Mills Quarterly winter 2001

Mills Quarterly Winter 2001 Alumnae Magazine

Celebration of the Arts: Alumnae Exhibit Their Work Reunion 2000 Educating Californians about the Internment of Japanese Americans

“Summer 1942” by Ruth Okimoto, ’78. Oil on canvas, 20” x 30”, 1985.

The painting is adapted from a photograph of the artist at age six.

Following President Roosevelt’s Executive Order of February 19, 1942, Ruth Okimoto’s family was forced to move from San Diego to Santa Anita racetrack (Santa Anita Assembly Center). “Our family lived at the Santa Anita Assembly Center from May 1 to Aug 28, 1942. My youngest brother was born at the Santa Anita Race Track. When my brother was 2 weeks old, we were sent by train to Poston, Arizona [to an internment camp located on the Colorado River Indian Reservation].

Our family lived in Poston for the duration of the war. We returned to San Diego on September 11, 1945.”

Please see page 14 for more about the work of Ruth Okimoto and the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program.

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Mills Quarterly

CONTENTS WINTER 2001 10

Reunion 2000 Convocation Celebration of the Arts

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Educating Californians about the Internment of Japanese Americans: Dance, Art, and Literature Teach Valuable Lessons Wendy Ng, ’79

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Mills President to Chair National Educational Organization David M. Brin, MA ’75

D E PA R T M E N T S 3

Letters

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Inside Mills

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Mills Matters

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Alumnae Action

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Passages

ABOUT THE COVER: Kay Fraser Gilliland, ’50, exhibited this photo of a baby white tern (Gygis alba) at Reunion 2000’s Celebration of the Arts.

Kay took this photo on Midway Atoll, where she has helped with efforts to restore wildlife. Cover photo by Kay Fraser Gilliland, ’50.

Mills Quarterly Volume LXXXIX Number 3 (USPS 349-900) Winter 2001 Alumnae Director Anne Gillespie Brown, ’68 Editor David M. Brin, MA ’75 dbrin@mills.edu Editorial Assistant Kelli Parrish, ’01

On this Issue

Design and Art Direction Benjamin Piekut, MA ’01 Cover Photo Kay Fraser Gilliland, ’50 Quarterly Board Marian Hirsch, ’75 Jane Cudlip King, ’42 Ariel Eaton Thomas, ’63 Lynette Williams Williamson, ’72 Class Notes Writers Barb Barry, ’94 Laura Compton, ’93 Barbara Bennion Friedlich, ’49 Sally Mayock Hartley, ’48 Laurel Kirby, ’00 Cathy Chew Smith, ’84 Special Thanks to Jane Cudlip King, ’42 Board of Governors PRESIDENT

Sharon Kei Tatai, ’80

As I write, we are in an extraordinary time when we do not know who our next president will be. The unusual events surrounding this election have energized Mills students to learn more about our democracy and have caused many of us to ponder our country’s core values.

This issue offers several views of democracy’s opportunities and shortcomings.

The new Institute for Civic Leadership at Mills will train women to assume leadership roles in our communities. Men still occupy a disproportionate number of leadership positions in public affairs. With this new program, Mills will expand its long tradition of teaching women to be leaders. You can read more about the ICL on page 8.

President Holmgren will be working with the nation’s oldest and largest advocacy group for higher education, the American Council on Education. Her responsibilities as chair of the board will put her in a central position to help advance the goals of higher education on the national level. An article about ACE and President Holmgren’s role is on page 18.

VICE PRESIDENTS

Lupe Pedler Griffiths, ’46 Karen May, ’86 TREASURER

Lynne Bantle, ’74 ALUMNAE TRUSTEES

Harriet Isom, ’58, Judy Greenwood Jones, ’60 Estrellita Hudson Redus, ’65, MFA ’75 Georgian Simmonds Bahlke, ’51 Doreen Bueno, ’97, Laura Compton, ’93 Leone Evans, MA ’45, Robyn Fisher, ’90 Lynn Eve Fortin,’87, Rufiena Jones, ’03 Christina Littlefield, ’74, Leah MacNeil, MA ’51 Patricia Lee Mok, ’81, Jennifer E. Moxley, ’93 Kirsten T. Saxton, ’90, Louise Hayes Vanderliet, ’53 Sarah Washington-Robinson, ’72 Peggy Woodruff, ’58, Sheryl Wooldridge, ’77 REGIONAL GOVERNORS

Elizabeth Kelley, ’86, Eastern Great Lakes Susan Shapiro Taylor, ’63, Middle Atlantic Nancy T. Fahr Fowler, ’69, Middle California Albertina Padilla, ’78, Middle California Catherine Foster Koko, ’85, Midwest Katie Dudley Chase, ’61, Northeast Loadel Harter Piner, ’50, Northern California Joanne Regalia Repass, ’66, Northwest Sally Matthews Buchanan, ’64, South Central Candace Brand Kaspers, ’70, Southeast Carole Joseph Silva, ’54, Southern California Ann Markewitz, ’60, Southwest The Mills Quarterly (USPS 349-900) is published quarterly in April, July, October, and January by the Alumnae Association of Mills College, Reinhardt Alumnae House, 5000 MacArthur Boulevard, Oakland, CA 94613. Periodicals postage paid at Oakland, CA and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to the Mills Quarterly, Alumnae Association of Mills College, P.O. Box 9998, Oakland, CA 94613-0998.

Statement of Purpose The purpose of the Mills Quarterly is to report the activities of the Alumnae Association and its branches; to reflect the quality, dignity, and academic achievement of the College family; to communicate the exuberance and vitality of student life; and to demonstrate the world-wide-ranging interests, occupations, and achievements of alumnae.

Sometimes democracy goes wrong, as it did when U.S. citizens of Japanese ancestry were incarcerated during World War II. The California Civil Liberties Public Education Program was created by the California State Legislature to ensure that this chapter in our history will not be forgotten. In her article beginning on page 14, Wendy Ng details projects by two Mills alumnae and a member of the Mills faculty that were funded by grants from CCLPEP. These projects teach through visual arts, dance, and the written word. They interpret and make real an historical event for contemporary audiences.

Mills is dedicated to making our democracy work. The College is helping prepare students for a life of active participation in our democracy, if they so choose.

Many students are already taking advantage of programs offered by the Women’s Leadership Institute and Mills CARES and through the study of history and government. More will become involved through new programs like the Institute for Civic Leadership. Mills has trained many fine leaders in the past, and we can look forward to many more who will help shape our democracy in the future.

WRITERS WANTED The Quarterly is seeking contributors to a feature article, “Mills Professors Who Changed Lives.” If you would like to write about one of your professors who made a dramatic difference in your life, please contact David M. Brin, Mills Quarterly editor, at P.O. Box 9998, Oakland, CA 94613, (510) 430-3312 or <dbrin@mills.edu>.

Letters to the Editor A Window for Mary Atkins Barbara Bundschu, ’38, Roussel Sargent (Faculty 1958–84), and I do not think the window was ever in Wetmore Lodge Chapel. I graduated in ’44 and returned in ’59. George Hedley was Chaplain throughout the ’44–’59 period. He would not have removed a stained glass window. None of us remembers it as a room divider in Mills Hall. It was in the Carnegie Library from 1976 and perhaps earlier. More research to come.

Marion Ross, ’44, Professor Emerita of Economics The Power of a Housewife I wanted to write and lend my full support to Ms. Amy Plyler Barnes, ’91, who wrote in the last Quarterly about choosing to be a housewife for her career. Although I haven’t made that choice myself, I do agree with her that part of the feminist revolution was to give women equal choices with men and that being a full-time homemaker and mom is just as much a career as my own.

Carol J. MacMillan, ’94 Amy Pyler Barnes is quite right in pointing out that motherhood, if you do it right, is a career. It is also true that Class Notes and Mills Publicity exert a great deal of pressure on us to do something. Most of us feel we have failed to meet expectations in some area, whether we choose motherhood or a career (or had a career forced upon us in order to support our children!). But either way, there is light at the end of the tunnel—as health and life expectancy improve, a woman who started bearing children in her twenties may expect forty or fifty years of productive life after they have

grown past the need for constant care. Think of full-time mothering as a post-graduate course in Life, and start planning for the two or three additional careers you will have after the children leave home.

