, the main dining room was only ever used for eating during my stay. We never danced in there or held classes. Nor did we practice wrestling or learn karate. Yet some of my fondest memories from school were made here. Spending an hour and a half there each day (a half-hour each for breakfast, lunch, and supper) with all our friends put this place into my top ten list of favorite spots in the whole school. So the main dining room will be the stage of many of the stories I’ll tell in these blogs that made my teen-age years so remarkably enjoyable.
Tom Hesley
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