Annual Thanksgiving Dinner

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Defiance College Annual Thanksgiving dinner was November 21st, but this is not the only time that we have had it. 

The dinner was a great time to gather with the people you care about. “I had a really good experience at the Thanksgiving Dinner. “It was nice because the volleyball team was able to get back together again for a meal,” said Mackenzie Umbaugh, a freshman Restoration Ecology major. 

The food was another delicious factor. “I thought it was so much better than regular dinner and I would eat that more often if they had it,” Umbaugh said. “My favorite food was turkey. It was cooked really well.” 

The dinner had professors serving food, which was an interesting part of the night. “I think the professors serving food was hilarious just because normally you only see them in class, but at the dinner, you got to see them after hours which was super strange. But otherwise, they did a great job,” Umbaugh said. 

Barbara Sedlock, Lead Librarian and Coordinator of Metadata & Archives, also commented on the professors serving food. “You have the role reversal thing which is fun,” said Sedlock.

Thanksgiving dinner has been going on for a very long time. “I seem to remember that it started with a faculty staff serving when Jan Bechtel was hired as the college Chaplin in 1986,” said Sedlock. 

The history of Thanksgiving at Defiance College goes all the way back to 1909. According to memory.defiance.edu, the Thanksgiving events started with just a taffy pull, which is the constant pulling and folding over of taffy, for people that didn’t go home for the holidays. 

Events changed from taffy pulling and seemed to get more interesting at Defiance College for Thanksgiving and it included: “In 1914, they roasted marshmallows in the dorm’s fireplace,” said Sedlock. “In 1922, a Preachers vs. Seculars basketball game was held; the Preachers won. Women also had a basketball game. The dinner was served after the game.” 

Written by: 

Seth Pearson