Diana L. Paxson, ’64 “Bravo!” for Amy Plyler Barnes’ letter on the Power of a Housewife in the Fall issue of the Quarterly.

I applaud her although I am not a stay-at-home mom. In my family we made a choice to allow my husband to pursue his dreams at the finest veterinary school in the nation — and ostensibly that requires me to work. Secretly I know that I probably don’t have what it takes to be a stay-at-home mom and that alternately makes me feel sad and sick to my stomach with guilt.

As (wonderful) fate would have it, my sister had a child two months after I did and decided to temporarily quit her pre-parenting career as an elementary school administrator and pursue a career as a stay-at-home Mom. Her husband continues to work full-time. She also offered to watch my son while my husband is in class.

In the morning when I leave my toddler at her house and they prepare for a day of Sesame Street, snacks, naps, and trips to the park — I am envious. I arrive home at night and my pre-speech 18month-old greets me with new baby signs and babbling stories of events that I can’t understand. He’s grown a bit smarter, a bit stronger and a bit more independent, and I can’t wait to spend time with him.

I am the family-friendly groundbreaker in my office, the first ever lobbyist in the California Department of Education to work from home one day a week, so on Fridays I am both a stay-at-home

Mom and education lobbyist. And guess which job is easier!

Answering a few phone calls, sending nap-time e-mails and dissecting California’s education law is nothing compared to chasing my laughing little boy, singing “Five Little Spotted Frogs” for the 735th time, fixing snacks, bandaging hurts, reading books, and intellectually challenging the future President of the United States. When the weekend rolls in, my husband and I co-parent (e.g. “I changed the last poopy diaper, now it’s your turn.”). We go on family hikes and adventures, take care of mundane household tasks and thoroughly enjoy each other. Secretly when I fall in to bed on Sunday night I look forward to spending the next day with near-strangers and co-workers who will challenge my thoughts, not require diaper changes and maybe even take ME to lunch!

Sometimes my sister and I exchange envious thoughts. She longs for a day without peanut butter and car seats, and I would kill for a mid-day sloppy-wet baby kiss.

So aren’t we lucky that we have a choice; that places like Mills cultivate women who are strong enough and proud enough to listen to their own voices and live their own dreams.

Bravo to a society that is slowly recognizing that raising future doctors, lawyers, writers and engineers is difficult and important work. My hat is off to Amy and my sister, who have the strength and the patience to take on that job. Our economy would come to a screeching halt without these women. So I offer my profound thanks and admiration.

Now if we could just find a cure for the guilt.

Caitlin O’Halloran, ’90 M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY W I N T E R 2 0 0 1

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inside mills REPORT FROM PRESIDENT JANET L. HOLMGREN In the long tradition of Mills’ pioneering spirit, the College has launched a comprehensive effort to strengthen the General Education Program, supported by a new $400,000 grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. With this initial funding, we are positioned to develop an innovative curricular model reflecting our dedication to women’s education and leadership, as well as our commitment to multicultural learning. A seven-member, multidisciplinary faculty General Education Task Force worked throughout the 1999–2000 academic year to develop a new learning-outcomes model endorsed by the faculty and Board of Trustees in the spring of 2000. The committee included Cynthia Scheinberg (English) as chair, and members John Brabson (Chemistry), Tom Hagood (Dance), Vicki LaBoskey (Education), Fred Lawson (Government), Dean Morier (Psychology) and Paul Schulman (Government). The learning outcomes focus on a group of skills and knowledge areas to be integrated into course sequences that would cover each student’s progress during her time at Mills. The General Education Task Force for 2000–2001 includes John Brabson (Chemistry) as chair, and members Michelle Fillion (Music), Vicki LaBoskey (Education), Melinda Micco (Ethnic Studies), Mary-Ann Milford (Art), and Roger Sparks (Economics). Working with the Faculty Executive Committee and the Provost’s Office, the Task Force is on course to develop a plan for faculty approval in February, 2001, and implementation in academic year 2001–2002. Of special note: the Hewlett Foundation grant pushed our Sesquicentennial Campaign total over $54,000,000!

BRUCE COOK

President Janet Holmgren and Michele van Blitter-Kirsch, ‘83, applaud after cutting the ribbon on the Kirsch Building at the new Education complex. Michele and her husband, Steven Kirsch, made a $1 million gift to the Sesquicentennial Campaign through the Kirsch Foundation.

This represents the largest gift the College has received so far from an alumna from the 1980s.

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M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY W I N T E R 2 0 0 1

S E S Q U I C E N T E N N I A L C A M PA I G N N E W S

Join me in welcoming new members of the Mills Campaign Network. Since the story about the Network and its chair, Mara-Michele Batlin, ’83, in the Summer 2000 issue of the Quarterly, five more volunteers have joined the group of alumnae who are giving and soliciting Sesquicentennial Campaign gifts of $25,000 and above. They are Kay Miller Browne, ’53, of Las Vegas, Nevada; Kathryn Mayall Henkens, ’80, of Menlo Park, California; Susan Brown Penrod, ’71, of Piedmont, California; Patricia Salas Pineda, ’74, of Lafayette, California; and Sharon Wetherby, MA ’91, of Redmond, Washington. Membership in the Network now numbers seventeen alumnae around the USA. If you are interested in becoming a member, just contact Adam Blum, Director of Major Gifts in the Mills College Office of Institutional Advancement: <adam@mills.edu> or (510) 430-2364. A hearty thank you to all the many volunteers and donors who make sure Mills continues to thrive.

Mills has received a $1 million donation from the Kirsch Foundation, completing the funding for the Education Center. This wonderful gift from our youngest 7-figure donors, alumna Michele van Blitter-Kirsch, ’83, and her husband, Steven, has been recognized by naming the building housing the Education Department the Kirsch Building. A naming ceremony for the Kirsch Building was held during the late October

Nita Prothro Clark, ’91 at the Sesquicentennial Campaign’s event held at the Dallas Museum of Art.

meeting of the Board of Trustees. The ceremony featured singing by Children’s School pupils, a ribbon-cutting, and lunch for special guests, members of the Mills community and Trustees.

Building on our very successful events in California, a Sesquicentennial Campaign event was held at the Dallas Museum of Art on October 18, hosted by Campaign CoChairs Vin Prothro and Caren Harvey Prothro, ’63, and their daughter Nita Prothro Clark, ’91. The event was attended by alumnae living in the Dallas/Fort Worth area as well as some from other Texas cities and from Oklahoma. The date is already set for our New York event — March 6, 2001 — which will feature a private concert by renowned alumnus Dave Brubeck. We are working on plans for events in 2001 in one or more Bay Area locations as well as Portland and Seattle.

Only a month after the Dallas event, Vin Prothro died suddenly of a heart attack at age 58. We all mourn his loss and extend our sympathies to his family. We are very proud to have had his leadership and support for Mills and for the Sesquicentennial Campaign. We will continue to pursue our goals in the spirit of optimism and belief in our success, attitudes that characterized Vin. W& ?O&5 @@(Y ?C@@H? @@R' @@ ?J@@ W&@5 ?W&@(Y ?7@@H? J@@5

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M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY W I N T E R 2 0 0 1

5

inside mills Keeping up with the Times

by Glenn Voyles, Chairman, Jurika & Voyles, Trustee of Mills College, and Co-Chair Mills Sesquicentennial Campaign

T

he Mills College Major Gifts Committee, chaired by Helen Drake Muirhead, ’58, held a campus meeting recently at which we were privileged to hear guest speakers Louise and Claude Rosenberg, Jr., San Francisco philanthropists. Mr. Rosenberg, founder of RCM Capital Management, is

IF YOU DONATED…

IN…

$1,000 $1,000 $1,000 $1,000 $1,000 $1,000

1999 1998 1990 1985 1980 1975

the author of Wealthy and Wise: How You and America Can Get the Most Out of Your Giving, in which he advocates philanthropy as a means of investing in our communities and institutions. Among other things in his talk, he outlined the effects of inflation on giving. Since it is a good reminder to increase our gifts each

AN EQUIVALENT DONATION IN 2000* WOULD REQUIRE…

$1,020 $1,036 $1,343 $1,620 $2,286 $3,513

OR IF IN 2000 YOU DONATE…

$1,000 $1,000 $1,000 $1,000 $1,000 $1,000

IT IS EQUIVALENT TO A DONATION OF…

$980 $966 $752 $628 $458 $309

BACK IN...

