Alumni News
Celebrate We Did
Hola, LANU!

Club News
Regional Clubs
Special-Interest Clubs

NU Family Close-up

Rhode to Northwestern
Great Scotts
Mutual Benefit
A Long Tradition
To The Purple Born
Prepped for NU

 


From left, Stacey Lauren (S87), NAA president Ava Harth Youngblood (McC79), Mike Lipsitz and Nancy Gore Marcus (WCAS67)

Getting to Know You -- Again
Reunion Leadership Conference revamps reunions from top to bottom

When it comes to class reunions, one size does not fit all. Northwestern's Department of Alumni Relations and the 2001 reunion leaders are working to change the "been there, done that" attitude to "been there, loved that" by tailoring reunions for each class.

At September's two-day 2001 Reunion Leadership Conference, the department and the Office of Annual Giving hosted 16 reunion chairs who came to campus to take a fresh look at the whole reunion experience and revamp the process of reunion planning and programming. Their goal was to make the gatherings more meaningful to fellow classmates and to bring more alumni back to campus for future get-togethers.

"The bottom line is that alumni come back because they want to see their classmates," explained Jan Shucart, associate director for reunions and alumni recognition for the department. "What we're trying to do is give them an active role in the process -- to let them decide what they want out of the experience and to help them get it."

Excitement is already building for the June 15-17 reunion of the class of 1951, otherwise known as the centennial class, which is being co-chaired by Jean Larson Damisch (WCAS51), Darlene "Dolly" Sharp Fiske (WCAS51) and Jerry Wulf (WCAS51). Operating on "the more, the merrier" concept, they got an early start on planning and quickly surpassed their original goal of recruiting a planning committee of more than 50 people in honor of the 50th anniversary.

To Damisch, it's the personal contact from the large committee that will make their reunion successful. She also credits the conference for building momentum. "The leadership training was great for helping us get started. One of the best things was meeting other reunion leaders for 2001. It was fantastic hearing all of the ideas they had."

Chairs from the fall 2001 reunion classes (1961, 1965-67, 1976, 1985-87, 1991 and 1996) are also setting high attendance goals for their Oct. 12-14 gatherings. Equally important is finding the right combination of activities through a broadly based committee.

These highly motivated alumni are driven by creativity and the desire to change the assumptions of predictability some may have about reunions. Through committee meetings, conference calls and e-mail messages, they're brainstorming on various ways to make each reunion unique and fun. For some groups, reunion events might include an afternoon family picnic; for others, perhaps, a formal dinner, brunch at the dorms or even all three. It's up to each class to decide what works best, especially in terms of geography, lifestyle and economics.

"Not everyone who's 10 years out of the University is married and has children, so there's a fairly wide range of factors to consider to plan for all those populations," said Shanlee Miller McNally (WCAS91), who is co-chair of the 10-year reunion with her husband, Sean (WCAS91). "For us [the class of 1991], we may need to plan an event to attend in downtown Chicago, because many may want to reconnect in that way; we also have to think about bringing young families into the fold. The idea is to plan events that cater to these specifics."

One tool at their disposal is a reunion Web page linked to the alumni portal. Reunion chairs can keep their classmates current with dates, times and locations of reunion activities. A Web page is already available for the 50th reunion class meeting in June to supplement current mailings and phone reminders.

Members of fall reunion classes will be able to link to pages for their own classes. Over time, leaders say they would like Web-based capabilities to include online surveys and registration so planning is more interactive.

Reunion chairs like Mike Lipsitz (WCAS86) see Web potential going beyond merely posting information. "By providing a forum for a virtual reunion before or maybe after an actual reunion, a Web site also could help generate and sustain reunion interest much earlier in the planning process," he said. "Hopefully, that will translate into more enthusiasm and greater participation for the real thing."

-- Michele Hogan

Look Us Up

Visit the alumni portal page at
www.nualumni.com

 

 


Students dance in the moonlight at the 2000 homecoming parade

(Photo by Michele Hogan)

 

 

Celebrate We Did
Alumni returned in the fall for homecoming and connected with the Purple past and present.
 
  Homecoming king Joshua Mitchell and queen Vernesha Williams, both seniors
Celebrate we will
'Cause life is short
But sweet for certain.
-- From "Celebrate We Will," which was the 2000 Homecoming theme, by the Dave Matthews Band

No doubt many sweet moments made up Northwestern's homecoming weekend last Oct. 13 through 15.

