Your story about the Read residents who kept their friendship alive via a round-robin letter (Spring 2015) inspired me to recall another gang of devoted Grinnell buddies who lived in Haines Hall when it was still exclusively a women’s residence. They called themselves the Haines Hall Hellers, and though they were graduated in 1949, they still manage to keep in touch, albeit by less formal means. The modern-day Hellers exchange Christmas cards and meet occasionally when the opportunity permits, and I think most will recall the tune they used to sing, with or without provocation, on weekend evenings in the Haines Hall lounge.
Sung to the tune of “Put on Your Old Grey Bonnet,” the lyrics went as follows:
Oh, we’re the Haines Hall Hellers,
The pride of all the fellers,
We’re a hunk of heaven in your arms.
Oh, you can’t deny it, boys,
You’ve got to try it,
Try a Haines Hall Heller’s charms!
The most recent get-together of a majority of this charming group — I married one of them — was at Jeannette Mallison James ’49’s condo on Sanibel Island, Fla., a few years ago.