1999 1998 1990 1985 1980 1975

* For 2000, a 2% initial forecast was used. For further information, see <www.newtithing.org>.

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year to keep up with current needs, I obtained his permission to reproduce the following chart from his website, <www.newtithing.org>. The website also has valuable information about how to calculate how much you can afford to give and how to be the most effective with your giving.

New Lecture Series Coming to Mills

ARIEL EATON THOMAS, ’63

I

nterest in Judaism among Mills students and faculty may be at an historic high for the College. The annual Passover Seder attracts over 100 students and has become one of the biggest annual events on campus.

Several faculty members pursue scholarship in Jewish Studies and offer classes such as Women and the Holocaust, Jewish Writers of England, and Latin American Jewish Writing.

Mills College President Janet Holmgren and her husband, Bill Brauer, observe Jewish traditions such as Friday night Shabbat celebrations in their home on campus, to which students and faculty are invited.

For their gift to the Sesquicentennial Campaign, Amy Rothschild Friedkin, ’68, and her husband, Morton, recently endowed the Friedkin Jewish Studies Lecture Series. Each year the income from this endowed fund will allow the College to invite a prominent speaker to campus. This is the first phase in a series of programs that the College plans to develop in support of the study of Jewish culture. Many of our faculty have a specific interest in women and Judaism. “We can play a unique role in this area of scholarship and we’re fortunate to have some outstanding professors with a real commitment to exploring women and Judaism,” says Mills Chaplain Reverend Linda Moody.

The College’s three-year plan is to establish a Visiting Professorship in

Jewish Studies and a Jewish Studies Faculty and Student Research Fund to help our faculty and students develop their research in this area. “I am so pleased that Amy and Morton got the ball rolling on this initiative,” comments Acting Provost and Professor of History Bert Gordon.

Amy Rothschild Friedkin remembers that when she was at Mills in the ’60s, she didn’t explore her Jewish identity, nor did she see a lot of organized Jewish community activity on campus. “I was quite surprised to see how the interest in Judaism has blos-

somed at Mills in the last few years.

Mort and I are thrilled to be able to offer Mills this annual Lecture Series.

We’re very pleased that it will benefit current and many future generations of Mills students and faculty. We also like the added bonus that we’ll have the enjoyment of being able to attend the lectures ourselves.”

For more information about the Jewish Studies Endowment Initiative at Mills College, please contact Adam Blum, Director of Major Gifts, at (510) 430-2364.

Morton Friedkin and Amy Rothschild Friedkin, ’68

M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY W I N T E R 2 0 0 1

7

MILLS MATTERS

NEWS OF THE COLLEGE

Mills College Campus Master Plan

by Anne Gillespie Brown, ’68, Executive Director, Alumnae Association of Mills College, and Judy Greenwood Jones, ’60, Alumna Trustee In April 1999, Mills College commissioned a campus master plan update that would “chart a course for meeting the strategic objectives outlined in the College’s vision statement. Those objectives are to build enrollment, foster outstanding academic programs, enhance the campus working and living environment, and strengthen the financial position of the College.” One of the College’s challenges is to deal with problems caused by deferred maintenance of many campus facilities. While the Sesquicentennial Campaign has earmarked $48 million for capital improvements, no funding is currently available for the extensive improvements needed in residential housing.

The master plan identified a set of strategies. They are to Invest in facilities by updating and renovating campus buildings, Centralize and celebrate campus life by strengthening the use of Rothwell Center (including the Tea Shop, Bookstore, Adams Plaza, and Café Suzie) as the center of campus activity, and striving to make residential life more attractive to students, Leverage opportunities that the College’s location and physical assets offer, such as establishing a conference center operation and participating in the revitalization of the neighborhood outside Wetmore Gate, Protect and enhance the environment, especially the architectural beauty and legacy of the buildings, as well as the carefully designed patterns of roads and buildings, and the striking campus landscape, Improve pedestrian and bicycle circulation and parking.

Some of the most important projects in the Master Plan are

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For housing: the renovation of Orchard Meadow Hall to remedy life safety issues, retaining traditional residence-hall style living and dining; the renovation of Ethel Moore and Mary Morse Halls to remedy life safety issues, including the possibility of developing suite and apartment style housing similar to that offered at Prospect Hill apartments (while retaining the architectural integrity and beauty of the common areas); the demolition of Underwood Apartments and construction of approximately fifty new family housing units to serve undergraduate and graduate students and faculty.

For facilities for student activities: the centralization and expansion of student dining and food service operations at Rothwell Center; the expansion of student lounges at Rothwell Center.

For academic buildings: the renovation of Lucie Stern as a state-of-the-art classroom building; the relocation of Chemistry/ Physics with Biology and Psychology in a renovated Science Building (money from the Sesquicentennial Campaign has been assigned to this project); the replacement of the Chemistry, Physics, Math, and Computer Science Building with a new facility for Math/Computer Sciences; the upgrading and improvement of the Music Building as a part of the current Sesquicentennial Campaign; the improvement of accessibility for the dance studio and the fitness center at Haas Pavilion; and the building of a new Performing Arts Theater for dance performances, lectures and movies.

For the grounds: the creation of an “Arrival Court” for visitors at the intersection of Richards and Kapiolani Roads; the improvement of signage and

location maps on campus; the building of a Scholars’ Walk along Leona Creek.

For conference buildings: discussing the possibility with national conference center operators of building a nationally recognized conference center at Mills; considering the possibility of renovating Lisser Hall into a flat-floor multi-use facility, serving both campus and conference uses, with the possibility of using stage or seating “risers” for theatrical productions.

While some of these projects will be viewed with excitement and enthusiasm, others are likely to generate some serious debate and discussion. The Board of Trustees will review a draft of the Master Plan in February and will

finalize it in May. Still to be held are informational and community input sessions with College constituencies, including representatives of students, faculty, staff, and alumnae. The Alumnae Association welcomes feedback and comment from alumnae by mail to Judy Greenwood Jones, Alumna Trustee, or to Anne Gillespie Brown, Alumnae Director, Post Office Box 9998, Oakland, CA 94613, or by fax to Judy G. Jones at (510) 339-1760, or by e-mail to Anne Brown at <annegb@mills.edu>. Alumnae response will be shared with College Trustees and officers, and on-going status reports will be shared with alumnae.

Institute for Civic Leadership Launched Mills is planning a new program to train women in civic leadership.

The curriculum of the Institute for Civic Leadership will include courses in the sociology and politics of civic participation and social change and in the foundations of civic leadership. Students will gain experience by working as interns in diverse community organizations.

A lecture series will bring civic leaders to campus, and students will also have the opportunity to learn from mentors who are experienced leaders.

The program is funded for four years by an anonymous donor.

The ICL is directed by Associate Professor of Education Joseph Kahne, who has done extensive research and program development work related to the democratic purposes of education. The assistant director is William Hanson. He joins Mills this year after having worked as Assistant Attorney General for the state of Colorado, and as a law school professor.

The ICL will work closely with the Women’s Leadership Institute at Mills and with Mills CARES, and its advisory committee includes women and men from several of the College’s academic departments.

The first students will begin in the fall of 2001 and will be drawn from Mills and other colleges and universities throughout the nation.

The one-semester program is open to college juniors. The application deadline is March 1, 2001. If you know of a student who would be interested in the program, please encourage her to apply. For further information write the Institute for Civic Leadership, Mills College, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, CA 94613, call (510) 430-2192, or e-mail <whanson@mills.edu>.

ALUMNAE ACTION

N E W S O F T H E A L U M N A E A S S O C I AT I O N

A Call for Artists for Members of the Classes Ending in 6 and 1

December Graduation

R

T

eunion 2001 will showcase the talents of our outstanding reunioning alumnae who will star in the Celebration of the Arts on Saturday afternoon, September 15, 2001.

If you are an accomplished artist in the performing arts, studio arts, literary arts, (jazz artists for the Jazz Cafe, Friday evening, September 14, 2001), you are invited to participate in the Celebration of the Arts.

