Monticello College - Echo Yearbook (Godfrey, IL)

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Martina Erickson Parsons MISS MARTINA ERICKSON (Mrs. W. W. Parsons) It has been said that an institution is but the prolonged shadow of one man. As we look at the various foundations that have added to the stature of human beings through the development of the United States we arc strongly inclined to agree. Monticcllo is the result of the fact that Captain Godfrey lived and had an idea. He was the founder—he cast the shadow. But the notable institution could have lived but a comparatively brief time if there had been no individuals of genuine ability and tireless devotion to prolong that shadow and to implement the ideas and ideals of the founder through the decades following the days of the Captain. Monticcllo has had the excellent good fortune to have been granted a succession of good leaders. On June io, 1910, the Board of Trustees appointed as the guiding hand at Monticcllo Martina Erickson, notable teacher of Mathematics and sometime Dean of Women at the State Normal School at 'Ferre Haute, Indiana, where she served with brilliance for several years. She lead Monticcllo for seven years as active head and has continued to serve as “elder statesman” for the past twenty years. In this capacity she has been able to do a great deal to further the best interests of women’s education in the Mississippi alley. On Sunday October 13th, 1917 she returned to the State Teachers’ college at 'Ferre Haute as wife of Dr. W. W. Parsons, the president. She took with her the lasting devotion of thousands of young women who had come to revere her as counsellor, guide and friend. The editor of the Echo in 1917 spoke for all her contemporaries when she wrote editorially: “It is with great difficulty that we bring ourselves to imagine a Monticcllo without Miss Krickson at the helm, who for the past seven years has so successfully guided us to the harbor of attainment where the new buildings, through the years to come will be the “pyramids” erected in her memory. It must be with an ever growing appreciation that we thank her for having shown that the real goal to strive for is that of gcnuincss and sincerity. We mourn our loss deeply, but arc consoled in the knowledge that she will never entirely sever her connections with Monticcllo.” Mrs. Parsons was at Monticcllo at the time of the celebration of the Seventy-fifth birthday of the opening of the college for instruction. 'Flic exercises were distinguished. Miss Mary Emma Woolley, then President of Ml. Holyoke College, was the guest of honor and chief speaker. It is a fortunate circumstance that Miss Woolley can return twenty-five years later to join Mrs. Parsons in the activities celebrating the one hundredth birthday at Monticcllo. As before, Miss Woolley will be the chief speaker and,as before, Mrs. Parsons will be present to greet her legion of friends and lend to the occasion her presence. Monticcllo’s Centenary throng will join in tribute to Mrs. Parsons, spirited leader in the line of duty. ■J6

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“Monticcllo still lives and her walls shall rise again” was Miss Haskell’s prophetic utterance after the lire. Early in the week following the disaster, the trustees were summoned and it was resolved that some temporary building should be put up, which, in connection with Gilman cottage, could be used to continue the institution and graduate the class of 1889. In the interval the friends could rally and funds could be secured to erect a new Monticcllo. It was a hcraculcan task, but it could not dismay the courage of Miss Haskell. In sixty days a temporary structure was provided and furnished by the board of trustees. Eighty-nine of the students returned and the “Temporary” proved a success. The crude building was often called “Knotty Hall” because of the prominence of the natural features in the pine boards. The 70.000 insurance on the building which was destroyed was only a small start for a new Monticcllo, but gifts from generous friends were so numerous that a new and stately structure was erected within nineteen months. The largest donor was Y. H. Reid of Chicago. This donation included the money for the Eleanor Irwin Reid Chapel, which was erected in memory of his wife. The dedication of the beautiful new building in June, 1890, assured the future of Monticcllo as a permanent institution. —Extracted from Echo for January, 1900 Monticcllo tis rebuilt in $90.

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HARRIET RICE CONGDON Born: Montour Kails, N. Y., December 25, 1876 Died: Boise, Idaho, February, 1938 Harriet Rice Congdon came to Monticcllo in 1918 and for seventeen years she applied the educational principles which she had acquired from a wide background of experience. Miss Congdon was graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1898. Her first position was in Salt Lake College, Salt Lake City. In 1900 she went abroad for a year of study and travel, during which time she attended Oxford University. After her return she taught at the Kinma Willard School in Troy, New York. In 1903 she became a professor at Western College for Women, Oxford, Ohio, and from there she went to Lake Fric College, Paincs-villc, Ohio. She then entered the University of Michigan for graduate study. From 1910 to 1914 Miss Congdon was Dean of Women at Hillsdale College in Michigan. The next two years were spent in travel, seven months of the time in Honolulu. Upon her return she became Academic Dean at Wilson College, Chambersburg, Pa. It was from this position that she came to Monticcllo. When Miss Congdon began her presidency at Monticcllo, the Seminary had just become a recognized junior college, in all but name. She at once set about the task of establishing a curriculum in which the college and preparatory school were separated. It was her desire that it should become more and more the custom for graduates of Monticcllo to continue their education at a college offering an A.B. degree. During her seventeen years at Monticcllo and after her resignation and retirement, Miss Congdon manifested a particular interest in the welfare of the school. She devoted a great deal of time and effort to the beautifying of the campus. Wade Memorial Hall, the fine arts building, was built during her presidency (1926). The building is named for Kdward P. Wade, President of the Board of Trustees from 1885 to 1921. The log cabin and the outdoor theater were the other additions to the campus during the period when Miss Congdon was at Monticcllo. She was a great lover of nature, so it was with personal interest that she supervised the beautifying of the campus by planting numerous flowers and new trees. Miss Congdon retired from Monticcllo in [935. In the summer of 1937 she traveled in Fngland and Ireland. In February, 1938, she died at the home of her brother in Idaho. A Memorial Service was held in the Reid Chapel at Monticcllo on Wednesday morning, February 16. The service was an appropriate and fitting tribute to a president of Monticcllo whose chief interest through many years was the welfare of the college. 27 Harriet Rice Congdon