First to greet returning alumni were the colorful and familiar signs of autumn on campus -- the golden trees against the lakefront, a slight chill in the air hinting at the true fall to come and purple banners everywhere welcoming everyone home.

Friday afternoon's tent party outside the Norris University Center, sponsored by the Department of Alumni Relations, drew hundreds for meeting, greeting and eating before the homecoming performance at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. The concert featured the Symphonic Wind Ensemble under the direction of professor Mallory Thompson (Mu79, GMu80).

Later, under a full moon, onlookers gathered along Sheridan Road to watch the homecoming parade. They waved to participants dancing on ambitious, multicolored floats festooned with lights. Most of the parade goers were hoping to catch candy or mini-footballs thrown by the dancers, and some actually succeeded.

Veteran journalist Sander Vanocur (S50) was grand marshal of the 2000 parade. Like many alumni, Vanocur made the most of the opportunity to return to the area, in this case reuniting with former roommate Newton Minow (S49, L50, H65) earlier in the week. At Harris Hall, Vanocur, this year's Minow Visiting Professor in Communications, was introduced by his son, fellow journalist Christopher Vanocur (S82), before sharing his insights on media and politics in a lecture titled "Can Democracy Survive the Mass Media?"

While Saturday's weather was good and the excitement level high at the Wildcats' homecoming football game against Purdue, fate had a different plan for the outcome of the contest. The Boilermakers defeated Northwestern 41-28 in the second loss of what turned out to be a Big Ten championship season.

The results of the game certainly didn't ruin the weekend. Members of the fall reunion classes of 1954-56; 1960; 1975; 1979-81; 1990; and 1995 were welcomed by the Department of Alumni Relations when everyone met that evening for their respective reunions. Among the highlights was the 25th reunion class' Will You Be a Millionaire, which was a 1970s trivia quiz and parody of the television show Who Wants To Be a Millionaire.

Sunday morning's activities began under overcast skies with a leisurely run along the lakefront. Meanwhile at Deering Meadow, the mood turned reflective as alumni paused to remember students killed at the Kent State and Jackson State antiwar demonstrations in 1970.

Last-minute phone number and e-mail exchanges took place amid the hugs at the all-alumni reunion brunch at Norris, with promises to meet again next year, or better yet, at the Sesquicentennial celebration held a week later.

-- Michele Hogan

Illinois Sen. Miguel del Valle (D-Chicago)

(Photo by Mary Hanlon)

 

Hola, LANU!
New Latino alumni group underscores Northwestern's commitment to diversity.
Even in its infancy, LANU, the Latino Alumni of Northwestern University, is making an impact: In the midst of establishing bylaws and a mission statement, two members of the group's steering committee recently found better jobs through contacts in the organization.

"It was the University that brought them together. They wouldn't have connected otherwise," said David Flores (WCAS86), who co-chairs the new alumni group, initiated by the Department of Alumni Relations.

"Networking is just a small part of LANU's potential," said Catherine Stembridge, director of the department."We're starting this group because diversity, outreach and mentoring are priorities to us and to the University."

LANU is the latest example of a new generation of constituent organizations formed to draw specifically targeted groups back to campus. Others include NUBAA (the Northwestern University Black Alumni Association), NUMB Alums (the Northwestern University Marching Band Alumni) and the NUEA (the Northwestern University Entertainment Alliances on both coasts).

Flores and co-chair Carmen Rodriguez (WCAS95) were among the first to respond to the department's call for a new group for Latinos. Flores, who enjoyed being at Northwestern, stayed involved after graduation through his fraternity and class reunion committee. "For me, there's always been a way to connect, but now I can do so on a more personal level. I can identify with others with whom I have more in common culturally," he said.

Flores recognizes, however, that some Latino students feel alienated during their years on campus. Gisela de Lama (S82, GS83), a LANU steering committee member, says she is one who could have benefited from some kind of outreach during her undergraduate years in the speech pathology program. For one thing, her bilingualism could have been better incorporated into her studies. "It was not recognized as an asset," de Lama explained. "One of the things we want to do is help the University recognize what we can contribute."