Your qualifications must be received by Feb. 28, 2001. Send your name, address, email, phone, fax, and four concise paragraphs: 1) Artist statement: describe work / performance, inspirations.

2) Biographical Information: education, important classes / instructors, home, family.

3) Honors, awards, recent exhibitions / performances, web site, if applicable.

4) Work / performance examples (minimum one of the following): pictures, books, slides, videos, CD’s, brochures, tapes.

Mail, email, or fax: Gail Indvik, Director of Alumnae Relations, Reinhardt Alumnae House, Mills College, PO Box 9998, Oakland, CA 94613-0998. Phone: (510) 430-3363; Fax (510) 4301401; email: <gindvik@mills.edu>.

he Graduation Reception for members of the class of 2001 who had completed their degrees in 2000 took place on December 3. The Alumnae Association, the ASMC, the senior class, and the office of the president were co-sponsors. Muffy McKinstry Thorne, ’48, offered a toast to the graduates, saying, in part: “May the Mills fires of wisdom burn in you brightly all the years of your life; May you see more clearly because of the stars in your eyes; May you find peace and love, justice and joy…May the call of the Campanil, the fragrance of eucalyptus, and the warmth of your friendships bring you back often to Mills….”

CAN YOU DONATE? Mills seeks pianos for residence hall living rooms. If you are interested in donating an under-used piano, please contact Elizabeth Burwell, Assistant Vice President for Campus Facilities, (510) 430-2127 or <lizb@mills.edu>.

EMAIL NEWSLETTER The Alumnae Association is back on line with our email newsletter. If you did not receive December’s newsletter and Advisory board and directors of the new Institute for Civic Leadership: Paul Schulman, David Donahue, Liza Kuney, Bruce Williams, William Hanson, Joseph Kahne, Edna Mitchell, Romeo Garcia, Leslie Townsend, and Ajuan Mance. Not pictured: John Harris and Cynthia Scheinberg.

would like to be on our distribution list, please send your email address to <aamc@mills.edu>. Write “updated email” in the subject field.

OLD WALRUS

MILLS “POST-IT” NOTES

There is no copy on campus of the 1957 edition of the

These note pads show a eucalyptus branch and the motto

Walrus, Mills’ literary magazine. If you have a copy, please

“Remember who you are & what you represent.” They are green

consider donating it to the Mills College archives at the

on yellow and come in pads of 50 at $2.00 each plus $1.00

F. W. Olin Library. Contact Janice Braun, Archives Librarian, at

shipping and handling for each order. Mail your check, payable

(510) 430-2047 or <jbraun@mills.edu>.

to PAAMCC, to Barbara Evans, 107 Alameda de las Pulgas, Redwood City, CA 94062-2711.

M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY W I N T E R 2 0 0 1

9

REUNION 2000 By all accounts, Reunion 2000 was the biggest and best ever. The President’s Colloquium and the Faculty Colloquium were well attended and enthusiastically received. Reunion co-chairs Thomasina Woida, ’80, and Jane Cudlip King, ’42, worked hard at reunion and for months before to make it a special event for everyone who attended. Convocation, which officially opened the academic year, was a highlight, with speeches and the presentation of a gift of $160,000 to the College by the Class of 1950. The Class Gift will be used to establish a technology fund and to renovate a teaching studio in the music building.

Below: Edith Ottenheimer Miller, ’25, and Anne Gillespie Brown, ’68, Director of the AAMC. Mrs. Miller celebrated her 75th reunion by announcing the gift of an endowed scholarship in her name.

DAVID M. BRIN, MA ’75 (2)

Right: Dr. Claire Fox Wolpe, ’30, returned to Mills for her 70th reunion and is shown here with her sister, Florence Fox Rubenstein,’38, and Mrs. Rubenstein’s granddaughter, Freshwoman Julie Rubenstein.

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C O N V O C AT I O N “Convocation is a special time when we traditionally gather together—students, faculty, alumnae, staff, trustees, and friends—to renew our commitment to another year of learning at Mills.”

President Janet L. Holmgren “We are a community of sisters with powerful voices and unique visions. Community, however, is not something that we put on when we get here, but rather a process that begins when you make the effort and get involved.”

Gloria Espinoza, president of the Associated Students of Mills College “You are not what you know, but what you are willing to learn. Human beings are born with this extraordinary capacity to learn and they are also born with an extraordinary capacity to teach.”

Mary Catherine Bateson, who was awarded an honorary doctorate along with Herma Hill Kay.

1. Gloria Espinoza, president of the ASMC. On her right is Mills Vice President and Treasurer Pete Michell.

3. Honorary degree recipient Mary Catherine Bateson

2. A ceremonial check for $150,000 was presented to President Holmgren by Lois Rummerfiled Hyman (speaking) and Mimi Glide Miller.

5. Anthropologist and author Mary Catherine Bateson receives the degree of Doctor of Letters, honoris causa.

PHOTOS #1, 3–5: ARIEL EATON THOMAS, ’63; PHOTO #2: KAY GILLILAND, ’50

1

5

4. Dewaina Hardee, left, and Ramona Smith at Convocation.

3

2

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C E L E B R AT I O N O F T H E A R T S The Celebration of the Arts showcased the artistic accomplishments of many alumnae.

Studio artists exhibited paintings, drawings, photography, ceramics, sculptures, weavings, and fabric designs. Alumnae also offered classical and jazz concerts, dance performances, and showings of films. The celebration was spearheaded by Alumna Trustee (and artist in her own right) Estrellita Hudson Redus, ’65, MA ’75, and her committee.

1. Kay Fraser Gilliland, ’50, began photography after retiring from UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science. She and her partner, Rhea Babbitt, assisted researchers on four two-week trips to Midway Atoll sponsored by the Oceanic Society. Midway is populated mainly by birds – more than 2 million terns, petrels, boobies, frigates, tropic birds, and albatrosses. Many of the birds are victims of environmental pollution, such as albatross chicks who are mistakenly fed plastic by their parents.

“Photography is my way of celebrating the beauty of Midway and telling the story, so all of us will be more careful about what we buy and casually toss away,” Kay says. Kay took the photo of the baby white tern on the cover, and is shown here exhibiting her photos at the Celebration of the Arts.

3

1

2

5

2. Celebration of the Arts featured a full afternoon of dance performances. The Mills Repertory Dance Company performed a work by Molissa Fenley, ’75.

3. The work of Holly A. Senn, ’85, is both sculptural and functional. Her welded steel tables and the lighting she creates are inspired by Mediterranean designs that she observed during her regular tours abroad.

4. Tandy Tillinghast, ’95, explores the sensory connections between visual and written imagery in her “Painting with Poems.” Her art centers on how a fragment of an image often generates a story or helps us recall a memory.

5. Patricia Chepourkova, ’90, includes her masks as well as traditional items like incense, candles, and photographs of family members in her Ofrenda or Day of the Dead offering to the spirits.

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PHOTOS #1, 3-5: ESTRELLITA HUDSON REDUS, ’65, MA ’75; PHOTO #2: THOMASINA WOIDA, ’80

4

Educating Californians about

Japanese American

Internment

BY WENDY NG, ’79

Sixty years ago, in 1941, America entered World War II after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Fifty-nine years ago, on February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order No. 9066. The order authorized the military to take any actions necessary to exclude individuals from certain designated areas in the interest of national security. This affected more than 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry living in the United States, of whom two-thirds were American citizens. Their rights were abrogated by the Executive Order that brought about their forced removal from the West Coast to “relocation centers,” also known as “internment camps.”

R

ecently, there has been much interest in preserving the history of and educating the public about Japanese Americans during World War II. In California, the Civil Liberties and Public Education Program (CCLPEP) was created in 1999 by the passage of legislation sponsored by Assemblymember Mike Honda (D-San Jose). The legislation created a program to provide grants for public education activities and the development of educational materials about Japanese American experience during World War II. CCLPEP grants have forwarded the research and

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dissemination of information about Japanese Americans during World War II in a number of different ways. New avenues of research are being explored, and the experiences of individuals are being interpreted and recreated through visual, performing, and literary arts.

