Letters to the Editor

Volume CXI, Number 3 (USPS 349-900) Spring 2022

Elizabeth L. Hillman

Sherisse Dozier

Allison Rost

Nancy Siller Wilson

Tri-an Cao ’21, MFA ’22

Britt Allen Lila Goehring ’21 Rachel Leibrock, MFA ’04 Moya Stone, MFA ’03

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Mills Quarterly 5000 MacArthur Blvd.

Oakland, CA 94613 The Quarterly reserves the right to edit letters for length and clarity. I so enjoyed the fall Quarterly.

It was a pleasure to see Bette Spagel’s letter regarding Beth O’Neill’s work. Beth’s efforts were continued by Bette, who followed her as a wonderful dean of admissions.

It was also a pleasure to read the fine article on Jim Graham. He was a central figure at Mills for many years and served in many capacities. I still remember sitting at the dinner table one night years and years ago, when my children learned to their great surprise and disappointment that Jim was not the president of Mills College. The kids had attended the summer programs so well managed by him. (Both daughters—Megan Thomas ’93, MA ’98; and Katie Thomas ’88—later graduated from the College.)

It is my hope that one essential element of Mills, the friendships and mutual respect and support that existed among faculty, staff, and students, will somehow remain in the current transition. –Marge Miskelly Thomas, MA ’67; Sonoma, California

The photos of the Mills Seminary historical markers in the winter Mills Quarterly brought back memories of a festive occasion on May 2, 1965. During my junior year, the Mills community attended the dedication of the second plaque.

The dedication ceremony only happened because 10-year-old Anne von Colditz was searching for her glasses in Benicia City Park when she spotted a bronze plaque that said “Mills” buried in the grass. She showed it to her mother, Doris von Colditz ’41 (later Blackwell), who was then the president of the Alumnae Association of Mills College (AAMC). The Benicia Old Timers Committee had erected the plaque in the park in 1937, but Mills was unaware of it.

Doris worked with the AAMC, the Benicia Parlor of the Native Sons of the Golden West, and various state commissions to create a new historical marker that incorporated the original. State funds paid for the new bronze plaque, with words composed by Mrs. O’Brien of the AAMC. (Aurelia Henry Reinhart wrote the text of the original plaque.)

The event had the atmosphere of a festive, small-town picnic. The Benicia High School band played. Mayors C. Carston Johansen of Benicia and John C. Houlihan of Oakland, Mills College President C. Easton Rothwell, and Mills Chaplain George Hedley conducted the ceremony. Dressed in period attire were Doris; daughter Anne (later Anne von Colditz Sattler ’77, MA ’81); and four Mills students descended from Seminary students: KerryLynn Blau-Williams ’65, Katherine Coopman ’68, Wendy Hull Brody ’68, and Lynne Appleton ’65.

When dedicated, the new marker was dark brown with gold lettering. Fifty-six years later, the bronze has oxidized to a green patina just as the event faded in my memory—until I saw the photos in Mills Quarterly. –Elizabeth McDearmon Werner ’66, Clearwater, Florida

Dear Jan Holmgren: Where are you and why have you stayed silent? We need to hear your voice! You have provided inspiring words to the Mills community in the past, but your silence is deafening now.

I met you several times at Mills alumnae functions and was always impressed by your “no nonsense” way of leading the community. Thank you for your leadership in building up Mills: You supported the Sesquicentennial Campaign, increased faculty diversity, and successfully enlarged the Mills student body.

You are a valued president emerita of our special college. You have shaped Mills’ past in significant ways, and your help is needed again at this critical juncture to secure Mills’ future.

Please help us to restore Mills’ soul and mission: a private liberal arts undergraduate women’s college for women and gender nonbinary students, with graduate programs for students of all genders. Please help us stop the sale of Mills College to Northeastern University.

As Dean Hettie Belle Ege used to say, “Remember who you are—and what you represent.”

—Kathleen Roskos ’80, Los Altos, California