While de Lama and other Latino alumni are already individually involved in mentoring activities on campus, LANU's leadership also sees the powerful aggregate impact its members can have on current students. In addition, Northwestern officials will be asking for the group's help with student recruitment and advice for the administration and faculty on ways to boost graduation rates.

This year 4.6 percent of Northwestern's freshman class is made up of Latinos. Overall about 5 percent of the student population is Latino, which is a slight increase over previous years, according to Margaret Miranda, assistant director of admissions and coordinator of Latino recruitment. "We're seeing a diverse group coming from all over the country, but we need to increase our efforts," she said.

Last October LANU hosted its first event, a panel discussion on the role of the Latino vote in the 2000 election. Illinois Sen. Miguel del Valle (D-Chicago), Joe Galvan, Illinois chair of the Hispanics for Bush Campaign, Edward Gibson, associate professor of political science, and David Schaper, political correspondent for WBEZ-FM, Chicago's NPR affiliate, comprised the panelists. Julian Crews, general assignment reporter for WGN-TV, served as moderator.

Panelists pointed out that voter turnout among Latinos continues to increase while it shrinks among other voting blocs.

By sponsoring such events, LANU hopes to bring Latino alumni to campus and give them opportunities to network. It also seeks to collaborate with student groups such as Alianza to sponsor events on campus.

For information about LANU, send e-mail inquiries to lanu@nualumni.com, or call the Department of Alumni Relations office at 847-491-7200.

-- Michele Hogan

NUBAA members Zoanne Tatum Clack (S90), left, and Teresa Morris Cambell (WCAS91) join Willie at the Homecoming game.

Club News
Regional Clubs
Northwestern's alumni clubs are feeling the power of purple pride.

Last fall's winning football season brought many of the Wildcat faithful together in Atlanta, Houston, New York City and other locations, where they vicariously experienced the excitement at Ryan Field. Several Alamo Bowl parties around the country also renewed interest in Northwestern, and club leaders are hoping this connection with alumni continues beyond the season.

However, football wasn't the only drawing card for alumni. Following her trip to the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, sports reporter Amy Rosewater (J, GJ94) spoke to the NU Club of Cleveland about covering the games for Cleveland's Plain Dealer.

Bernard Dobroski (GMu81), dean of the School of Music, gave members of the NU Club of Orlando (Fla.) the chance to play conductor during his November visit. In his presentation "Great Conductors of the World," Dobroski led the group in such classics as Strauss' Blue Danube Waltz and Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance. The NU Club of Palm Beach (Fla.) also got a shot at the baton during a visit from Dobroski two days later.

Retiring dean Donald Jacobs recounted the growth of the Kellogg Graduate School of Management during his November visits with the NU Clubs of Phoenix and Sun City. Later that month, a large audience of alumni, high school students and community members turned out to hear Kellogg professor Anthony Paoni's presentation on competing in a network economy before the NU Club of Orange County (Calif.).

In the midst of the legal maneuvering surrounding the presidential election, the NU Club of Sacramento (Calif.) got a timely look in December at the inner workings of the U.S. Supreme Court from political science professor Jerry Goldman.

The NU Club of Sarasota (Fla.) hosted a luncheon meeting at the Rosedale Country Club in November featuring Robert deWarren, artistic director of the Sarasota Ballet.

In October the NU Club of Washington, D.C., received the Club of the Year award at the annual Northwestern Alumni Association Leadership Conference on the Evanston campus. Also recognized were the NU Club of Atlanta for its renewal efforts and the NU Club of Palm Beach (Fla.) as a new organization.

 

 

Special-Interest Clubs
Forgoing the fourth game of major league baseball's all-New York World Series, nearly 80 alumni and guests turned out for "Election 2000: The Road to November," co-sponsored by the Medill Club of Greater New York and the NU Club of New York. Irving Rein, communications studies professor, and WNBC political correspondent Jay DeDapper (GJ86) were featured speakers.

Following the election, members of the John Evans Club gained an early insight into the significance of the electoral process as Kenneth Janda, Payson S. Wild Professor of Political Science, discussed the close race at a November gathering at the home of Liz (S83) and John McEnaney (S81, KGSM83). Janda shared what proved to be a very timely perspective from a talk originally written in 1992 titled "Suppose No One Won the Election?"

Later in the month, members toured the newly expanded Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art on campus. Highlighting that event was a discussion with exhibiting artist Shawn Decker (GMu84, 87) on his work called Scratch Studies.