Among the recipients of CCLPEP grants in 1999 and 2000 are three members of the Mills community, Associate Professor of Dance June Watanabe, Ruth Okimoto ’78, and Patricia Wakida ’92. Each of their projects illuminates a different view of the Japanese American internment experience.

June (Tsukida) Watanabe was but a

child in 1942, yet the memory of this experience remains an indelible part of her life. From March until October 1942, nearly 18,000 Japanese Americans were bused to the Santa Anita racetrack, where they were made to live in temporary housing of hastily constructed one-room barracks and, in some cases, converted horse stalls where the remnants of hay and manure were barely covered over with whitewash. Today June is an artistic director, choreographer, and dancer, and has taught in the dance department at Mills for eighteen years. She received a CCLPEP grant to create and perform

MARTY SOHL

an abstract dance narrative of sound and movement based on memories of one of the last community swing dances held at an internment camp.

To achieve this, June is collaborating with numerous artists of varied backgrounds: composer Alvin Curran; visual artist and lighting designer Alex Nichols; musician/storyteller George Yoshida and his J-town Big Band; and guest artist Frank Shawl and six dancers. The piece, entitled “5/15/45 — the last dance” finds its roots in the narration of memories and stories from former internee and musician George Yoshida (who, when instructed to bring only what he could carry, brought a precious box of swing records into camp). It also crosses the boundaries between memory and the present, to embrace the universal tragedies of war, prejudice, injustice, and destruction.

“5/15/45 — the last dance” will be performed primarily in community sites such as school or church gymnasiums.

Ironically, gymnasiums are also where people usually gather in times of dislocation and disaster. June uses the swing dance to commemorate those years when the Japanese American community participated in very American activities that gave internees a sense of hope for survival behind barbed-wire fences.

Audience members will be incorporated into the piece through participation in the swing dance, thereby blurring the lines between viewer and participant as well as between past and present.

Soundscapes incorporating electronically processed sounds of basketball games, Boy-Scout marching bands, and found sounds are layered with a live swing band performing nostalgic tunes from the ’40s.

June has addressed the issue of internment from various perspectives, creating five works prior to this one.

While the subject of incarceration is not new, June’s approach to sharing the actual experience of camp through sound, space, and time is uniquely her own. She asks, “How can I do something purely abstract in the movement form, while speaking about this specific event? It’s about what people do to people,” she further explains. “The work serves as a metaphor for creating a

mechanism for survival; reconstructing and reestablishing the self, home, and community.”

“5/15/45 — the last dance” will premier at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco on April 27-28, 2001. It will then tour, with performances at the Headland Center for the Arts, the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California, UC Davis, Sacramento State University, and various high schools in Marin County. In addition to funding from the CCLPEP, June’s work is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the California Arts Council, the Rockefeller MAP Fund, Meet the Composer/Choreographer Award, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Marin Community Foundation. Also supporting June are board members of the June Watanabe Company, including Mills alumnae Patricia Yoshida Orr, ’63, and Yuri Chiamori Mok, ’60.

Alumna Ruth Okimoto, ’78, was born in Japan and immigrated to the United States with her parents at eleven

months old. She was six years old when she and her family were ordered to report to the Santa Anita Assembly Center, and later were moved to Poston (Colorado River) Internment Center in Arizona. Poston was one of ten centers built by the U.S. government to house Japanese aliens and Japanese Americans during World War II. These centers were located in isolated areas throughout the West, Rocky Mountains, and Southeast, and most of the land was owned by the federal government.

Poston was the only internment camp located on an Indian reservation administered by the Office of Indian Affairs, and after the Japanese Americans left in 1945, the land was resettled by Hopi and Navajo, who were relocated from other reservations.

Ruth’s project researches and documents the relationship between the Japanese Americans incarcerated at Poston and the American Indians who resettled in the area after the Japanese left. The Colorado River Indian Tribe (CRIT) reservation where Poston was

In 1989 June Watanabe choreographed this dance, entitled E.O. 9066. Named for President Roosevelt’s Executive Order that forced the internment of Japanese Americans, the dance explored the consequences of the Executive Order.

M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY W I N T E R 2 0 0 1

14

located was established in 1865 as the homeland of the two indigenous groups in the area, the Mohave and Chemeuheuvi. Before beginning her research Ruth had to receive approval from the CRIT Tribal Council. She had previously received approval for an art project from CRIT, but needed to resubmit a letter explaining her CCLPEP project to the tribal headquarters in Parker, Arizona, and her CCLPEP project was given the green light.

Although Ruth is trained as an organizational psychologist, with a PhD from the California School of Professional Psychology, she is also an artist. While at Mills she worked with Professor Ralph DuCasse, who, she says, let her “pretty much do what I wanted to in my art.”

Many of her paintings reflect her feelings about her incarceration at Poston.

Ruth traveled to Arizona to find out firsthand how the Japanese American relocation center affected the tribe. She interviewed Mohave and Hopi men and women who were children when they came to the reservation just as the camp began to close and the Japanese were leaving in 1945. In one situation, she learned of a Hopi family who had been brought to the reservation with few

trauma of incarceration, and participating in it served as a catalyst for Ruth to move beyond her own pain. Thus, of her current research, Ruth says that “It has really been a liberating experience. It made me see beyond my own rage [about being interned as a young child] and how the Colorado Tribe benefited from the Japanese American incarceration on the reservation.” One tribal member told her in an interview, “In retrospect, CRIT would not be where it is today without the camp.” A Hopi said, “If it hadn’t been for you Japanese people who figured out how to condition the soil in this valley and how to farm this land successfully, we wouldn’t be here today!” The Japanese Americans who were brought to Poston provided the necessary labor to develop the land, irrigate, and provide an infrastructure for sustainable agriculture. Today, the tribe is financially sound with a diversified economy of agriculture, recreation, government, and light industry.

Ruth’s work transcends traditional social science research because of her artwork, which is inspired by her experience in the internment camps. Initially, her drawings and paintings were an emotional expression of her anger at the

The CCLPEP projects creatively educate and document an historical event in unique and different ways. The memories that give rise to the different projects remind us of the social and emotional impact of such a mass removal and incarceration program. household goods. They first lived in a barrack next to a Japanese family who had not left the camp and when that family left, the Hopi family was able to use the possessions the Japanese family had left behind.

Before her research on the Colorado River Indian Tribe, Ruth was one of several individuals who were profiled in the documentary Children of the Camps.

This video showed the psychological

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injustice of the internment camps.

Through her research on the Colorado River Indian Tribe and the drawings that she produced from her experience with them, she has bridged the emotional gulf left by her incarceration.

Patricia Wakida, ’92, is a Yonsei, or fourth-generation Japanese American.

While she was never incarcerated, she learned the stories and opinions of camps as an outsider looking in. She

saw the effects camp had on her family by observing her parents (who were interned at Gila River, Arizona, and Rohwer, Arkansas, relocation centers) and her grandparents and their reluctance to “stand out” or make waves in public. She felt they always needed to prove themselves as better than good and to be 101 percent American.

Patricia is currently Special Project Coordinator of Heyday Books, a publishing company located in Berkeley, California.

Heyday Books’ non-profit division, the Clapperstick Institute, received a CCLPEP grant in June 1999, and Patricia began a one-year journey of research and selection for a comprehensive literary anthology on the Japanese American interment experience, entitled Only What We Could Carry (Berkeley, California: Heyday Books, 2000). The book is a collaborative anthology where she shared the role of editor with two other Japanese Americans: Sansei (third generation) poet Lawson Fusao Inada wrote the introduction, and Nisei (second generation) activist William Hohri wrote the afterward. Each writer adds his or her own unique generational experiences, memories, and interpretations to the volume.

When she first began research, Patricia envisioned a book that would cover the immigration experiences of the Issei (first generation Japanese immigrants) with an examination of the pre- and post-World War II Japanese American communities. As she researched, she found so much material that she narrowed the project to focus

on a specific time period, 1941 to 1945.

Making selections out of the thousands of literary pieces on and about the Japanese American experience during World War II was especially challenging.

She worked with an Advisory Board of Japanese American writers and scholars, Karen Higa, Jeanne Houston, Lawson Inada, Chizu Iyama, and David Mas Masumoto. Over forty-seven different voices, Japanese American and nonJapanese American writers, poets, and essayists, convey the experiences of Japanese Americans in the written word.

