longwood
Andrea Dailey
A MAG A Z I N E FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF LONGWOOD UNIVERSITY FALL 2 0 1 3
Publisher
Longwood University Foundation Inc. Robert Burger Jr., President Editor
Sabrina Brown Creative Director
David Whaley Associate Editors
Kent Booty, Matthew McWilliams Photographer
Andrea Dailey Contributors
David Driver, Diane Easter, Patrick Folliard, Richard Foster, Allesandro Gottardo, Chase Jarvis, Mike Kropf ’14, Greg Prouty, Ashley Robbins, Elizabeth Seaborn, Lydia Williams Advisor y Board
Larissa Fergeson, Franklin Grant ’80, Suzy Szasz Palmer, Kenneth Perkins, Bryan Rowland, Nancy Shelton ’68, Bennie Waller ’90, Elizabeth Power-deFur Board of Visitors
Marianne Moffat Radcliff ’92, Rector, Richmond Edward I. Gordon, Farmville Eric Hansen, Lynchburg Thomas A. Johnson, Lynchburg Judi M. Lynch ’87, Vice Rector, Richmond Jane S. Maddux, Charlottesville Colleen McCrink Margiloff ’97, Rye, N.Y. Stephen Mobley ’93, McLean Brad E. Schwartz ’84, Chesapeake Shelby J. Walker M.S. ’93, Charlotte Courthouse Lacy Ward Jr., Farmville Robert S. Wertz Jr. ’85, Leesburg Ronald Olswyn White, Midlothian Editorial offices for Longwood magazine are maintained at the Office of Public Relations, Longwood University, 201 High Street, Farmville, VA 23909. Telephone: 434-395-2020; email: pr@longwood.edu. Comments, letters and contributions are encouraged. Printed on recycled stocks containing 100% post-consumer waste.
President Reveley examines the recently found portrait of his great-grandfatherThomas Eason, who taught biology at Longwood.
FROM TH E PR ESID ENT Getting ready for this school year, as Longwood looks to its 175th Anniversary, has been like a homecoming for me. My grandmother Marie Eason Reveley, a member of the Class of 1940, regaled me often with stories from the college days she and her sisters shared here, and with stories about her mother, Carrie Rennie Eason, of the Class of 1910. My grandmother likewise brought me to campus frequently as a child. The Rotunda fire was poignantly sad for her, especially because afterward she and our family couldn’t locate Longwood’s portrait of her father,Thomas Eason, who chaired the biology department here from 1911 to 1918 and then went on to hold a significant government post overseeing higher education for Virginia. She made several attempts to find it again before she passed away in 2006. During my first week in the office this June, in a powerful gust of the Longwood spirit, the portrait of my great-grandfather Dr. Eason was found—before I had even asked after it—thanks to the inspired sleuthing of many co-conspirators across the university. It was a deeply touching moment for me to see it unveiled, and it now hangs proudly in my office in Lancaster. These first months have been as busy and as energizing as you might expect. The tribal rhythms of academia are indeed familiar to me, engrained even.The summer is a season for fresh plans. Rector Marianne Radcliff ’92 and I—along with the entire university community near and far—are looking forward to building on the powerful momentum Longwood enjoys. Over the summer days, Longwood’s prior presidents have been in touch with generous words of welcome. Henry and Mary Willett, in fact, visited Marlo and me to offer tips on raising young children at Longwood House, as they themselves did starting in the late ’60s. Marlo’s and my twins, May and Quint, recently had their first birthday, and their great-great-aunt Judy Eason Mercer ’44 was on hand at Longwood House for the celebration. Perhaps one of my favorite days this summer—because it so well captures the essential connection of past and future—was visiting Elsie Stossel Upchurch of the great Class of ’43. When Franklin Grant ’80 and I arrived at her home in Front Royal, she had yearbook pictures earmarked to show us of my grandmother, my great-aunt Judy and their sister, Caroline, all of them friends with Elsie. In 2012, Mrs. Upchurch made the largest capital gift in the university’s history. Her $4 million gift will drive the creation of the Norman H. and Elsie Stossel Upchurch University Center, a beautiful facility in the heart of campus that will foster the Longwood spirit in generations of students to come. It is truly wonderful to be under way.
No state funds were used to print this publication. To request this magazine in alternate format (large print, braille,
Thank you and my best,
audio, etc.), please contact the Longwood Learning Center, 434-395-2391; TRS: 711. Published September 2013
W. Taylor Reveley IV President
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