Steve and Beverly Balash of Santa Barbara, Calif., and originally of Smithfield, Ohio, pause on the side stairs of Virginia Hall, a historic structure at Tusculum College, the oldest college in the state of Tennessee. The Balashes visited the campus in July, Beverly's parents, high school sweethearts from Smithfield, having attended the college in the early 1930s before marrying in 1938. The visit was the Balashes' first to the Greeneville, Tenn., college. (Tusculum College photo)

Santa Barbara, Calif., couple visits campus to see the settings of many beloved stories

A visit to the Tusculum College campus in late July by Steve and Beverly Balash of Santa Barbara, Ca., was a sentimental journey to the past – though neither had ever before set foot on the grounds of Tennessee's oldest college.

The Tusculum connection for the couple came through Beverly's late parents, George Francisco and Rose Arrett Francisco, both of whom attended the Northeast Tennessee college during the 1930s. Both George and Rose had an excellent college experience at Tusculum, their daughter said, and Beverly grew up hearing stories of life at Tusculum and seeing old Tusculum yearbooks, making her familiar in a second-hand way with a campus she'd never seen.

She arrived on campus eager to see such Tusculum landmarks as 101-year-old Virginia Hall, where Beverly's mother resided in the days it was a women's residence hall and home to the campus cafeteria. She also wanted to visit the stone archway that has graced the entrance to the campus since the 1920s.

And through her father, who played halfback for Tusculum College's football squad through the early 1930s, Beverly knew of the Pioneer football program and was interested in seeing the college's athletics facilities, which are significantly better today than in the 1930s.

The story of George and Rose is a classic small-town love story of Mid-American youngsters who turned a high school courtship into a lifetime of togetherness, family, and love. Both came from Smithfield, Ohio, a community that even today has fewer than 1,000 residents, and both attended Smithfield High School together. George, a handsome, strapping athletic young man with dark hair and a penetrating gaze, played football at Smithfield and was mentored there by a coach – whose name was not recalled by the Balashes – who had attended Tusculum College. Through that coach's influence, George applied to Tusculum College and attended on a football scholarship.

The 1932 yearbook for Tusculum College shows a picture of George Francisco in its football section, along with the following inscription: "'Greeny' was a very consist halfback, handling the oval in a way that plainly showed that he was well acquainted with it. He seldom failed to gain when the ball was given to him. 'Greeny' could either throw or receive passes with accuracy."

When he came to Tusculum, "Greenie" (as he himself spelled the nickname in a handwritten yearbook inscription) left behind Rose, who was still in high school. After her own graduation, she followed her boyfriend to Tusculum, making her first photographic appearance in the yearbook in 1933 among the freshman class portraits.

While visiting the campus last week, the Balashes walked through Virginia Hall, the Louis Sullivan-designed building in which Rose lived while at Tusculum, and where, on the bottom floor, students dined in what was then the cafeteria.

But back to the 1930s! George and Rose continued dating throughout their time at Tusculum, and when college years were past, married in 1938, George having graduated, Rose leaving Tusculum short of her graduation.

They returned to Smithfield, where George began teaching biology and coaching football at his old high school, a role he continued to play until 1956, when he moved his family – by now including a teenaged Beverly – to Fullerton, Ca., where he took on another biology teaching post. He continued teaching for about two more decades.

Beverly's future husband, Steve, came to know the Francisco family through George while Steve was in high school in Smithfield and George was teaching and coaching. Also one of Steve's parents had been a classmate of George's.

The Balashes live today in Santa Barbara, where Steve is a lawyer. They have three daughters, all of them living in different parts of California.

The Balashs' trip to Tusculum College came during a trip across the country in connection with a reunion of the class of 1961 of the Marine Corps Officers' School in Quantico, Va.. Steve, who spent 10 years in the Marine Corps, was part of that class.