Among the writings are letters and diaries that have never published, and many illustrations and photographs of the internment experience.

From the perspective of someone who has no direct memory of the war, Patricia feels that she was able to act as a “lightening rod” through which other people’s memories and the younger generation’s questions and doubts could pass through. With so much material written about the Japanese American internment, what makes this book different from others about the internment?

Patricia says that this volume “is a far more lyrical, capacious, visionary type of book, having an emotional impact on

the reader. It is composed of solid, emotional voices, varied, rather than similar and predictable.”

Patricia is passionate about other projects she has worked on with Heyday Books. To her credit, Heyday has also published two other books about Japanese Americans, and plans a third.

Topaz Moon: Chiura Obata’s Art of the Internment by Kimi Kodani Hill examines the life of Chiura Obata, an artist who lived in Berkeley and founded the Tanforan (Assembly Center in San Bruno) and Topaz (Utah) Art Schools. Drawings and illustrations from Obata’s students, all of whom were interned, were shown in an exhibit at Mills Hall in 1942. A forthcoming publication is a collaboration with Kristine Kim, ’94, Associate Curator at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, entitled Henry Sugimoto: Painting an American Experience.

The CCLPEP projects creatively educate and document an historical event.

The memories that give rise to the different projects remind us of the social and emotional impact of such a mass removal and incarceration program.

Patricia Wakida asks the question, “If it should happen again, will we be ready

to face this? Are we that confident that we won’t be as we were before, and fall victim to our fears and ignorance?”

Hopefully, the message from these projects will ensure that the experiences of more than 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry who were incarcerated are not forgotten, and that injustices such as these will never happen again.

Only What We Could Carry is available through Heyday Books, <www.heydaybooks.com>. Ruth Okimoto’s article about her research will also be available through Heyday Books.

For more information about the California Civil Liberties and Public Education Program, see their website at: <www.library.ca.gov/cclpep/>.

Wendy Ng ’79 is an Associate Professor in the Sociology Department and Asian American Studies Program at San Jose State University. Her forthcoming book, Japanese American Internment during World War II, will be published by Greenwood Press in the fall of this year.

She is a Sansei (on her mother’s side of the family). Wendy wrote this article with help from Patricia Wakida, ’92.

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M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY W I N T E R 2 0 0 1

16

Mills President to Chair National Educational Organization

by David M. Brin, MA ’75

In February, 2001, President Janet L. Holmgren will become chair of the board of the American Council on Education, this country’s oldest and largest higher education organization.

A

CE works to advance access and quality in American higher education, and its membership of more than 1700 organizations includes community colleges, research universities, and private and public institutions. One of ACE’s most important functions is to speak on behalf of higher education to Congress, the White House, the Department of Education, and other federal agencies. “Because we are in a state of political transition, it will be ACE’s responsibility to explain higher education to a new administration and to begin the efforts to pass legislation in support of increased funding for students, for research programs, and for initiatives that link higher education to K-12,” Holmgren says.

“I suspect there will be some coming together in Congress and at the White House around support, because there is a really strong sense in this country that higher education is a great advantage that should be available to anyone who can benefit from it,” Holmgren says. “Perhaps the most important issue we can address is how to widen accessibility — how we can cut across the individual states and public and private institutions to ensure access,” she adds.

In an effort to get the information out that students have access to much support, ACE, along with other organizations, has launched an aggressive public information campaign called “College Is Possible.” “We in the higher education community try to be very responsible in setting our costs, but we also have high costs in the delivery of education, so we’re trying to explain the fairly complicated funding of higher education in such a way as to make it clear that anyone who wishes to go to college can find a way to do that,” Holmgren says.

Keeping costs down for students means keeping costs down for the institutions that provide education. “When a new administration comes into power, we are often faced with a barrage of new regulations,” Holmgren explains. “Washington is terrific at spawning bureaucracy, and so one of the things ACE works very hard to do is to introduce some perspective and balance and explain the costs to higher education of increased regulation and legislation,” she says.

ACE has also begun the search for a new president of the organization. “I hope our search will be successful and that I’ll have the chance to work with the new president of ACE, which will be very interesting,” Holmgren says. She has already been to Washington for the first meeting of the search committee.

ACE has taken a strong stance in favor of affirmative action,

17

M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY W I N T E R 2 0 0 1

in accord with their mission statement, which says, in part, “ACE is dedicated to the belief that equal educational opportunity and a strong higher education system are essential cornerstones of a democratic society.”

“We will be working hard to be affirming in building more diverse pools of students, faculty, and staff,” Holmgren states. Affirmative action has lost some ground in the last few years; and, depending on the climate in Washington, ACE’s stance may face obstacles.

Women continue to confront challenges in higher education. Although the majority of students on college and university campuses are now women, faculties and administrations remain male-dominated. “Women are still very much in the minority in leadership positions: fewer than 20 percent of all college and university presidents are women, and the majority of those are clustered in the community colleges,” Holmgren notes. “We’ve seen some pipelines open up — for instance, 50 percent of law students are women, 50 percent of medical students are women, but we’re not seeing the impact at the top echelons of law firms and medical practices. It’s going to take some time for those changes to take place,” Holmgren says.

“Women’s colleges, by virtue of the representation of women on the faculty and by virtue of our values, by valuing women in a wider arena of leadership in learning, really have an important model to provide other higher-educational institutions,” Holmgren says.

“We’re small but mighty,” she adds with a smile.

Holmgren serves on a number of boards, including the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Women’s College Coalition, of which she is Executive Committee Chair. Both these organizations, as well as ACE, meet in Washington, DC. “California is sometimes perceived to be very far away from the centers of power on the East Coast,” Holmgren notes. Her new role at ACE is real acknowledgment for Mills and women’s colleges, and helps maintain regional balance within ACE as well. “It’s good recognition for the College and it’s also good work for the higher education community, so I feel privileged to be able to do it,” Holmgren concludes.

PASSAGES Gifts in Honor of The Quarterly regrets an error in spelling for a gift made by Koh, Tomoye, and Sharon Tatai, ’80.

The gift was made in honor of Kik and Sachiye Toyofuku.

Isabelle Hagopian Arabian, ’45,

by Jim and Laura Lundegaard Anderson, ’45 Class of 1952 by Jacquelyn Jagger Parsons, ’52 Melissa Stevenson Dile, ’91,

by Jennifer Moxley, ’93

Elaine Wertheimer Ehrman, ’47, by the Palo Alto Area Mills College Club Peggy Faletti by Sara McClure, ’81 Dr. Janet Holmgren, by the Palo Alto Area Mills College Club Kymberly Jackson, ’99,

by Jennifer Moxley, ’93 Jane Cudlip King, ’42,

by Suzanne Adams, ’48 Carol Lennox, ’61,

by Dr. J. Roussel Sargent Esther Mirmow by Rita Lipson and Miriam Lurya

Megan Thomas, ’93, MA ’98,

by Regan Browning Calvin, ’93 Mabel Barnett Walters, ’68,

by Joan Wolowick Dark, ’75

Patricia Yoshida Orr, ’63,

by Akira and Toshiko Yoshida Cecily Peterson, ’88, by Barb Barry, ’94, and Cheryl Murray Joseph and June Burley Rensch, ’52, by Jacquelyn Jagger Parsons, ’52 Edward Rosenfeld

by Phyllis Cole Bader, ’35 Sharon Tatai, ’80,

by Suzanne Adams, ’48 Cynthia Taves, ’48,

by Suzanne Adams, ’48

Gifts in Memory of The Reverend Elspeth McAlpine Alley, ’46, by Lucile Pedler Griffiths, ’46, MA ’47, Dorothy Jane McVeigh Raney, ’45, and Betsy Taves Whitman, ’46 Doree Kerr Alston, ’44,

by Elaine Johnson Gutleben, ’44

Vin Prothro VIN PROTHRO, A FORMER TRUSTEE OF MILLS COLLEGE and Co-Chair of Mills’ Sesquicentennial Campaign, died on November 16, 2000, at the age of 58. Mr. Prothro was a well-known philanthropist and corporate leader. He was President and CEO of Dallas Semiconductor Corp., which he founded in the 1980s. The company manufactures silicon chips.