Members of the N Club were busy theorizing about the Wildcats' offensive and defensive strategies on the football field. Of the five postgame receptions last season the biggest was held on October's Homecoming weekend, when the 1990 Big Ten championship men's tennis team was on hand with members of the 1996 Rose Bowl football team.

Members of NUBAA (Northwestern University Black Alumni Association) made the most of Homecoming by holding events throughout the weekend, including a reception at the Jackson Park Yacht Club, a pregame tailgate party in the Ryan Field lots and a Homecoming/Reunion 2000 celebration at the Black Orchid in Chicago's Old Town. Featured disc jockey for the party was Kelly Griffin (McC92), better known as Kelly G, Black Entertainment Television's music director of videos.

Nettie Jones around 1898

 

 

Purple Pride

Thank you, alumni, for sending us your tales of Wildcat bloodlines for this special issue. We heard from more than 60 alumni about Northwestern family connections spanning several generations and going back, in some cases, to the earliest days of the University. We couldn't print them all, but you'll find a half-dozen generations stories throughout alumni news.

 

 

 

Rhode Ann Jones with her grandson, Austin Page Harmon, in 1999

NU Family Close-up

The Rhode to Northwestern

Just when high school senior Rhode Ann Jones (SESP58) was busy making plans for the future in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., she received a letter one day that confirmed an earlier decision she had made -- that Northwestern University was to be her college choice.

The letter, dated March 21, 1954, was from Jones' great-aunt, Nettie L. Jones, who had graduated from Northwestern in 1898.

"My Dear Rhode," the letter ran, "Know what? This morn, I woke early and lay rejoicing over you, your achievements and your plans for Northwestern, when it suddenly came to me that NU was a bit of a 'family' affair and had been since its beginning."

"Either at the first or soon after it was founded, your great-great-grandfather, Frederick William Page, gave money toward its support and in return received a [perpetual] scholarship [see story], which I used to pay my tuition, years after Grandfather [Page] died. How happy Grandfather would have been to know his aid to NU when it was a poor, struggling school helped it become a great University and that his great-grandson Frederick graduated and his great-great-granddaughter Rhode was contemplating attending. Think of it! Should you join the class of '58 next fall and graduate in '58 'twill be just 60 years since I got through in 1898."

Great-aunt Nettie's letter continued with another intriguing fact tying the Jones family to Northwestern: Henry S. Noyes, one of the University's first faculty members and acting president in the 1860s, was Page's nephew. Noyes became a professor of mathematics in 1854 and remained a faculty member until his death in 1872.

"So, you see, for five generations we have been connected with NU," Great-aunt Nettie's letter said.

With the encouragement of her great-aunt and her father, Fred R. Jones (EB30), Rhode Jones happily joined the class of 1958. During her time in Evanston, Jones continued her correspondence with Great-aunt Nettie. The letters would shed light on some of the changes that had taken place at Northwestern since Nettie had set foot on the same campus 60 years earlier. In a letter dated Sept. 1, 1954, she wrote: "I trust you'll find some musical niche. In my day, they had only a boys' Glee Club, so I joined the Evanston Choral Society with Professor Lutkin (our head of the music department)."

In contrast, Jones sang with the Northwestern University Choral Union, a coed University choir. She remembers performing with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1956 under the baton of the legendary Fritz Reiner.

Jones also recalls that Great-aunt Nettie, whom she knew as the most "straightlaced schoolteacher, an extremely serious person," claimed to have been the first woman at Northwestern to climb the clock tower of University Hall. "I have not a clue why she did it," Jones says. "But it's come down as family legend." Incidentally, back in 1866, her relative, Henry Noyes, oversaw the foundation of University Hall being laid while he was acting president.

Nettie Jones, who completed her Northwestern education thanks to Page's perpetual scholarship, later taught at Crane Technical High School in Naperville, Ill., and retired to Tucson. Although she was unable to attend Rhode Jones' graduation in 1958 because of poor health, she was "cheering me on by phone that day," Jones says. Nettie Jones died in Tucson in 1964.

Rhode Jones' father, Fred, who attended the University for the last two years of his college career, "didn't tell me mischievous stories about Northwestern," she says. "But he talked about it a lot. He was very proud that I went there."

