(Old) Alma Mater

This old song appears to have been in use as an early Alma Mater until roughly 1943, when our current song was created, and possibly even afterwards. I was recently told by a friend and class of '51 alum that this tune was well-known on campus and functioned as an Alma Mater song. Yet, like several others on this blog, its been forgotten by most.

(Old) Alma Mater

Hail dear old Guilford,

Thy Loyal sons are we!

And we will ever be

Faithful to thee.

Through the changing clime,

Through all the future time,

Our hearts will always be,

Loyal to thee.

Though years may come and go,

Still will our memories cling

To those dear old college days

Of long ago.

None can compare with thee,

And we will always be,

Until our dying days,

Loyal to thee.

(* Retired professor of history, Alex Stoeson, in his Guilford College: On the Strength of 150 Years, remarked about the irony of the second line,
"Thy loyal sons are we," given Guilford's standing as the oldest
coeducational college in the south and the third oldest in the country.)