Mr. Prothro volunteered on behalf of many organizations, including the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, where a chair was endowed in his name; the Dallas Museum of Art; Southern Methodist University; and the Dallas Zoological Society. In addition to his role as Co-Chair of the Sesquicentennial Campaign, Mr. Prothro and his wife, Caren Harvey Prothro, ’63, also a Co-Chair, are the donors of a challenge grant to help raise money for the renovation of the music building at Mills.

Mr. Prothro was a graduate of Stanford University and held an MBA from Harvard. He is survived by his wife, Caren Harvey Prothro, ’63, his parents, Charles and Elizabeth Prothro, his son, Vincent Harvey Prothro, his daughter, Nita Prothro Clark, ’91, two brothers, a sister, and two granddaughters.

Doree Kerr Alston, ’44 DOREE KERR ALSTON died on July 24, 2000, in San Francisco, following a

long illness. Doree, an active member of the American Society of Interior Designers since 1975, was a well-known and highly successful interior designer and color consultant who devoted over 50 years to her profession. She was a decorator in the design department of W&J Sloane from 1947 until 1954, when she opened her own studio, Doree Kerr Associates, in San Francisco.

Her work, which also covered architectural design, included major commercial projects such as Robert Mondavi Winery and the Lane Publishing Company’s Sunset Magazine office building and test kitchens, as well as numerous private homes in the Bay Area and nationwide.

Doree was a consummate artist in every respect and took great pleasure painting during her leisure time. She was also a gourmet cook, having taken lessons from Julia Child. And she was a generous benefactor to Mills.

The daughter of William J. Kerr, former president of UC Medical School, and wife of the late Edwin F. Alston, noted San Francisco psychoanalyst, Doree is survived by her son, Farnum, and granddaughter, Greer.

— Elaine Johnson Gutleben, ’44

M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY W I N T E R 2 0 0 1

18

Passages

Katherine Brose by Billie Gardner Axel, ’42, Jean Kautz, ME ’51, Phyllis Carman Marling, ’41, Esther Mirmow and Mary Helen Barrett, Dr. J. Roussel Sargent, and Allan and Betty Wendt Richard Copenhagen

by Suzanne Adams, ’48 Warren and Ella Crain by Susan Crain Hansen, ’78 Dr. and Mrs. Juan del Regato by Jill Hawkins Gaylor, ’62 Isabelle Brooks De Rosa, ’27, MA ’29, by Marie and John Bushell, Henry and Marcella Colarich, Concord Mt. Diable Trail Ride Association, Jim and Meredith Moniz, and Ethel Shaw Dorothy Dobbins by Marilyn Morris Campbell, ’54 Marie Fabre-Rajotte Edwards, ’22,

by Jane Edwards Kenyon, ’47

19

Joan Eves by Koh, Tomoye and Sharon Tatai, ’80 Doris Frederick

by Mary Doerfler Luhring, ’61 Lori Chinn Fong by Marilyn and William Learn Lynn Gillard by Clinton and Katharine Mulky Warne, ’45 Margaret Duncan Greene, ’39,

by Margaret Goold Slater, ’38 Sally Phelps Harper, ’70,

by Janet Gronvold Kuhl, ’70 Hollis Hartley

by Billie Gardner Axel, ’42 Rosemary Gnaedinger Henderson, ’43, by Phyllis Carman Marling, ’41 Helen Hibbs, ’43,

by Billie Gardner Axel, ’42 Marjorie Manheim Hirschler, ’30,

by Muriel Coleman Donna Hunt by Gaye Kawano, and Dr. J. Roussel Sargent

Edwin Jenkins

by Phyllis Cole Bader, ’35 Persis White Klemp, ’55,

by Mary McKinnon Bonar, ’55 Karlson Koo

by Patsy Chen Peng, ’51, MA ’53 John Krzywikci

by Susan Krzywicki, ’74 Jacqueline Hansen Kurasch, ’48,

by Billie Gardner Axel, ’42 Betty Jeanne Mansfield by Patsy Chen Peng, ’51, MA ’53 Sally Krusi Mark, ’35, by Ruth Gillard, ’36, Janet Hopkins Richards, ’36, Dr. William and Pat Weeden, and Catherine Taylor Zehnder Jean McKenzie, ’70,

by Janet Gronvold Kuhl, ’70 Dr. and Mrs. Howard E. McMinn by the Class of 1944 Doris Dray Meek, ’34,

by Margaret Goold Slater, ’38

June Ames Millard-Smith, ’36,

by Ruth Gillard, ’36 Ethel Whytal Miller, ’26,

by Melanie Anadon, and Marcia Parsons Toni Minvielle by Anne Gerac Elizabeth Schohr Morton, ’50,

by Patricia Tiggard Boese, ’50, and Kay Fraser Gilliland, ’50 Doris Beavers Mulky by Ruth Gillard, ’36, and Clinton and Katharine Mulky Warne, ’45 Irene Damis Papan, ’58, by the Palo Alto Area Mills College Club Naomi Pineda by Elizabeth and Richard Ferrer, Mr. and Mrs. Del Graham, Estella and Richard Russell, Joyce Ryan, Robert and Josie Salas, and Alfredo and Barbara Sandoval Terrazas, ’70

Scott Carlton Ramsden

Marjorie Manheim Hirschler, ’30

SCOTT CARLTON RAMSDEN, husband of Mary Alice Garms

MARJORIE MANHEIM HIRSCHLER WAS BORN IN OAKLAND in

Ramsden, ’48, and a long-standing and loyal supporter of Mills College, died from cancer at his home in Orinda on September 3, 2000. He was 77.

A Mills friend introduced Scott, who graduated from UC Berkeley in engineering in 1948, to Mary Alice (“Scott knew more Mills women than I did!” she said), and they were married in 1952. Mr. Ramsden’s work as project manager for Bechtel, Inc. took them and their daughter Lindi to Tokyo, and later Scott and Mary Alice to such other far-flung destinations as Jakarta, Houston, and London and northern England.

When at home between assignments, they enjoyed the Orinda house they built in 1954 surrounded by a welcoming deck (built by Scott) and bright gardens. When Mr. Ramsden retired in 1988 he became, in addition to a master carpenter and bicycle mechanic, a computer expert and a gourmet cook.

He also joined a chorus and a barbershop quartet. The Ramsdens spent many vacations bicycling all over Europe, especially in Norway, their favorite country.

Scott Ramsden is survived by his wife, Mary Alice Garms Ramsden, ’48, his daughter, Lindi Ramsden, a Unitarian minister, his grandson, Benjamin Ramsden-Stein, two sisters, and many nieces and nephews.

1909. She was an active volunteer for Mills and in the communities in which she lived. She wrote publicity for the American Woman’s Voluntary Services during World War II and was president of local and regional councils of the Girl Scouts, also serving on the national board both as a member and a vice-president. She was a member of the board of the Community Chest and worked with Recording for the Blind and the League of Women Voters.

Mrs. Hirschler served several terms as an elected member of the Board of Education in Oakland. She was devoted to Mills and served the College and the Alumnae Association in a number of ways. After her graduation, she worked in the Public Relations Office at Mills for a year. “It was my great privilege to have frequent contact with Aurelia Reinhardt, who kept close watch on how this recent graduate carried out the job,” she wrote to the Alumnae Association in 1995. She was active as class agent, chair of the Alumnae Fund, and member of the Quarterly board. She served on the Board of Trustees of the College for ten years as Alumna Trustee.

Mrs. Hirschler is survived by her daughter, Carol Goldstein; two nieces, Robin Klink Geck, ’77, and Sherry Klink Manning, ’79, four granddaughters, and three greatgrandchildren.