After receiving his business degree, Fred Jones held a variety of marketing managerial positions in Chicago, New York City and Quincy, Fla. He died in February 1991.

After graduating, Rhode Jones taught and was an administrator in primary schools in New York and California and now directs the Bowdoin College Children's Center in Brunswick, Maine. Although her three children did not attend Northwestern, she hopes that her grandchildren may be able to continue the purple tradition. "It's been so much of the heart and soul of my life," she says. "We skipped the sixth generation, but maybe we can get back on the seventh."

- Chantal Liu (J01)
 

Brothers Walter Dill Scott, left, and John Scott, circa 1880

 

NU Family Close-up

Great Scotts

 
  From left, Wally Scott, John Scott Jr., Mary Lou Gent Scott, Walter Dill Scott and Anna Miller Scott (WCAS1895) in 1953
The Scott family's history at Northwestern began when two brothers -- one of whom was to become the 10th president of the University -- decided to leave their family's farm outside Cooksville, Ill., to pursue their education in Evanston.

"John, the elder, entered Northwestern in 1887, and he talked Walter [Dill] into coming in 1891," says John "Jack" Scott Jr. (WCAS49), grandson of Walter Dill Scott (WCAS1895), who served as president of Northwestern from 1920 to 1939.

Both brothers excelled in their fields and became professors at Northwestern -- John (WCAS1892) in Greek from 1897 to 1938, and Walter in applied psychology from 1902 to 1916. After taking leave to teach at the Carnegie Institute of Technology and to direct the Committee on Classification of Personnel in the U.S. Army, Walter Scott returned to Evanston in 1919 and was offered the presidency. He turned it down twice before accepting the following year.

"John liked to tell a story about how Walter became president of Northwestern," says Jack Scott, a retired business-person in Naples, Fla., who spends his summers in Wilmette, Ill. "At first neither Walter nor John had any interest in the position, but they changed their minds and agreed to use their influence on behalf of one another. John would finish the story by saying that Walter got the job because he didn't have as much influence."

Walter Scott, known for saving Northwestern from a financial crisis and making it one of the nation's best universities, had a reputation for being "a serious, scholarly man who wasn't overly warm," says Gordon Scott (WCAS89), Walter's great-grandson and a fourth-generation Northwestern graduate from the Scott family. "But the story goes that he would go out on the football field and lead cheers, which is counter to his reputation." In fact, the president had been a football player during his undergraduate days.

"He entertained many celebrities in his home for fundraising and PR purposes -- people like Herbert Hoover and [actor] Fredric March," says Jack Scott.

"There was one embarrassing thing Walter did," Jack Scott continues. "He flunked the famous Chick Evans [WCAS13] in his psychology course. Chick later became world famous as an amateur golfer -- almost the equal of Bobby Jones -- but he was not the greatest student. This very sweet man later founded the Evans Scholarship fund, giving college scholarships to deserving golf caddies. More than 500 have gone to Northwestern [through the scholarship]."

Walter's first son, John M. Scott (EB24), attended Northwestern while his father was president. Despite the son's status, "he was something of a cutup at NU," says Jack Scott, who is John Scott's son. "He and several other Betas [Beta Theta Pi fraternity members] painted the Beta colors -- pink and blue -- on some pigeons, who immediately dropped dead off University Hall."

John Scott, who later became a successful business leader in Chicago, married Mary Lou Gent (WCAS24). Gent was the first student to drive an electric automobile on campus -- a gift from her father as an incentive to gain 15 pounds, according to Jack Scott. Walter Scott's second son, Sumner (WCAS29, G34), an English professor who died in 1983, married Helen Grescheidle (WCAS33, G34, 48), who is an artist.

Jack Scott entered Northwestern in 1945, six years after Walter Scott had retired as president. Having a grandfather who had been president of the University "was sort of an ego trip" at first, he says, but he managed to forge his own identity at Northwestern. During his undergraduate days, his grandparents still lived in the area, and he visited them often.

Jack's younger brother, Walter "Wally" Scott (EB53), a former business executive and associate director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, became a professor of management and Senior Austin Fellow at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management in 1988.

"My brother Wally takes after his grandfather in many ways besides having the same name," Jack Scott says. Both Walter Scotts joined the faculty of their alma mater and taught there for many years.

