Fall 2017 F ait c c o pli From the WCAA Director and Board President Dear Westerners, s the fall semester winds down and the holiday season begins to gear up, we would like to take this Aopportunity to thank you for your continued engagement with the WCAA, Inc. The sustained loyalty of Western alums, faculty, and friends has resulted in 43 years of long-lasting connections and many great accomplishments. Moving forward to 2024 – when the association will be dissolved – there is much work to be done! Rest assured, your Board of Trustees will continue to identify worthy projects that encompass the spirit and values of Western and further tell the story of Western’s incredible legacy. Miami University has been extremely supportive of our organization since 1974 and will play a key role in providing services to our alums in 2024 and beyond. The WCAA Board returned to campus in October, welcoming back former board Mackenzie members, Judy Dudman Henderson ’62, Sylvia Stanfield ’65, Ann Walton ’66, and Pheetta Wilkinson ’76. The meetings were very productive! President Greg Crawford met with the Board upon his first visit to Patterson Place. Greg acknowledged Western’s commitment to international engage- ment, social justice, and diversity. He described Western College as “courageous and ahead of its time” and thanked the WCAA Board for “ongoing benefits of collaboration,” which he hopes to further through 2024. While on campus, the trustees had a wonderful opportunity to attend a lecture, “The Challenge of Following the Steps of a Trailblazer,” by Dr. Sharon Herbers. (Read more about this on page 41.) The trustees also had an opportunity to tour the Miami University Regional Campus in Hamilton. The tour was especially interesting to the Board due to the association’s history of providing scholarships to non-traditional students primarily on the regional campuses. The idea of establishing a “scholarship for an older female student” or developing a “program for women returning to the academic life during middle age,” was first proposed to the WCAA Board by Dr. Mildred Seltzer, Miami University act- Sharry ing associate provost on November 7, 1975. On February 27, 1976, the Board voted to transfer $4,000 for Peabody Scholarships. Since inception, 748 Peabody Scholarships have been awarded totaling $998,164. As we enter into 2018, the WCAA headquarters will experience some change. Mary “Kaye” Wolke, accounting technician, has announced her retire- ment in January. Kaye has been an integral member of the WCAA team for 24 years. She has served under three directors, with a multitude of board and staff members, and each will contest to her remarkable talents, accuracy, and dedica- tion to Western. Please join us in thanking Kaye for her service, congratulating her on retirement, and wishing her well as she transitions into this next stage of life which will include spending more time with four beautiful grandchildren. Kaye and first grandchild Evelyn Anne, born 9/9/16 In closing, we encourage each of you to plan to attend the All-Western Alumnae/i Weekend, June 8-10, 2018. Your reunion committee has planned a fantastic weekend of Celebrat- ing Western Traditions. Please join us for a rejuvenating weekend of reminiscing, revisiting favorite campus locations, and much Western fun! Mackenzie Becker Rice HA Sharry Patterson Addison ’61 Director, WCAA Inc. President, WCAA Board of Trustees 2 The Bulletin Vol. XCI, No. 2 Fall 2017 Western College Message from WCAA Director & President 2 Alumnae Association, Inc. Board of Trustees What’s on Your Mind 4 President Sharry Patterson Addison ’61 Western College Legacy Circle 6 1st Vice President/Treasurer Janet Smith Dickerson-Stephens ’65 2nd Vice President Civil Rights & Social Justice 9 Hazel Williams Drew ’66 Secretary Class Notes: 1941-1977 13 Suzanne Detlefsen Meyers ’66 Nominating/Governance Chair Frances E. Hoffman ’65 Alumnae/i Weekend Review 21 Trustees Priscilla Strand Berry ’54 Pamela Watts Coates ’70 In Memoriam 34 Jane Smucker Fryman ’58 Judith Dudman Henderson ’62 Western College Program 35 Loretta Ryder ’63 Elizabeth Salt ’74 Patricia Spokes Snowden ’64 Western Program 39 Sylvia Stanfield ’65 Ann Walton ’66 Nota Bene 41 Anne Adkins Weissenborn ’61 Barbara Williamson Wentz ’68 Pheetta Wilkinson ’76 Blue Card 43 Mission of the Association: On the cover: The completed Western College Leg- • to preserve and encourage communication acy Circle, dedicated June 10, 2017, at All-Western among and with alumnae, Alumnae/i Weekend. • to support education and human values Photo credit: Front and back cover photos plus that continue the heritage and tradition