Posted: July 13, 2022
With the modern ability to stream music, listeners can change genres, artists, or playlists with the click of a mouse or the tap of a finger.
But long before the days of having thousands of options at users’ disposal, making music selections was a little more complicated—especially at ×îÐÂÈý¼¶Æ¬ College.
“In the basement of the dormitory, there was a cafeteria and a jukebox,” recalled NWC alumnus David Kolesky ‘64. “There was a girl named Toni Jacobson, and she would play “Moon River” by Andy Williams over and over and over.”
Naturally, because the cafeteria was a space shared by many, not all students agreed with Jacobson’s music choices.
“The football players would kick the jukebox and reject the song,” Kolesky said.
It was at that point the students came to a consensus that they needed to get access to some different and better music.
“We said ‘we’ve gotta get some Buddy Holly music on this jukebox,’ and we decided to start a petition.”
At the time, Kolesky estimates there were about 300 students enrolled at NWC and 100 signed the petition. While many students came to ×îÐÂÈý¼¶Æ¬ from the Big Horn Basin, others arrived from states all over the U.S., including Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, California, Montana and several others.
However Kolesky, one of the students from Pennsylvania, had not originally planned on making the trek to Powell, Wyoming, to attend college.
“I didn't want to go to college,” Kolesky said. “I graduated high school at 17, and I had the papers to go to the Navy.”
Kolesky’s father, who fought in World War II, did not support the idea of his son enlisting in the Navy and told him he was going to college. Knowing a young man from their hometown who played football for ×îÐÂÈý¼¶Æ¬ in the fifties, his dad made a call to the college.
“He asked ‘how much does it cost to go to school there?’ And they told him $90 a semester.”
Without further discussion of his post-high school plans or the Navy, Kolesky packed his bags and got on a plane and traveled from Allentown to Pittsburgh, Chicago, Minneapolis, Bismark, North Dakota, Billings, and then finally arrived in Powell.
“I remember I had a hot turkey sandwich at the Billings airport,” he noted. “It was a dollar and 95 cents; I gave her a $20 bill. She gave me change in silver dollars, and when I asked what it was, she said we don't have paper dollars in Montana—we have silver.”
Finally in Powell, silver dollars weighing heavy in both pockets, there was one small problem: the airport was—and still is—located roughly eight miles from town. Unsure of how he was going to get to campus, Kolesky asked a man in the terminal how he could get a taxi. The man laughed with confusion and explained there were no taxis in this area, but the mailman could give him a ride to town in a half hour.
Upon arrival, he walked to the dorms, trying to figure out where he was going to stay.
“The president of the college pulled up, and said ‘hey, son, get in—I hear you’re from Pennsylvania.’”
The president, who was J.E. Christensen at the time, drove him down the street, and Kolesky was able to get a room for $2 per day.
“It was strange coming from the big city,” he explained. “The local guys would take us rabbit hunting, and I had never held a gun in my life—the first time I started shooting, they took the gun away from me.”
When he thinks of his most vivid NWC memories, Kolesky recalled the sound of the bell ringing downtown when the single stoplight would change from red to green, as well as the trucks coming in from Elk Basin as they shifted gears.
He also remembers sitting in the cafeteria one day when someone told him another student had crashed his 1952 Plymouth into the flower bed outside of the residence hall.
“My car was just trashed—it had to be hauled away,” he laughed. “I have a lot of good memories of Powell. ×îÐÂÈý¼¶Æ¬ changed my whole life. I never went back to Pennsylvania after that.”
Kolesky served in the Peace Corps from 1966-1968 and then attended the University of Wyoming, where he earned his bachelor’s in recreation administration.
He had a robust career in food service and later worked for 32 years as a salesman for an ocean container shipping company. During that time, he served on the Board of Directors for the Boys and Girls Club in Alaska. He currently resides in Sandy, Utah.