"I'm 93 years old. Not a lot of people, especially girls, went to college when I was growing up, but my daddy was determined that my sister and I were going to get an education, so he sent us to Pepperdine in California. That was 1938, and I went all four years there. I started the second year the school was open. I had that Mississippi accent, so the president, Mr. George Pepperdine, would find me on campus and say, 'Bobbie, I have some visitors here. I want you to talk Southern for them.'
"The Palladio wasn't far from the school, and that's where they had big ballrooms and where big names played. The Glenn Miller Band, Tommy Dorsey, lots of others. Pepperdine didn't allow dancing back then, but some of us decided to go anyway, so we slipped out one night when Frank Sinatra was performing. There were three couples. I told one of my girlfriends, 'If they miss us on campus, you better let us know so we can get back before we get in trouble.' Sure enough, we were missed, and she called the Palladio and had me paged! That was the only time we did that because we were on restriction for a week. I taught a lot of boys how to dance in college, but I never fell in love with any of them. I didn't meet my husband until after I graduated and moved to Memphis."
"The Palladio wasn't far from the school, and that's where they had big ballrooms and where big names played. The Glenn Miller Band, Tommy Dorsey, lots of others. Pepperdine didn't allow dancing back then, but some of us decided to go anyway, so we slipped out one night when Frank Sinatra was performing. There were three couples. I told one of my girlfriends, 'If they miss us on campus, you better let us know so we can get back before we get in trouble.' Sure enough, we were missed, and she called the Palladio and had me paged! That was the only time we did that because we were on restriction for a week. I taught a lot of boys how to dance in college, but I never fell in love with any of them. I didn't meet my husband until after I graduated and moved to Memphis."
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Bobbie Fry received her undergraduate degree from Pepperdine University in 1942 and later earned a Master's degree in Education from Memphis State University (now U of M). She taught elementary grades in the Memphis City Schools (now SCS) until her retirement in 1982. She was a 2003 recipient of the American Institute for Public Service Jefferson Award for her volunteer work with Meals-on-Wheels, Alzheimer's Day Services, and as a Probation Officer with Juvenile Court.
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