50 Years of Friendship | Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Source: https://trinity.duke.edu/news/50-years-friendship
Archived: 2026-04-23 17:10
50 Years of Friendship | Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
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50 Years of Friendship
May 1, 2025
Cara August, Trinity Communications
“Half Century Club” friends gather for Alumni Weekend’s Class of 1975 Downtown Bus Tour. (L to R: Alie Fetterman; Ian Fetterman, Pratt’75, Amy Webb, T’75; David Webb, T’75; Sue Kern, T’75; Martha Gayle, T’75; Mary Laxton, T’76. (Cara August/Trinity Communications)
Early spring at Duke means
Cherry Allée in full bloom
, students scattered across the kempt green lawns of
Abele Quad
, and lots and lots of campus visitors. Some are new, touring with hopes of one day becoming a Blue Devil. Others are alumni, reliving their Duke student memories and celebrating decades of friendship as part of
Alumni Weekend
.
“Well, 54 years of friendship, if you’re counting,” said Martha Gayle, T’75. “You have to include the four years we were students here, before we graduated,” she noted, waving a hand of festively painted Duke-Blue fingernails.
“These people raised me,” chimes in Amy Webb, T’75, as she gestures to the group of friends standing outside Karsh Alumni Center waiting to board the Class of 1975 Downtown Durham bus tour. “We raised each other!” she adds, smiling and nudging her husband of 49 years, David Webb, T’75, whom she met during freshman week.
As the tour bus rolls off campus, they pass
Pegram Hall
and
The Ark
, and the memories come flooding in.
Amy Webb, T’75 and David Webb, T’75 on their wedding day in August 1976. (Photograph courtesy of Amy Webb.)
“We ate lunch together every day in the cafeteria,” says Mary Laxton, T’76. “A bunch of us worked together at the student union.”
“One of my jobs was to sit on a stool and use a hole puncher to mark people’s little cardboard meal card,” Webb chimes in. “Can you imagine? That kind of thing probably seems incomprehensible to students today.”
Meal points aren’t the only thing that has changed for Duke students since 1975.
“Remember how we had a dorm curfew, but the men didn’t? I really didn’t appreciate that,” says Gayle.
Like Gayle, all the women from the class of 1975 were in the last cohort of the
Woman’s College
, established in 1930 as a coordinate to the men’s
Trinity College
. While both colleges had by then long been part of Duke University and shared the same curricula and requirement, the East Campus dorms — previously reserved for women — only became fully integrated when they officially merged as Trinity College in 1972.
Today, all first-year Duke students live on East Campus — 100-plus acres of open lawns, residence halls, classrooms, and a short walk to
Durham’s Ninth Street District
.
As the tour bus rolls down Ninth Street, guide Aya Shabu notes the changes to Durham over the past half century, recalling the 1970s era of Durham’s mass unemployment, abandoned buildings and economic challenges.
“A penthouse in this building is listed at $9 million, if you can believe that,” said Shabu, pointing to a passing high-rise.
She leads the group through downtown Durham, chronicling local history and
sharing stories
about Black Wall Street, the
Hayti neighborhood
and the
Pauli Murray House,
a National Historic Landmark.
As the bus passes the
Museum of Durham History
— which used to be the “old bus station” — and around
Chicken Bone Park
, alumni from the “Half Century Club” find downtown Durham nearly unrecognizable.
“The city of Durham was a sleepy tobacco town, now it’s a vibrant city,” Webb said. “There were a few haunts back in our day, like the Ivy Room — which didn’t survive — but we mostly had to make our own fun.”
The friends at a party in Asplaugh dorm, circa 1975. (Photograph courtesy of Martha Gayle, T’75.)
Since 1975, the group of about 20 friends has continued to make their own fun, traveling on group vacations and often celebrating new year’s together. While the old haunts they remember may be gone, the bond they share only grows stronger.
In 2020, to stay more connected to each other and counter isolation during the pandemic, the group decided to shift their virtual book club from monthly to weekly sessions. They’ve maintained the weekly schedule ever since, and meet each Monday night on Skype.
Once Alspaugh dorm mates as Duke students, the friends regularly reunite through group vacations. Pictured here, their trip to the Biltmore Estate in 2013. (L to R: Martha Gayle, T'75; Sue Kern, T '75; Margaret Chowning, T '74; Susan Hollingsworth, T '75: Amy Webb, T'75; Libby McKeever, T'75. (Photo courtesy of Mary Laxton, T’76)
For more memories from the class of 1975, view the online Duke yearbook.
