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Mary Lyon: “In Memory's Eye”

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Mary Lyon: “In Memory's Eye” Spring 2013 Mary Lyon: “In Memory’s Eye” From the WCAA Director & WCAA President Hello Westerners! appy Spring! We hope this finds you all happy and healthy! Campus is thriving with students bustling about and getting ready for exams Hand then on to internships and summer travel. It is hard to believe that we are sending the Class of 2013 out into the world! This is a particularly exciting time for the WCAA. The Board of Trustees recently met and spent three long days working hard to figure out the perfect way to tell the story of Western as we anticipate the winding down of the WCAA in the year 2024. While there are still decisions to be made, we are Mackenzie Becker Rice Director, WCAA getting closer and closer every day to developing a plan which will ensure that the story of Western will be told and the spirit of Western will live on. You can expect more infor- mation this summer on plans for an outdoor project on the Western campus. It is our hope that each of you will play a role in upholding the Western College Legacy … and what an important legacy it is! This is your chance to say “WE WERE HERE!!!” Of course, this is not the only way we promote Western’s legacy. The WCAA Board allocated funding for 48 Peabody Scholarship recipients for a total of $60,300! These scholarships, as well as all WCAA scholarships, are changing lives in the name of Western. We also eagerly await the first Western College Professor in the near future. And, we continue to tell the story the most impor- tant way … with you and through you. We look forward to Alumnae Weekend and hope that you will join us. As your WCAA staff and the Board frequently comment, watching Westerners re- Jocelyn Woodson-Reed ’74 connect, remember and recapture the beauty of life on Western Campus re- President, WCAA minds us why we all love Western so much. Thank you for all you are doing to help us tell the story and keep Western alive. Yours in the Spirit of Western, 2 The Bulletin Vol. LXXXVII, No. 1 Spring 2013 Western College Alumnae Association, Inc. What’s on Your Mind? 4 Board of Trustees Miss Peabody’s Mary Lyon Portrait 6 President Jocelyn Woodson-Reed ’74 1st Vice President/Treasurer Class Notes: 1934-1976 11 Marcia Randlett Oder ’64 2nd Vice President Judith Dudman Henderson ’62 In Memoriam 31 Secretary Pheetta G. Wilkinson ’76 Chair, Nominating Committee Alumnae Service Awards 32 Eva Nortvedt Humbach ’63 Trustees Western Program 34 Sharry Patterson Addison ’61 Pamela Watts Coates ’63 Janet Smith Dickerson ’65 Class Notes: 1978-2010 37 Hazel Williams Drew ’66 Jane Smucker Fryman ’58 Ella Brown McMahon ’63 Blue Card 47 Suzanne Detlefson Meyers ’66 Stevie Bentsen Snook ’69 * Sylvia Stanfield ’65 Financial Report 2012 (following p. 24) i-viii Anne Adkins Weissenborn ’61 On the cover: Artist Unknown (American) Mary Lyon (?) Oil on canvas, 19th century Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, South Hadley, MA Mission of the Association: Gift of Mrs. Laurence L. Cross (Erma B. Gilbert, 1913) • to preserve and encourage communication Photograph Laura Shea among and with alumnae, 1964.243.I(b).PI • to support education and human values that continue the heritage and tradition of The Western College. Anchor alert! Since there will be no “Anchor” published this year, we call your attention to items of special interest to the over-50 classes in this issue of the Bulletin. Look for the anchor! * appointed for one year to fill vacancy Bulletin Staff Publications Committee Office Staff Editor Members Director Catherine Bauer Cooper ’60 Sylvia Stanfield ’65, Chair Mackenzie Becker Rice Design/Technology Consultant Sharry Patterson Addison ’61 Senior Program Assistant Milburn Cooper Jane Smucker Fryman ’58 Debbie Baker Anne Adkins Weissenborn ’61 Accounting Associate Kaye Wolke Published in the spring and fall and copyrighted 2013 by the Western College Alumnae Association, Inc., 325 S. Patterson Ave., Oxford, OH 45056-2499; telephone: 513-529-4400; fax: 513-529-7400; e-mail: [email protected]; website: www.miamioh.edu/wcaa; Facebook Group: Western College Alumnae Association vPrinted on recycled paper Spring 2013 3 Introducing Miami’s Vice President for University Advancement — Our New Leader om Herbert was appointed Miami University’s Vice President of University Advancement effective October 1, 2012. In this position, Tom leads advancement staff in all areas of alum- Tni relations and development. He is also the executive director of the Miami University Foundation. Before coming to Miami, Tom was at Dartmouth College, where he first held the position of Associate Vice President, Individual Giving and was most recently the Vice President of Development. Prior to his work at Dartmouth, Tom served in various roles at Indiana University from 2002 to 2009, includ- ing Executive Director of Development and Alumni Programs for the College of Arts and Sciences, and Vice President for University Wide Programs for the Indiana University Foundation. He also served as the Assistant Vice President for Development at the University of Michigan. Tom Herbert,VP, Tom began his development career as a gift planning officer at Drake Uni- University Advancement versity in Iowa. