In the fall of 1960, I entered Portland State College as a freshman student. I never thought about why I made the decision to go to college, I just assumed that was what I was supposed to do. I had no plan or a burning desire to study something specific so I just took classes that would fill the basic graduation requirements while I was trying to figure out what interested me.

I must have changed my major two or three times, and even went to the counseling center and took a battery of tests trying to see what I was good at and interested in. I had to laugh when the results of the tests came back and the counselor informed me that I was cut out to be a farmer. Needless to say I decided counseling didn’t work for me.

In the end I decided the general geology class I took held more interest than anything else I had tried, and after pouring over the course catalog I determined I could take enough Earth Science classes to graduate in four years, so that’s how I decided my major field of study. Had Portland State offered a major in mechanical or manufacturing engineering at that time I would have been in those programs, but I couldn’t afford to transfer to Oregon State University as many of my friends did.

In the early 1960s, Portland State College occupied three buildings on the south end of downtown Portland. On the north end was “Old Main,” previously a grade school with a small gym. The new middle building held three stories of classrooms and a small bookstore in the lower level. The south three-story building also held classrooms as well as relatively small library and my favorite space, the cafeteria. I always arrived at school an hour early so I could enjoy a cup of coffee, the clamber of students having a good time, and being with friends before attending another boring class.

As often as possible I scheduled my classes to be finished by noon three or four days each week. After class, or sometimes between classes, several of us would meet in the cafeteria to play cards. We got quite good at Whist, Hearts, Canasta, and Bridge. A few times I tried to go to the library to study, but it was so quiet I frequently fell asleep. I soon realized I could study better in the cafeteria with the background din rather than the silence with the occasional distracting sound.

Another fun place at the school was the game room next to the bookstore. There we played pool on the two or three tables, or ping pong. I was never very good, and “Ace” McInroy always took great pleasure in humiliating me.

Probably my most vivid memory of college was walking into a math class and finding out that school had been canceled because President Kennedy had just been shot and killed in
Dallas, Texas. That was quite a shock.

Also in the early 1960s the city of Portland embarked on a massive urban renewal project. Many square blocks on the south end of downtown, extending north and east of Portland State, were totally demolished, and over the next few years new commercial buildings filled the space. While I was going to school these blocks were still vacant and we were able to park our cars within one or two blocks of the school.

My, how times have changed. Since then the college has been upgraded to university status, the campus contains more buildings than I know, and all available space has been built upon. The south end of downtown Portland has become a truly important and vital space.

Ken Kaiyala
6-2-2023