The Chanticleer
“Our book group really helped me get through COVID in a big way,” said Laxton, who cared for her disabled husband at home during the pandemic. “It was one way for us to be there for each other, beyond just laughing and joking. It was like a support group.”
And the support extended beyond Skype calls. “My husband died toward the end of the pandemic,” Laxton shared. “I was facing the neediest time in my life. Everybody showed up for the funeral. They all made the effort at a time when we were just emerging from this tremendous uncertainty, and it meant so much to me to have their support.”
“This is a group that shows up,” Amy Webb said. “Maybe it goes back to that dorm life. We’re a chosen family, in addition to being friends.”
“I’m not part of the book group,” said Amy’s husband, David Webb. “But I've known these women for a long time, and they’re incredible. Whatever you have to do to keep in touch with the friends you make at Duke, do it.”
Annual photo of the women living in Alspaugh dorm, taken in the dorm’s social room in 1975. Amy Webb T’75, is in the back row (center in a dark sweater with a white stripe at the neck and across the chest), directly behind Martha Gayle T'75 (in a white vest). (Photograph courtesy of Martha Gayle, T’75)
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Skip to main content
50 Years of Friendship
May 1, 2025
Cara August, Trinity Communications
“Half Century Club” friends gather for Alumni Weekend’s Class of 1975 Downtown Bus Tour. (L to R: Alie Fetterman; Ian Fetterman, Pratt’75, Amy Webb, T’75; David Webb, T’75; Sue Kern, T’75; Martha Gayle, T’75; Mary Laxton, T’76. (Cara August/Trinity Communications)
Early spring at Duke means
Cherry Allée in full bloom
, students scattered across the kempt green lawns of
Abele Quad
, and lots and lots of campus visitors. Some are new, touring with hopes of one day becoming a Blue Devil. Others are alumni, reliving their Duke student memories and celebrating decades of friendship as part of
Alumni Weekend
.
“Well, 54 years of friendship, if you’re counting,” said Martha Gayle, T’75. “You have to include the four years we were students here, before we graduated,” she noted, waving a hand of festively painted Duke-Blue fingernails.
“These people raised me,” chimes in Amy Webb, T’75, as she gestures to the group of friends standing outside Karsh Alumni Center waiting to board the Class of 1975 Downtown Durham bus tour. “We raised each other!” she adds, smiling and nudging her husband of 49 years, David Webb, T’75, whom she met during freshman week.
As the tour bus rolls off campus, they pass
Pegram Hall
and
The Ark
, and the memories come flooding in.
Amy Webb, T’75 and David Webb, T’75 on their wedding day in August 1976. (Photograph courtesy of Amy Webb.)
“We ate lunch together every day in the cafeteria,” says Mary Laxton, T’76. “A bunch of us worked together at the student union.”
“One of my jobs was to sit on a stool and use a hole puncher to mark people’s little cardboard meal card,” Webb chimes in. “Can you imagine? That kind of thing probably seems incomprehensible to students today.”
Meal points aren’t the only thing that has changed for Duke students since 1975.
“Remember how we had a dorm curfew, but the men didn’t? I really didn’t appreciate that,” says Gayle.
Like Gayle, all the women from the class of 1975 were in the last cohort of the
Woman’s College
, established in 1930 as a coordinate to the men’s
Trinity College
. While both colleges had by then long been part of Duke University and shared the same curricula and requirement, the East Campus dorms — previously reserved for women — only became fully integrated when they officially merged as Trinity College in 1972.
Today, all first-year Duke students live on East Campus — 100-plus acres of open lawns, residence halls, classrooms, and a short walk to
Durham’s Ninth Street District
.
As the tour bus rolls down Ninth Street, guide Aya Shabu notes the changes to Durham over the past half century, recalling the 1970s era of Durham’s mass unemployment, abandoned buildings and economic challenges.
“A penthouse in this building is listed at $9 million, if you can believe that,” said Shabu, pointing to a passing high-rise.
She leads the group through downtown Durham, chronicling local history and
sharing stories
about Black Wall Street, the
Hayti neighborhood
and the
Pauli Murray House,
a National Historic Landmark.
As the bus passes the
Museum of Durham History
— which used to be the “old bus station” — and around
Chicken Bone Park
, alumni from the “Half Century Club” find downtown Durham nearly unrecognizable.
“The city of Durham was a sleepy tobacco town, now it’s a vibrant city,” Webb said. “There were a few haunts back in our day, like the Ivy Room — which didn’t survive — but we mostly had to make our own fun.”
The friends at a party in Asplaugh dorm, circa 1975. (Photograph courtesy of Martha Gayle, T’75.)