M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY W I N T E R 2 0 0 1

Passages

Margaret Quigley, ’63, by Bill and Libby Dakan, Joan Lewis Danforth, ’53, Mary Margaret Fay, Amy Franklin-Willis, ’94, Elaine Bowe Johnson, ’62, Mary Lanigar, ’38, Dr. J. Roussel Sargent, and Bill and Marge Miskelly Thomas, MA ’67 Scott Ramsden by Suzanne Adams, ’48, Carolee Rodgers Finney, ’48, Joan Mary Harrison, ’48, Sally Mayock Hartley, ’48, William and Joan Cummings Hobbs, ’48, Victor and Anne Mayberry Parachini, ’55, Cynthia Taves, ’48, Harry and Muffy McKinstry Thorne, ’48, Yasuharu and Shizuko Toyoda, Tita Vargas, and Nancy Butts Whittemore, ’48 Nance L. Ray

by Phyllis Cole Bader, ’35 Dr. Paul Reinhardt

by Elliott and Debby Landsman

Betty Clapp Robinson, ’34,

by Deborah Boisot, ’59, Jack Casford, Caroline and Guy Darst, Jr., Mr. and Mrs. David Koch, and Morrison & Hecker L.L.P. Lloyd Roe by Katherine Zelinsky Westheimer, ’42 Evelyn Shepard Ross, ’43,

by Virginia Wilder Hayes, ’43 Marjorie Runser, ’54,

by Ruth Rippon Emilie Block Schwabacher, ’25,

by Dr. Jean Johantgen Hanke, ’61 Janet Brown Seibert, ’39,

by E. Ellsworth Seibert Dorene Burton Settle, ’45,

by Genevieve Smith Hahn, ’46, and Joyce Hancock Hodge, ’45 Anne Sherrill by Findley Randolph Cotton, MA ’58 Elinor Kilgore Snyder, ’38,

by Lucile Pedler Griffiths, ’46, MA ’47, and Judy Greenwood Jones, ’60

Margaret Wessel Stearns, ’48, by Cynthia Taves, ’48 Jean Thomas Taylor, ’25,

by Rita Sahlein Jeanie Thomas, ’64 by Josephine Patrick Rappaport, ’65, and Connie Young Yu, ’63 Betty Greene Wagner, ’46, by Elaine Johnson Gutleben, ’44 David Lewis White, Jr. by Jack and Sara Amodei Grosskettler, ’58 Toby Williams by Suzanne Adams, ’48 Harriet Woodruff by Dr. Jerome D. Oremland Kate Zachary, ’99, by Betty Joan Jaffe, Roberta Copernoll Johnson, ’70, Ruth Noland Masayko, ’92, Vernon McKenzie, Jr., Marge Nicholson, MA ’96, and Sara Stewart, ’99

Elspeth McAlpine Alley, ’46

Margaret Alice Quigley, ’63

ON NOVEMBER 30, 1976, Reverend Elspeth Alley became one of the first women to be ordained as a priest of the Anglican Church of Canada. Her ordination followed a controversy in which priests and others objected to the ordination of women. She was supported by the Primate of the Anglican Church in Canada, the Most Reverend E.W. Scott. Rev. Alley later wrote a book about Scott, entitled Call Me Ted. Recalling her ordination, Rev. Alley wrote, “We had just finished a rehearsal when the lights went out and a male voice shouted, ‘You see, God doesn’t want women to be ordained.’ No one answered and everyone went to dinner.

When we returned, the lights had come on, and seeing a group of men standing nearby I said, ‘You see, she does want us to be ordained.’ And again no one answered.”

When she became rector of Holy Trinity Church in Vancouver in 1979, Rev. Alley became one of only three women in Canada serving as parish priests. In a sermon given at the Mills chapel just before her ordination, Rev. Alley stated that “For me, the beginning of a close relationship with God” occurred when she was chosen to conduct a service at the Mills chapel the year of her graduation.

Elspeth McAlpine Alley is survived by her brother and sister, three daughters, and three grandchildren.

MEG QUIGLEY, ’63, artist, writer, environmen-

talist, philanthropist, and former member of the Board of Trustees of Mills College, died at her home in Ross, California, on October 6, 2000. She was 59 years old and had struggled with cancer for twelve years.

She was devoted to Mills College and to protecting and preserving nature’s beauty in her art and through her philanthropy. She served as a member of the Board of the Trust for Public Land and as an advisor and benefactor of Audubon Canyon Ranch.

Ms. Quigley was a photographer, watercolorist, and writer. Her book, Beauty That Must Die, a personal account that draws on twelve years of her journals, was published in August of 2000.

Meg Quigley was a staunch believer in women’s colleges. The Meg Quigley Women’s Studies Program at Mills was named in her honor, and she endowed a chair at Mills, the Alice Andrews Quigley Professor of Women’s Studies, in memory of her mother.

The chair is held by Dr. Elizabeth Potter. President Janet Holmgren paid special tribute to Meg Quigley at Colloquium on October 13, 2000.

In addition to her brother, sister-in-law, and two nieces, Meg Quigley is survived by her life partner, Judi Hiltner, and her son, David Hiltner.

M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY W I N T E R 2 0 0 1

20

J

oin Dr. Dr. RUTH RUTH SAXTON, SAXTON, Professor Professor of of English English Literature, Literature, on on this this unique unique Mills Mills College College oin Study/Tour designed designed specially specially for for families. families. ! ! Discover Discover British British history history and and culture. culture.

Study/Tour ! Participate Participate in in interesting interesting and and exciting exciting age-appropriate age-appropriate activities. activities. ! ! Share Share aa rewardreward! ing educational educational experience experience with with your your children children or or grandchildren. grandchildren. ing

SPACE IS LIMITED. TO RESERVE YOUR PLACE, CALL THE ALUMNAE OFFICE TODAY AT 510-430-2110.

Family Trip to London

A

s a child, my girlish longings included an inexplicable desire to curl up with a book in a window seat with red velvet curtains like Jane Eyre, to sleep under the stars high in the Alps just like Heidi and eat bread and cheese toasted over a fire, to experience an all-encompassing passion like Catherine Earnshaw, to frequent the society of Bath like Elizabeth Bennett, to wander about London like many of the characters in a novel by Dickens. Reading novels filled my head with vivid pictures of places I could only imagine since my travels were limited to cross country automobile trips between Spokane, Washington and Brooklyn, New York, where we visited my paternal grandparents.

My first trip abroad was as an adult, accompanied by my then five-year-old daughter, in celebration of filing my dissertation. We traveled for seven glorious weeks in Germany, Holland, England, and France, combining my insatiable desire to visit places alive in my imagination from literature with Katherine’s desire to escape from the series of cathedrals and museums which she found boring and confining. We found a balance. For every visit to the British Museum or the Louvre, we made a boat trip on the Thames or the Seine, rode donkeys on the beach at Brighton or camels in the Tuileries. If I had traveled alone, I would have missed all sorts of wonderful outings such as the walking tour of the southbank of the Thames,

the toy museum in London, and riding in the front seat on top of the big red buses.

Subsequent trips to London have been influenced by the initial visit, even when it was no longer necessary to take into consideration the attention span of a little girl. This past summer, a family trip to London found us combining and separating in all sorts of wonderful ways. We boarded one of the ubiquitous tour buses and spent nearly a day traversing the city, hopping off in groups of two or three to meander in particular neighborhoods, some visiting The Tower with its horrifying tales of torture and beheadings, or walking along the southbank, while others wandered to Shakespeare’s Globe, to the Tate, the Wax Museum, or shop for seventeenth-century prints on Portobello Road.

I am delighted to travel with Mills alumnae and their families in London this August. What splendid company — what an amazing city — and what a delight to sense the muli-layered stories of the past centuries of English literature erupting unexpectedly on every outing as we wander the urban landscape of the great works of writers from Dickens to Woolf, from the Old Bailey and Chancery Lane to Bond Street and Bloomsbury. Let’s set out into London with the enthusiasm of Clarissa Dalloway.

What a Lark!

— Ruth Saxton, MA ’72, Aurelia Henry Reinhardt Professor of English, host of the Mills family trip to London

This year,

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if 400 more alumnae give to Mills, several college trustees and leading donors will give a Bonus Gift of over $100,000 for scholarships and faculty salaries.* Your gift, large or small, is the key. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t wait until you can endow your favorite program. Gifts of $25 or $2,500 now can have the impact of one hundred

you can

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thousand dollars for scholarships and faculty salaries.

Give a gift of education. Curiosity, confidence and wisdom are among the greatest legacies one generation can offer another. Please use the enclosed Alumnae Fund envelope today or go to www.mills.edu and click on Give to Mills.

* Of course, to increase the number of donors, we also need each alumna who gave last year to give again.