{Madison Legacies}
Fifteen and counting
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Th e Com er family’s Madison tradition B y M a r t h a B e l l G r a h a m
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ecember comlowing graduation, she worked in Sen. mencement was a Mark Obenshain’s off ice during the very special event 2010 Virginia General Assembly session for Brownie Comer and hopes to pursue a career in televiCave (’39) as she sion journalism. watched her gra nddaug hter Brownie’s parents Fannie and Frank Juliana Comer (’09) receive her Comer’s belief in the value of education bachelor’s degree. For Brownie has influenced several generations. “In our and Juliana, Madison is a family family, education was always assumed,” tradition. Brownie is one of eight Brownie says of the philosophy she passed sisters from Shenandoah, Va., on to her daughter Rosemary Cave Comer who graduated from Madison in (’71), Juliana’s mother. Rosemary was one the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s. While of the first Madison graduates to receive attending Madison, Brownie a degree in elementary education, and taught swimming and worked like her mother and most of her aunts, as a lifeguard at the Keezell Hall she went on to teach. Brownie wasn’t pool — which surprised Juliana, surprised. “My children saw me gradwho didn’t know that the classing papers room with the slanted f loor in until midthe basement of Keezell Hall night.” It was was once a pool. To help pay a demonstratuition, Brownie lived with her tion of how sister, Mary, in Harrisonburg the Comers and worked at a downtown res- (Above): “SMADuate” Juliana Comer succeeded. taurant. Together, Brownie and (’09) shows off her mortarboard fol“Work at it … her seven sisters earned seven lowing 2009 Winter Commencement that’s the only teaching degrees and one nurs- ceremonies. (Right): The graduate thing that joins grandmother Brownie Comer ing degree. Brownie returned Cave (‘39) and mother Rosemary works. You’ve to school in 1966 and earned a Cave Comer (‘71) and her brother got to work at master’s degree from the Univer- Jonathan Comer. it,” she says. sity of Virginia. A l l in a l l, With Juliana’s graduation, the Comer’s Madison tradition con- Rosemary counts 15 family members as Madison graduates. But tinues. Although Juliana was a finalist for a Jefferson Scholar- the tradition doesn’t end with Juliana. Two of her cousins are curship at U.Va., she chose JMU for the hands-on approach of fac- rently enrolled at JMU. ulty members in the JMU School of Media Arts and Design. FolStay tuned. M
‘Brownie’s parents Fannie and Frank Comer’s belief in the value of education has influenced several generations. In our family, education was always assumed.’ — Brownie Comer Cave (’39)
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C o m e r Fa m i ly Ph o t o g r a p h s c o u r t e s y o f R o s e m a r y C av e C o m e r (‘ 7 1)
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