selected pictures on pages 6-8, by MU photographer of The Western College. Scott Kissell. Bulletin Staff Publications Committee Office Staff Editor Members Director Catherine Bauer Cooper ’60 Pamela Watts Coates ’70, Chair Mackenzie Becker Rice HA Design/Technology Consultant Jane Smucker Fryman ’58 Senior Program Assistant Milburn Cooper Loretta Ryder ’63 Debbie Baker HA Elizabeth Salt ’74 Accounting Associate Kaye Wolke HA Published in the spring and fall and copyrighted 2017 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 Fall 2017 3 What’s on Your Mind Fiftieth-anniversary celebrant Elisa Kessler Caporale delivered her very personal chapel address at Alumnae Weekend 2017’s Closing Ceremony: “A Special Time in a Special Place.” In it she outlined the many opportunities offered her — and her classmates — during their years at Western. Space permits only brief excerpts here, but readers can go to our website [www.miamioh.edu/wcaa] or request printed copies from the office to read the speech in its entirety. remember the first time I stood “do not let this opportunity pass you by,” “I missed that at this lectern, it was to recite a opportunity.” I see opportunity as a seed, something that Ireading. It was just 2½ months may grow now or flourish at another time. into my freshman year, a Friday ... afternoon, November 22, 1963. This was a time when news was One of the programs that attracted me to Western at 6 and 11 and in black and white. College, in the brochure, was that 10 percent of the No one shot you if you minded students were from foreign countries.When I arrived your own business, but someone at college it was the first time I had seen the Western had shot our President, no not Elisa Caporale ’67 Campus. I interviewed in the East and knew only one the President of the college, as person who was attending the college. … The campus some thought, when they heard the news. The President van was at the airport to pick us up and by the time we of the United States had been shot and killed. No one turned down the drive to the college, about 40 minutes knew what to do or what was going to happen. Many of later, I already knew a few girls — one who would be- us gravitated to the chapel and Dr. Brockman quickly come my roommate in New York five years later. An organized a service so that we could be together and of unknown opportunity. comfort to one and other. There was no Facetime, no ... cell phones, we only had two pay phones in our dorm and you had to call after 7 p.m., when the rates went I was nominated to be president of the freshman down, or incur your parents’ wrath. class. I was scared of taking on too much. I was already in choir and participating in the Westminster house on We had to depend on each other, we had to be strong. Miami’s campus. Fran Hoffmann, our junior counselor, Our classes were cancelled for the funeral on Monday, encouraged me and I ran and won. What an opportunity. but some of the students felt that they should have the whole day off to watch everything that would unfold on I do not know why I was nominated … but being television that day. Students marched on Dean Abbott’s an officer meant I HAD to follow the honor system and house demanding a change. This was my first taste of it may have helped keep me on the straight and narrow the strength and independence of Western Women. when others were tempted to takes risks. In my sopho- more year I was on the Judicial board with two deans, Less than a month later, one of our freshman class- faculty members, Government Association boards and mates died of meningococcal meningitis, which was class representatives. When the honor system was bro- very contagious. … Many of us had to line up before ken, students came before this committee. Each case meals for our medication. We were afraid for ourselves, was different though the infraction might have been afraid for our friends. Again, no cell phones to call home, the same. One spring Saturday, the testimony from the no grief counselors flying in. It was a different time. We students and the deliberation took eight hours with some were on our own, we had to be Western Strong. breaks. It went from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. This taught me ... good listening skills, to listen to the students as well as the committee and to hear their reasoning. It taught me The theme of this weekend is Western Strong, but understanding of when personal freedom conflicts with when I thought about what I would say this morning community commitment. the word opportunities kept popping into my head. You hear the expressions “once in a lifetime opportunity,” ..