"Wally, like his grandfather, is a tough grader," Jack says. "No inflated grades, but fair." Today, Scott's managerial leadership course at Kellogg is among the most popular in the school partly because he is able to draw on his extensive background as an executive.

- Chantal Liu (J01)

Jane Hutchins White in France during World War I

NU Family Close-up

Mutual Benefit

Unlike most Victorian mothers and fathers, the parents of Jane Hutchins White (WCAS1879, G1882) were emphatic in their desire for their daughters to pursue the higher learning that would allow them to be self-sufficient. So White was given a choice: If she agreed not to marry and promised to go out and do something with her degree after graduation, they would pay for her schooling at Northwestern. She took them up on their offer.

"She was quite the activist," says Thomas Z. Hayward Jr. (WCAS62, L65), Hutchins' great-nephew. "She was given an opportunity for education, and she took advantage of it."

White worked as a correspondent with the United Press in Germany from late 1882 to early 1900. She received several commendations for her service as a nurse for the Red Cross in France during World War I and eventually returned to this country to become headmistress of Evanston's Roycemore Academy, now Roycemore School. And she kept up her end of the bargain with her parents. She never married.

Her family's connection to Northwestern strengthened when her nephew by marriage, Thomas Z. Hayward (CB24), chose the University. But he hardly had an easy time of it, having to attend night school and work during the day. Still, he never forgot his debt to Northwestern. "I think his biggest thrill came from the relationship he had with Northwestern after he graduated and was able to work with Presidents Walter Dill Scott, Franklin Bliss Snyder and Roscoe Miller as an alumni volunteer," says his son.

In addition to being alumni volunteer, Hayward Sr. also became president of the Northwestern Club of Chicago, an officer of the alumni association, leader of the faculty athletic committee during the 1950s and 1960s and one of the founders of the John Evans Club. The elder Hayward instilled his commitment to Northwestern in his son, who remembers attending Wildcat football games as a very young boy.

 
  Clockwise from left, Thomas Hayward Jr., Katharine Madden, Sally Madden Hayward, Liz Hayward, Robert Hayward, Kate Hayward, Thomas Hayward III, Wally Hayward, Riley Hayward and Jenny Hayward at the Citrus Bowl in 1997

The younger Hayward has even more than a good education and great memories to be thankful to the University for. He met his wife, Sally Madden Hayward (SESP61), at a football game between Northwestern and Notre Dame in 1959. "We were both in South Bend, and Sally stopped to ask me for directions to the stadium," he recalls. "The rest is history."

After finishing law school Hayward continued an active relationship with Northwestern, just like his father. Currently a partner in Chicago's Bell, Boyd & Lloyd law firm, he serves as vice chair of the University's Board of Trustees, sits on its Development Committee and chairs the Alumni Relations Committee. Perhaps most important of all, he is co-chair the $1.4 billion Campaign Northwestern. Hayward has presided over several other related committees and received the Northwestern Alumni Association Service Award in 1973.

All three of the Haywards' sons -- Thomas Z. III (WCAS89, KGSM94, M94), Wallace (S90) and Robert (S94, L97) -- have earned degrees from Northwestern. Physician Thomas was one of the first students to receive a dual degree from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management and the Medical School.

Their father is hopeful the family ties to the University will continue with his grandchildren. "A lot of good things have happened as a result of our association with Northwestern," Hayward says. "It has provided us with the foundation to go out and achieve success."

- Katie Konrath (J02)

Chemistry professor John Harper Long, circa 1910

 

 

Madeleine Johnson, left, and her son and daughter, Daniel and Cynthia, in 1998

NU Family Close-up

A Long Family Tradition

Cynthia Johnson has heard the story many times: how her great-grandmother, Catherine Stoneman (WCAS1884), came from McGregor, Iowa, to Evanston in the 1880s and as a student at Northwestern fell in love with her chemistry professor, John Harper Long.

"It's actually rather romantic," says Johnson (G78), a fourth-generation graduate of the University who grew up in Rockford, Ill., and now lives in Lexington, Mass. In addition to the tales she has heard, Johnson has also learned much about her late great-grandmother's experiences from a self-published diary written in 1944. In it Stoneman writes: "In September Father came home one day and handed me an envelope. In it were a railroad ticket to Chicago, a letter from the President of Northwestern acknowledging receipt of money for tuition for one term and another from Jane Bancroft saying that a room had been reserved for me at the Woman's Hall. 'Now,' said Father, 'go to college.' I went to college."

