Tech Reflection: MIT Roommates, East Campus 1972

Photos (left to right): Randy Kimble ’74, Rick Belejack ’74, Frank Morgan ’74, and Jim Groff ’74.

Randy Kimble ’74: “When I came to MIT in 1970, so did my longtime friend Frank Morgan ’74. We were both from Allentown, Pennsylvania, and had been friends since the fourth grade, so we entered the fall term expecting to be roommates. 

“When we got our room in East Campus, it was a double with a door that connected to a triple, which comprised fellow freshmen Rick Belejack ’74, Jim Groff ’74, and Bill Dobbins ’74 (not pictured in the images above). 

“After a few weeks, we felt that we knew each other well enough to unlock the door between those rooms and officially make it a “quint.” It became a “quad” in the subsequent years (the adjoining room only needed to be doubled up for freshmen). Rick, Jim, and Randy remained in the suite all four years; Frank for three. Although all five of us didn’t remain roommates all four years, we remained close friends throughout our time at the Institute and since.

“The photo of the quartet above on the right was taken in 1972 while we were visiting Jim at his family’s home in Palmyra, Pennsylvania. The photo on the left shows the quartet this past June at our 50th reunion celebration on MIT’s campus. We all were very happy to see each other at the reunion (a definite draw for the event was the agreement that most of us would come!). Many of us have stayed close throughout the years, but some of us hadn’t seen each other in a while, so it was particularly nice to get back in touch. Although Bill did not attend the reunion, a couple of us have enjoyed visiting with him in Upstate New York within the past year.

“During our time at MIT, we enjoyed doing a variety of different activities together, such as meals at Walker Memorial or, on weekends, in casual (read: inexpensive) places in the Cambridge/Boston area. Frank notes the three turtles we introduced to the suite and the fun (?) activity of painting all the rooms. We also enjoyed handball matches at Walker Memorial. I found it to be very therapeutic, in stressful situations, to go whack the ball around for an hour. A number of times, we went over to Boston’s Symphony Hall to get student rush tickets. We also had a lot of separate interests: I was in the MIT Concert Band and played a lot of intramural sports (along with Bill). Rick and Jim were in the Glee Club, and Jim was in the Choral Society. Frank was very active in the Christian Science Organization and was a member of Tech Squares. 

“We enjoyed some group activities off campus as well. Rick recalls the weekend that we rented a car and all drove up to New Hampshire and climbed Mount Kearsarge. With a larger group from East Campus, we spent a fun weekend at Talbot House in Vermont, with a lot of tobogganing. 

“During our senior year, two particularly special and memorable events were the bachelor parties for Jim and Bill, who were both engaged to hometown sweethearts, whom they married the summer after graduation. Bachelor parties then were not the vacation-destination, three-day extravaganzas that are common now—ours were particularly sedate. The five of us, plus a few other friends, went to a nice dinner and a play in Boston for Jim, and a nice dinner and the Boston Symphony for Bill—wild times! (ha).” 

Randy Kimble ’74 is an emeritus astrophysicist in the Exoplanets and Stellar Astrophysics Laboratory of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, where he worked primarily on the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes. He lives in Columbia, Maryland, with his wife, a retired neuroscientist. They have two daughters and three grandsons and are looking forward to some exciting travel opportunities in retirement. 

Are you still friends with your MIT roommate(s)? Share your story and submit photos.