Longwood College - Virginian Yearbook (Farmville, VA)

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C vD C si) CT i) C 9 OK9 OUR PRESIDENT When Dr. Jarman retires in 1946 from the presidency of the State Teachers College at Farm ' ville he will have directed the school for f ortyfour years, or for almost three fourths of its sixty years of existence. This is a remarkable record consider ' ing the fact that most college presidents do not last long because of the difficulties of their positions. But what President Jarman did with his long years of service is more significant. William H. Ruffner, J. L. M. Curry, and others captured the normal school idea for Virginia and gave it expression in the Farmville Foundation. Jarman gave their con ' ception amplified reality. This reality had quanti ' tative expression in growing buildings and enroll ' ments. But it also had qualitative expression in a combination of effective zeal for the cultural uplift of an educationally backward commonwealth with the inculcation of the genteel tradition of Virginia among a multitude of young women. President Jarman trained teachers for the Virginia schools, wives and mothers for Virginia homes, and citi2£ns for community service considered fitting for Vir- ginia women. What Farmville has been, is, and will be was largely to his influence. To a greater C sS C 5 C i) C+ D C+S) degree than most college heads he moulded the des ' tiny of his college. For this reason he must rank with Willard of Troy, Lyon of Mount Holyoke, Smith of Randolph ' Macon, Johnson of Wintrop, and Glass of Sweet Briar as one of the builders of institutions of higher education for women. Joseph Leonard Jarman was born at Charlottes ' ville, Virginia, in 1867, the son of Catherine Good ' loe (Lindsay) and William Dabney Jarman. After attendance at the public schools of his native town, he entered the Miller Training School in 1881. From there in 1886 he was sent to the University of Virginia as winner of the Miller Scholarship. He remained at the University of Virginia until 1889, majoring in natural science. He served as Professor of Natural Science at Emory and Henry College from 1890 until 1902. In 1891 he married Mary Helen, the daughter of the Reverend Dr. E. E. Wiley, the President of the Southwest Vir ' ginia College. Professor Jarman left Emory and Henry in 1902 to become President of Farmville. He received an honorary LL.D. from Hampden ' Sydney College in 1906. He was a member of the Virginia State Board of Education from 1910 until 1918 and was president of the Cooperative Educa ' 12

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w: -hen entering the Rotunda and glancing upward, one sees a dust ' covered dome. Careful scrutiny reveals four murals portray ing different phases of life. Teaching, one of the divisions, is represented by a Rom an matron surrounded by children apparently eager to learn. This one is probably of primary concern, helping to keep in mind at all times Farmville ' s first and foremost purpose: to supply the schools of the state with the best possible teachers. Many, many people influence, both directly and indirectly, this process — people like. Charlie Hop, who cheers us up with his smile and Hi, everybody; Mrs. Tabb, whose delicious meals we shall not forget; Miss Wheeler, whose plays are unrivaled; Nannie, who invented Longwood buns; Mr. Mac, who delights us with his puns and jokes. We could go on for hours, but what we ' re trying to say is that these and not just lectures, practiccteaching, tests, parallel and labs are what help to produce teachers. Teachers are people.

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C i C 9 C+3 C+ D C+3 tion Association of Virginia from 1928 until 1932. In 1930 he refused to accept the position of State Superintendent of Public Instruction, which was tended him by the Governor of Virginia. Mrs. Jarman died in 1929 after living in Farm ' ville for twentyseven years. A woman of much personal charm and generosity, she made the Presi ' dent ' s House a center of hospitality, entertaining distinguished guests of the College as well as faculty, students, and community groups. She was a garderner of such zeal and taste that she made the yard of her home a spot of great distinction and beauty, and she was a citizen of such tireless energy and such a broad social consciousness that she pro ' moted many community enterprises, among them the founding of the Farmville Woman ' s Club. President Jarman during his long years of service at Farmville has had so much to do with the dc velopment of the college that it is possible to say that in an intimate and direct sense its character and personality is a reflection of his character and personality. He fostered its growth from a modest structure housing three hundred students into a large college of nine hundred students living in a C i C+J C+3 C D ( K9 series of buildings in the best Virginia taste. With ' out sacrificing the democratic purpose of prepar- ing young women at a small cost to serve the Vir ' ginia schools, he has fostered an atmosphere of gentility and good breeding among the students usually associated with the aristocratic tradition of an old commonwealth. He has kept Farmville dc voted to the task of training teachers while other schools founded for the same object have been diverted to other purposes. He has been untiring in his support of the com ' munity activities of the town of Farmville, serving as first president of the Southside Community Hospital, as one of the organizers of the stock com ' pany that built the Weyanoke Hotel, as a leader of patriotic organizations during the First World War, and as the principal organizer of the F arm ' ville Lions Club. For more than thirty years he served as chairman of the official board of the Farmville Methodist Church and as member of its choir. Dr. Jarman since 1902 has been the leading citizen of his town, a model for the many Farmville graduates who have assumed leading roles in the schools and the communities in which they have settled.