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in history from Northwestern University and a Doctor of Jurisprudence with honors from Illinois Institute of Technology, Chica- go-Kent College of Law. He has co-authored a textbook on major and planned giving programs and is a frequent presenter at fundraising conferences around the country. He and his wife, Kirsten, have two sons, Zachary and Ethan. WCAA President Jocelyn Woodson-Reed introduced Tom to the Board of Trustees during the April 11-13 board meetings. He was welcomed at an informal luncheon, where he shared his background, expressed his admiration for all Western College stands for, and was happy to answer questions about the university’s current relationship with the Western College Alumnae Association. 4 The Bulletin What’s on Your Mind We love to hear your “small (Western) world” stories and know for a certainty that all our readers do too. Here are two we received recently, both inspired by obituary references to Western faculty members in the Fall 2012 Bulle- tin. While Mary Ellen’s and Grete’s experiences are quite different, their memories are equally vivid. Mary Ellen Caskey McKey ’63 was a sociology major at Western and is a retired dental office manager. In addition to return- ing for class reunions, Grete Stern Wrede ’51 served on the WCAA board of trustees from 1997 to 2000, so it is all the more surprising that she did not know the Western connection of her childhood friend. was moved by Hayat Imam’s tribute to her class- surprisingly, he remembered my brother as one of their mate, Chris Kelley Gilmartin ’68, and especially small class. by her remembrance of T.A. I Thank you so much for publishing the piece by Bisson, Western’s longtime Inter- Hayat Imam. I’ve been thinking about it for many days. cultural Studies professor. As a member of the class of ’63 I also — Mary Ellen Caskey McKey ’63 took his introductory class, but for some reason I went no further in fter reading (belatedly) the obituary of Dr. that department. I loved the class Georgiana Reynolds, I had to drop a line to and found him the quintessential tell you of my complete surprise at her con- professor, inspiring and so knowl- A Mary Ellen McKey nection to Western College. It turns edgeable. Many years later I had an out that I went to P.S. #15 with this experience which brought back good memories of Dr. woman in Crestwood/Tuckahoe, Bisson, and which I’ll describe. NY (NE Yonkers) and at about 10 My father’s older sister was Canadian and in the years of age, she, our doctor’s 1980s was living in a retirement facility in Toronto. She daughter ..., another student ... and wrote me one day to say that a fellow resident would I formed a bridge game together, soon be visiting her son in Berkeley and would get in which we played after school at touch with me. Not long afterwards I had a call from Georgiana’s home (she lived two her friend, whose name was Faith Bisson. Since her son doors up from school) on a regular Grete Wrede lived just a short walk from us, my husband and I went basis. We originally learned bridge there one afternoon for tea. After the introductory pleas- from our mothers and probably were the original “nerds” antries, I of course said that I had had a professor named of our time. Once we got to high school and beyond, we Bisson, and she asked where. When I said, “Western lost touch with each other. Ursula (the doctor’s daugh- College for Women,” the tears sprang to her eyes, and ter) and I still remain “best” friends (she in Connecti- she said, “That’s my Tom.” The rest of the visit was cut, me in Florida) and have seen each other regularly spent talking of the old days at Western, and she caught through the years. ... I called Ursula the same night I me up on the activities of many of the professors and read the article and she also marveled at our finding our staff whom I remembered. It was a lovely afternoon lost friend through a Western connection! I sent her the which I’ve never forgotten. article, as well. It truly is a small world. I was surprised to read in Hayat’s piece that T.A.
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