Since 1975, the group of about 20 friends has continued to make their own fun, traveling on group vacations and often celebrating new year’s together. While the old haunts they remember may be gone, the bond they share only grows stronger.
In 2020, to stay more connected to each other and counter isolation during the pandemic, the group decided to shift their virtual book club from monthly to weekly sessions. They’ve maintained the weekly schedule ever since, and meet each Monday night on Skype.
Once Alspaugh dorm mates as Duke students, the friends regularly reunite through group vacations. Pictured here, their trip to the Biltmore Estate in 2013. (L to R: Martha Gayle, T'75; Sue Kern, T '75; Margaret Chowning, T '74; Susan Hollingsworth, T '75: Amy Webb, T'75; Libby McKeever, T'75. (Photo courtesy of Mary Laxton, T’76)
For more memories from the class of 1975, view the online Duke yearbook.
The Chanticleer
“Our book group really helped me get through COVID in a big way,” said Laxton, who cared for her disabled husband at home during the pandemic. “It was one way for us to be there for each other, beyond just laughing and joking. It was like a support group.”
And the support extended beyond Skype calls. “My husband died toward the end of the pandemic,” Laxton shared. “I was facing the neediest time in my life. Everybody showed up for the funeral. They all made the effort at a time when we were just emerging from this tremendous uncertainty, and it meant so much to me to have their support.”
“This is a group that shows up,” Amy Webb said. “Maybe it goes back to that dorm life. We’re a chosen family, in addition to being friends.”
“I’m not part of the book group,” said Amy’s husband, David Webb. “But I've known these women for a long time, and they’re incredible. Whatever you have to do to keep in touch with the friends you make at Duke, do it.”
Annual photo of the women living in Alspaugh dorm, taken in the dorm’s social room in 1975. Amy Webb T’75, is in the back row (center in a dark sweater with a white stripe at the neck and across the chest), directly behind Martha Gayle T'75 (in a white vest). (Photograph courtesy of Martha Gayle, T’75)
Related Articles
April 22, 2026
April 22, 2026
April 22, 2026
April 22, 2026
About
Office of the Dean
Dean Gary G. Bennett
Senior Leadership Team
Our Strategic Ambitions
Our Faculty
National Academy Fellows and Members
Distinguished Professorships
Award Winning Teachers
Bass Fellows
Our Students
Our Staff
News
Statement on Diversity & Inclusion
Departments
Department/Program Leadership
Centers
Institutes
Academics
Academic Deans
Courses
Archives Alive Courses
House Courses
Transformative Ideas
Languages at Duke
Guidance on Choosing a Language to Study
Our Language Offerings
Shared Online Language Consortium
Cultures and Languages Across the Curriculum
Pre-approved FL Transfer Courses
For Undergraduate Applicants
Student Career Paths
Admissions
Visit Duke
Tuition & Financial Aid
Undergraduate Degrees & Credentials
Majors & Minors
4 Things to Know about Majors
Interdepartmental Major
Program II
Certificate Programs
For Current Undergraduates
First-Year Programs
Undergraduate Research
Study Pathways
Careers
Advice for New Students
The Robert E. Pristo Filmmaking Awards
Trinity Ambassadors
How Advising Works
Policies & Procedures (“T-Reqs”)
Graduate Programs
Summer Session
Undergraduate Curriculum
Arts & Sciences Curriculum
First-Year Experience
Constellations
2026-2027 Constellations
What does it mean to be human?
What is the purpose of civil discourse in democracy?
How does climate change affect our world?
How do people resist colonialism?
How do people, identities, cultures, and languages cross borders?
How can my education cause trouble and joy?
How do we understand and advance human health?
How is memory formed, shaped, and transmitted?
How do culture, science, and human expression shape our health?
Peace or war?
What makes a body political?
Why do we need rules?
How does social control operate in the modern world?
How do sports influence society?
What is The Cosmos?
How does artificial intelligence impact human experiences?
FOCUS
Exploring Constellations and FOCUS
Liberal Arts Categories
Century Courses
Majors and Minors
Certificates
Curriculum Resources for Faculty
Curriculum Development and Implementation
Curriculum 2000
Arts & Humanities
Natural Sciences
Social Sciences
Alumni
Giving Opportunities
Annual Fund
Scholarships, Fellowships & Summer Support
Endowed Professorships
Gift Planning
Alumni Association
Board of Visitors
Brodhead Service Award
Dean’s Emeriti Circle
2022-2023 Dean's Emeriti Circle
2023-2024 Dean's Emeriti Circle
2024-2025 Dean's Emeriti Circle
2025-2026 Dean's Emeriti Circle
Trinity Parents
Volunteering
Admin Site
T-Reqs