Although the diary ended there and did not reveal anything about her romance with her chemistry professor, Stoneman married Long in 1885, after she graduated, Johnson says. The couple resided in Evanston, and the house they lived in, at 1808 Chicago Ave., is now used as a sociology department office.

Long, who began teaching chemistry at Northwestern in 1881, became dean of the School of Pharmacy in 1913. He is listed in the Dictionary of American Biography, and Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry has a figure of him in a diorama as he peers into a microscope. Long was significantly older than Stoneman and died when she was in her 50s. After his death Stoneman stayed in Evanston and in the 1920s fulfilled a lifelong wish to travel around the world. Her son, Albert (L12), practiced law in Chicago and followed the family tradition of love of books and writing.

Albert's two brothers, Lothar (WCAS14) and Byron (WCAS18), and their sister, Ariel Long Miller (WCAS18), also attended Northwestern. Madeleine (SESP40), Albert's daughter and a former nursery school teacher, and Hugh Johnson (WCAS40, M43), a Rockford plastic surgeon who died in 1992, are Johnson's parents.

Johnson is the most recent graduate in the "Long" line of Northwestern alumni. An assistant director at the Cary Memorial Library in Lexington, she has heard Northwestern stories ever since she was a child. Although she was not an undergraduate at the University, she "felt like it was coming home" when she arrived in Evanston to pursue her master's degree in English in 1977. "I felt like I was going to my hometown, because I was so familiar with it," she says. "I knew all the buildings that my parents talked about. I knew where my mother's sorority house was and where my father's fraternity house was."

Today, Northwestern is still part of her family's life. "My father kept up contact with his best friend from medical school, and my mother still sees the people from her bridge club," Johnson says.

- Chantal Liu (J01)

Thomas and Ida Moulding, both left, with other Northwestern students in the late 1880s

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ida and Thomas Moulding around 1940

NU Family Close-up

To the Purple Born

Betty Jean Moulding Lewis (WCAS47) says she was a "Northwestern person" before she was born. A third-generation graduate of the University, Moulding can count more than 50 immediate and extended family members who have attended Northwestern, including several who held administrative positions in the first half of the 20th century.

Lewis grew up in Wilmette, Ill., and as a child often attended Northwestern football games and alumni events with her parents and paternal grandparents, all of whom graduated from the University.

Her grandfather, Thomas Moulding (WCAS1891), was both football and baseball captain when he was at Northwestern in the late 1880s. "He wouldn't have made the teams today," Lewis says. "He was small."

After Moulding graduated, he married Ida Staver (WCAS1891) from Portland, Ore., and started the Moulding Brick Co., which laid bricks on some residential streets in Wilmette that are still in use today. Some, accidentally laid upside down, display the name "Moulding" on them. While she was a Northwestern student in the 1940s, "people would ask me why my name was on the bricks,'" says Lewis.

In the late 1910s her mother, Elizabeth Ambuhl Moulding (WCAS18), was secretary to Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences dean Thomas F. Holgate, who at one point was interim president of Northwestern. Later Elizabeth became secretary to George Howerton, dean of the music school. "My mother loved working for Dean Holgate," Lewis says, but she found Howerton a bit intimidating. "He was a tyrant, and that's confirmed by other people, too," she says. "The contrast with Dean Holgate was terrific."

Lewis' father, Staver Moulding (McC17), remarried after his first wife passed away. Her stepmother, Mary MacGregor Ray Moulding (WCAS36, M42), was an associate professor emeritus and a staff member at the Student Health Service. "She's an incredibly intelligent woman," Lewis says. Her stepmother is now living in a home for the elderly in Evanston.

Staver Moulding and his second wife had two sons, Richard (J71) and John (WCAS72).

Betty Jean Lewis followed Northwestern to the altar, marrying Thompson M. Lewis (WCAS46, D50). His family had deep Evanston roots, and he grew up in his grandparents' home on Sheridan Road right across from Deering Meadow.

"When my husband was a little boy, he would look out the window at things going on on campus and say, 'I'm going to go to Northwestern,'" Lewis says. "He would run across the street to help the building and grounds people set up chairs on Deering Field for graduation and other activities.

