Lenore and Herb Boss

Early in 2021, as alumna Lenore Boss was putting together her annual donation to the Foundation, she included a handwritten letter in order to share her unique alumni story. She and her husband Herb met in the summer of 1948 when they were both working at Blue Jay near Lake Arrowhead and discovered that they both had plans to attend Mt. SAC that fall. After high school, Herb joined the U.S. Army because he wasn’t sure what career path was right for him. When he returned to California, he picked Mt. SAC for his higher education journey because of its reputation; the College already had a great reputation in 1948. Lenore attended Mt. SAC after high school because it was close to home; she wasn’t “ready to fly the nest completely” but still wanted a quality academic environment for her next step. The young couple’s romance blossomed alongside their academic pursuits, all with Mt. San Antonio as the backdrop.

The Bosses’ memories of Mt. SAC are from some of its earliest days. The campus was a Naval hospital during WWII, and in 1948, most of those structures were still in place so they had classes in barracks, the cafeteria, and even in quonset huts. The only permanent building was a chapel, where Lenore had psychology class. It rained a lot during her first year, and she wrote that “we slogged through the mud” to get to class. She knew she wanted to pursue a career in science, and she did all her general education classes at Mt. SAC to prepare her for a career in dental hygiene. Herb was raised on a dairy farm and studied animal husbandry at Mt. SAC (though he ultimately had a career as an elementary school teacher). The couple had zoology together. Lenore still remembered the instructor’s name, Marie Helsely, and wrote that “she was such a good teacher.”

Lenore and Herb wanted to get married in the spring of 1949 and decided to apply to a radio program’s contest to get a free wedding and honeymoon. They ended up winning the contest, and the radio station arranged for a limo to drive them to a church in Hollywood to get married. Their honeymoon was supposed to happen right away, but they had to delay it. After all, they had class at Mt. SAC the very next day, and they couldn’t miss that. Education was very important to both of them. Herb said that his professors at Mt. SAC made him believe he could transfer to a four-year college and succeed in his career path. “It was a very positive experience,” he said. 

After Mt. SAC, the Bosses moved to San Francisco so that Lenore could finish her dental hygiene degree at UCSF. In San Francisco, Lenore found that she missed her Mt. SAC instructors, who were eager to teach and didn’t act like they were forced to do it. For a long time, Lenore gave annually to UCSF, but when that school eliminated their dental hygiene program, she started giving to Mt. SAC, where her heart had always been anyway.

Eventually, the couple settled in Pomona, where they built their life together and raised their children. After a while, they began renting out a house, often to Mt. SAC students over the years. One such renter left behind a marching band drum. The Bosses kept it for years. Their daughter liked it and put glass on top to use it as a coffee table. Ultimately, though, Lenore knew it was time for the drum to return home. She inquired about returning it “without penalty,” and of course the College took it back. It will live in the new Doug Smith Museum at Heritage Hall, which will open in early 2022. Lenore passed away in August 2021, but as is the case for so many Mt. SAC alumni, her legacy will not be forgotten.