Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 16, 1990 TAG: 9006160301
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Beth Macy Staff Writer
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It was the 31st and last Elizabeth College alumnae reunion - a tradition that lingered on longer than the college itself had existed.
Only five members made it to the Roanoke College campus for the event - two from the Roanoke Valley and three from Harrisonburg.
"There aren't enough of us left to carry it on any longer," said Roanoke's Gay Goodwin, a "Lizzie" student from 1914 to 1919. "Most have either died or they're in nursing homes."
Outnumbered by both the media and Roanoke College faculty and staff, all five alumnae agreed that it was finally time to put the closing chapter on the Salem college that began in 1910.
A liberal-arts college, Elizabeth College was founded by the Lutheran Synods of Virginia and initially called the Roanoke Woman's College. Located on the present site of Roanoke College's Elizabeth Campus (just north of the Salem Civic Center), it was merged with Elizabeth College in Charlotte, N.C., and renamed in 1915.
But the tenure of Elizabeth was cut short by a fire that destroyed the campus during the Christmas break of 1921.
That put an end to the days when Roanoke College students - then, all male - would walk the mile distance to see the girls at Elizabeth. It also ended the days of the joint Roanoke-Elizabeth college dances and literary functions.
For financial and political reasons, the campus was never rebuilt - an issue that remains shrouded in controversy even today.
Elizabeth alumnae hinted Friday that the decision was handled by church officials under the table - sub rosa, one alumna called it - despite the fact that many students, faculty and church members wanted it rebuilt.
"We really don't like to talk about it," said Martha Seig, whose father, the Rev. Paul Seig, was president at the time of the college's demise.
In Elizabeth's heydays, Martha was too young to attend but did take some music courses there as a teen-ager. She attended Friday's tea party with her sister Katharine, who was a freshman at Elizabeth in 1921.
The cost of attending Elizabeth back then, according to a college bulletin, was $250 a year, including tuition, room and board, laundry and medical attention. Each student was required to take six courses per semester, including a Christianity class, and a foreign language.
Dancing was not permitted - and neither was sitting on the ledge of the dormitory's top floor. But that didn't stop Katharine Seig.
"We were always sure to break a few of the rules," she chuckled.
The Seig sisters, retired schoolteachers who live in Harrisonburg, have been instrumental in organizing the annual reunions, held in various Virginia locations since 1959.
One year, the group even met in the governor's mansion, a guest of then-Gov. J. Lindsay Almond Jr., whose wife, Josephine, was also an Elizabeth alumna.
"Somebody once said we'd keep on until we were all in wheelchairs," said Christine Dorsette, a freshman in 1921. "But I guess all good things have to come to a close."
Hortense Hunton, who took music classes at Elizabeth as a youngster, spoke with Roanoke 3 1 REUNION Reunion College professor Mark Miller throughout the reunion tea. Miller, who's writing a book on the history of Roanoke College, used the opportunity to do a little firsthand research on the '20s.
"I'm finding that our boys paid lots of visits to the Lizzies, as they called them," Miller said.
"Oh yes," said Hunton, giggling. "In those days, they traveled by foot, too. In between the two campuses they'd have their meetings with the girls."
(By the way, none of these women seemed thrilled about revealing their age, and so didn't. As one said, "It pays to advertise, but not your age.")
Years after the fire, the 77 acres that had been the Elizabeth campus became the site of the Lutheran Children's Home. Roanoke College purchased the land in 1984 and now uses the campus primarily for student housing.
In recent years, the Lizzies have held their annual reunions in Roanoke College's Crawford Hall, in a suite designated as The Elizabeth Parlor. A sundial commissioned by the Elizabeth alumnae association is also located on the Roanoke College grounds.
Each year, the reunion has begun with a Friday afternoon tea, and followed by a Saturday business meeting. After the meeting, they hold a candlelight service to honor members who have died in the past year.
Today, they'll do it for the last time.
"We have the parlor and the little sundial, so Elizabeth will always be here," said Martha Seig.
by CNB