"Mr. [William] Dyche [WCAS1882, G1890], the business manager of the university, lived next door. He would give my husband football tickets." Today, all but one of the homes on campus along that stretch of Sheridan Road have been bought by the University and converted into administrative buildings.

Lewis' great aunts -- Thomas Moulding's sisters, Minnie (WCAS1883) and Elizabeth Moulding (WCAS1888) -- both attended Northwestern in the 1880s and married brothers William and Heber Goodsmith, who went to the University's medical school in the late 1880s.

Lewis, who attended her 50th class reunion in 1996, lives in Seattle and still returns to Evanston to visit her relatives and friends who attended the University. "Christmases were large in my family," she recalls, "but many family members are no longer with us, so it's gotten smaller in the last few years."

Nonetheless, her feelings for the purple remain strong. "I am very proud of Northwestern and loyal to the University," she says. "It was a great part of my family's life."

-- Chantal Liu (J01)

 

NU Family Close-up

Prepped for Northwestern

 
  Seated from left, Paula Johnson Clancy and Janet Clancy Murphey; standing from left, Sally Kelly Clancy, James Clancy, Rockwell Clancy, Jack Clancy and James Murphey at a benefit around 1962
When J. Franklin Clancy (WCAS1891) was a student at Northwestern Academy -- the preparatory school on campus that educated generations of potential University students from 1859 to 1917 -- the legendary Herbert Franklin Fisk was principal.

Fisk, an ardent campaigner against tobacco, made all his students sign a pledge to abstain from smoking, chewing or using the filthy weed in any way. Franklin Clancy, who later studied at the Garrett Biblical Institute and became a Methodist minister, kept to his pledge, which is hardly a surprise. The Clancy family has a tradition of setting a course and staying with it.

Franklin Clancy met his wife, Eliza Holmes Clancy, after he became a pastor in Marseilles, Ill., at the turn of the 20th century. The two moved to Chicago's tough Back-of-the-Yards district in 1917 for his last ministry at the Union Avenue Methodist Church, which had been established by meatpacker and family friend Gustavus Swift. They started one of the first settlement houses in the neighborhood.

All five of their children attended the University, including Rockwell Clancy (WCAS21, EB22), the father of Jack Clancy (S59). "You can see his name on a plaque inside Kresge Centennial Hall," the younger Clancy says of his father. "He was head of the campaign to raise money to build that building back in 1951."

Shortly thereafter, when Jack Clancy was considering colleges during his senior year of high school, his father made it clear where his loyalties lay. "I was accepted at a school on the East Coast as well as at Northwestern," Clancy says. "When I told my father that I was thinking about going to that school back east, he set me straight -- that's for sure."

In fact, Rockwell Clancy set three of his children straight. Jack Clancy's sister, the late Janet Clancy Murphey (WCAS46), and his brother, James Rockwell Clancy (WCAS50), preceded their younger brother at Northwestern. Janet Murphey's daughter, Janet Murphey Schuttler (WCAS71), and James Clancy's son, Rockwell Clancy II (WCAS78, KGSM91), are also Northwestern alumni.

In addition to getting their university educations, Janet Murphy, the sweetheart of Sigma Chi, met her future husband, James M. "Hap" Murphey (McC46), at Northwestern. He scored the only Wildcat touchdown against Notre Dame in November 1945.

Jack Clancy, a member of Phi Kappa Psi, met his wife, Paula Johnson Clancy (S59), an Alpha Phi and Waa-Mu Show performer for several years, during their sophomore year.

"If there's one piece of advice I'd give to undergraduate men, it's to meet your wife at Northwestern," Jack Clancy advises. "There are hundreds of beautiful and intelligent women going to school there. I was lucky enough to find one of them."

Since graduation Clancy and his wife have remained extremely active on behalf of the University. They have organized reunions, assisted in the admission process in Dallas, where they live, and hold positions on the School of Speech alumni council and the NU Club of Dallas. Paula Clancy was one of the first women named a University Regent.

Jack Clancy heads a company that compiles alumni directories for colleges and universities, including Northwestern, and his directory contains four generations of his family.

One example of their purple pride was successfully encouraging their son, Drew (KGSM92), to get his master's degree at the University. While Drew is the most recent graduate, his father is certain there will be others. "You haven't seen the last of the Clancy clan at Northwestern," Jack Clancy says, chuckling.

-- Ed Fanselow (J01)

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